Hugo Vereeken

Client: Hugo Vereeken was global OEM segment manager for a large multinational provider of power and industrial automation technologies.

Industry: Industrial Automation, Power Technologies

Function: Sales, Business Development

Challenge: Hugo was looking to transition from a global segment role to a more hands-on leadership position in sales and business development.

Process: Hugo Vereeken was global OEM segment manager for a large multinational provider of power and industrial automation technologies.

When Covid hit, Hugo’s company shut down his department and terminated many senior executives, leaving Hugo unemployed after more than a decade with the company.

“I thought, ‘I have 38 years of professional experience as an engineer, program manager, business development manager, general manager and global sales leader. I have 24 years of direct exposure to customers. I have a master’s degree in electrical engineering, an MBA, a killer CV, international experience, and I speak five languages. Let the jobs come!’” said Hugo.

But the jobs didn’t come. And Hugo, age 62, saw something more pernicious at work: The silent rejection of people of a certain age.

After nearly a year, Hugo found The Career Doctor (TCD) during a LinkedIn search and enlisted their help in his career change.

“My original CV was everything it should NOT be: chronological, long, and boring. With his career consultant and the writing team, we made a wonderful new version,” said Hugo. “My LinkedIn profile was also boring and incomplete, but with the help of TCD, my new profile attracted a lot more people, sometimes over 20-30 people per week. I started getting calls from people that were not even looking to hire, even some CEOs. That gave me hope!”

„My career consultant taught me a lot of things. He told me about social capital – how to increase it and leverage it – and news ways to approach people. All these techniques were very handy.”

“And the conversations I had with my career consultant helped me see through the attitudes and behaviors of third-party recruiters. Their money comes from the company that wants to fill a position, and recruiters couldn’t care less whether it’s you or someone else that gets hired.”

By mid-summer, three of his leads had turned into solid job offers with companies based in France, Quebec, and Germany, and Hugo found himself in the enviable position of being able to choose from three options.

“The opportunity came about from a job ad I’d responded to several weeks earlier. I had almost forgotten about them by the time the CEO contacted me,” said Hugo. “They wanted someone with a tech background, with lots of sales experience, and who speaks German, to manage their French subsidiary and oversee sales in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. It seemed like it was made for me!”

“Before I began working with TCD, I had been out of a job for ten months with nothing to show for it except frustrating experiences and a feeling that I was too old. I learned a lot from my career consultant. Thanks to them, I felt better able to handle recruiters, and I developed the confidence that, even at my age, I can expect great opportunities.”

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