CareerSolutionsIndy

 ADDENDUM 2023 - a year and a half later and this this exec is still enjoying life and his decision to leave a large corporate travel position to be home every night in Naperville, Illinois.  It is also a testament to the strong company culture at Skolnik Industries ( https://www.skolnik.com/ ) “We really like this guy.  But honestly, he seems too good to be true.  He’s worked for leading global companies.  Why does he want to come here?  Why us?  Let’s check some references.” This was my feedback from a client, a 100 employee Midwest manufacturer, who wondered why such a highly talented candidate would have an interest in joining a small, 100 year old, family owned manufacturing business. On the one hand, you might think this employer should be extremely pleased that such a talented person recognizes the success and holistic culture of a very well established family owned company.  But there is good reason to be cautious.  The pandemic, like...

A few years ago, I met with a German engineer who had built a small, global machine tool manufacturing business just South of Indianapolis.  He was an excellent engineer who loved to design new machines, large custom rotary tables, and pallet systems for industry.  But after leading and growing the business for forty years, he was thinking more about fishing with his grandson than building business. He had decided it was time to sell his business.  And, he was wise enough to realize that he’d need help. While an excellent designer and engineer, he was fairly distrustful of salespeople.  And as an excellent engineer, he was reluctant to promote his senior design engineer who had been with the business for 25 years.  He had trusted staff for accounting, billing, and administration.  But, he was very hands-on in running most critical aspects of the business. I had to reason with him that no one could buy his business as long as he held so much critical respons...