Help Wanted

In recent posts, we’ve been following the turmoil at a local Chicago corporation, GKIC (formerly “Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle”). It’s been a lively discussion, with some thoughtful and constructive comments (mixed in with a lot of angry ones).

(Catch up on previous posts by clicking on them in the “Recent Posts” list to the right.)

Last week, Ben Glass posted a comment saying he’s “Not sure the old GKIC will ever be returned…GKIC is trying mightily to become something different” with a link to the online job posting for their new President.

If you clicked on that link one week ago, when Ben posted it, you would have seen a red “Apply Now” button. But if you click on that link now, you’ll see a message that reads, “Bummer. That job is no longer available.” (Don’t you just love everything online that thinks it has to be hip and cool?)

The listing on www.TheLadders.com states “POSITION FILLED.”

This is good news for the overall economy (one more job filled), and for the job seeker who got the $304K/yr + stock options position – if it’s true.

And it’s also good news for small business owners and entrepreneurs around the world who look to GKIC for direction and help in growing our businesses.

But I have to wonder…

If GKIC did in fact find a new President nearly a week ago (AmericasJobExchange.com states “This job is no longer active” and lists the “End Date” as December 20, 2012), why hasn’t anyone heard anything about it?

Not a single email about it. No mention on the company website. Nothing on the “official” Facebook page. Not even a tweet. And most definitely not a letter, fax or phone call to any of its members, customers or strategic partners.

It’s a veritable cacophony of multi-media silence!

More amazing than the complete lack of communication about this momentous event in the history of the company would be the fact that they actually found even a single qualified applicant, based on the job description:

And even more amazing to me is that while the job doesn’t require any knowledge of or experience in Direct Response Marketing, the candidate is required to hold an MBA from a “top school” (and they probably don’t mean the best possible school for an entrepreneur, the “School Of Hard Knocks”).

You may be a solo-preneur or business owner who’s still in the near-startup mode of trying to do practically everything yourself, but if you keep at it and take the right steps to grow your business, at some point you’ll be looking for a President of your own. Or, you may own a larger business where you are now, or have been in the past, looking for a President.

With that in mind, here’s an opportunity for an interesting and educational exercise…

If you were writing the job description for the new President of GKIC, what would you require? Would your ideal candidate to lead the turnaround have to be…

• A serious student and fan of Dan Kennedy?
• An experienced and accomplished information marketer?
• A proven expert in direct response, relationship-based marketing?

…or any other qualifications mysteriously absent from GKIC’s list?

And what qualifications would you NOT require, that GKIC did?

Join the discussion by posting your comment below.