In Van der Smissen's case, after spending three years as FD of Unilever in Belgium, he couldn't see a way of progressing up the finance ladder without moving to another country, probably the UK or the Netherlands. Van der Smissen had already moved around enough with Unilever every three to four years to know that "any future role with the company would be an expatriation role without a possible return to Belgium," he says. Packing his bags yet again just wasn't appealing, especially having experienced the challenges of a "split family life," when he worked abroad while his wife, Marijke, and two daughters, now 19 and 20, stayed behind in Belgium. He also wanted to live closer to his father, a 79-year-old widower.
Similarly, Singh had difficulty seeing how she could achieve her aim — to learn about new products — without leaving BP. "Because BP is an oil business, everything is driven by the fact that we get this stuff from the ground and sell it," she says. "The oil industry is mature and I wanted to get exposure to other products, and BP can't really do that for me." While her personality suited the culture at BP, she says, her ambitions did not.
As for Laine-Toner — who sailed through Sainsbury's three-year graduate scheme, leading to jobs in operational audit, commercial finance, credit management and management accounts — the only option for him, he believes, is to look for a job that offers the experience he needs but is closer to home. He's no stranger to doing the unexpected though. He reached his current role via an unconventional route — skipping university in favour of a finance and business diploma and then starting his first job, as an accounts clerk with a UK health-club company, at just 18. He's proud of the fact that he eventually became the only non-graduate ever to get on to Sainsbury's graduate scheme. The next challenge is to leave Sainsbury for the right role. "It feels like an uncomfortable situation to be in, but if I don't get that experience I would have a hole and then it would be an issue for me to get that director role," he says.
Where to Start
Job-seekers today have a long list of criteria they would like their next jobs to meet. Having been placed in a business planning role, Stockmann wanted to return to being a CFO and she wanted to sit on a board again. She also wanted to work for a company with a strong ethical stance that was "doing good" in some way. That's what she had liked about Novartis: "The work they're doing to save, extend and improve lives appeals to me because it's doing something valid that is helping others and is right for humanity." Although being flexible about location — she and her partner wanted to stay abroad a few more years — meant that she spoke with potential employers in the US, Asia and Europe, it was the role itself, as well as a "lively" London location, that was the deciding factor.
While Van der Smissen wanted to stay in Belgium, he enjoyed the international aspect of his work with Unilever. "I liked working with people from different cultures, understanding why people do the things they do or why they don't do the things I expect them to do. So I was looking for something that had an international dimension to it," he says. He also wanted to work for a company that produces tangible products, rather than services, and is a recognised brand name in its market. And, crucially, he knew what he didn't want: more than an hour's commute at each end of the working day.
For Singh, apart from developing her knowledge about a wider range of products, she wants to continue working with "challenging people." "You can't work with people who don't have anything to teach you," says Singh, who had studied law before joining a graduate scheme at UK energy company Centrica, where she moved from junior accounting roles to internal audit and working in a strategic team. At BP, "I love working with traders even though they can be difficult because I like the challenge of negotiating with them. If you tell them one plus one is two, they want to know how you know that one is one — that's what I mean by challenging people." Other criteria? A global company with a competitive internal environment, a good reputation and a culture of "trust and openness."
Laine-Toner has a list of "personal values" — including openness, honesty, integrity and respect — that he wants to see at any company where he works. But the two things that are most important to him are a commitment to career development and — like Stockmann — a belief in the company's values. "The reason I have been with Sainsbury for so long is that I believe in what the company's trying to do," he says. "I believe in its sustainability agenda. We changed our bananas to 100% Fairtrade and that, for me, is inspired. I couldn't work for a company that I didn't believe was doing the right thing."
The Job Hunt
Of course, finding the right company and the right job at the right time isn't easy. When Singh resigned from BP, she posted her CV on www.efinancialcareers.co.uk and www.cityjobs.com. Within days, she received up to 20 phone calls from recruiters and although she accepted a handful of interviews, she quickly became jaundiced. "If I had my way, I would prefer not to use recruiters because they're not there to help me. They are there for their clients," she says. Despite telling recruiters she wanted to move from product control to pursue analytical or client-facing work, she found herself accepting several interviews in product control, with unsatisfying results. "The recruiters look incompetent, I look like I haven't properly articulated what I want and the client wonders if they've done the same," says Singh. Yet she can't rule out turning to recruiters again, especially since access to many vacancies is only possible through them.
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