Hans Wessel

Client: Hans Wessel was director of EMEA accounting at an international IT company based in Silicon Valley.

Industry: Technology, IT

Function: Finance, Accounting

Challenge: After his company went through a major transition, Hans was looking for a new opportunity that would allow him to continue his career in European operations.

Process: TCD helped Hans leverage his multinational experience and position himself for regional finance leadership roles.

Landing: Hans Wessel was Director of EMEA Accounting at an international IT company.

Hans spent 18 years helping the company build up its shared service center, but to make the company profitable again, the new management transferred all the back-office jobs from the Netherlands to India. Hans was asked to help with the transition with the understanding that he should also seek other employment.

“For two years I worked hard to get them up to speed, the whole time preparing myself for a job change,” said Hans. “It was a tough challenge. The job market had dramatically changed in 18 years. I felt like I’d been living under a stone.”

After a year of no opportunities, Hans started to worry; his confidence waned. One day he found The Career Doctor (TCD) on LinkedIn and decided to enlist their help.

“I kicked things off with the Career Plan. The Career Plan is very serious because your life depends on it! It forces you to take a step back and examine everything about your life,” said Hans.

After Career Plan, Hans was handed off to his career consultant, who taught him how to maximize the potential of LinkedIn.

„My consultant had me build up my network and made me aware of all the benefits of using LinkedIn. It turned out great. By the time my old job ended, people in my network were already reaching out to tell me that they knew of opportunities for me.”

For Hans, the published market yielded few opportunities. The unpublished market, however, was very successful. To his delight, as Hans built up his social capital two great leads materialized.

“There were two people, a tax advisor and a lawyer, that I had worked with at my old company. When my job ended, my relationship with them essentially ended, too,” said Hans. “After I joined TCD, however, I reconnected with them. They each told me about an opportunity that they knew of at a company where they did business. These were opportunities where there weren’t even job descriptions!”

Hans followed up on the opportunities and, after five interviews that happened very quickly over the summer, ended up with an offer to become the new Accounting Director of another international IT firm based in California.

“I have been in my new role for two months already and I like it very much! It’s just what I was looking for. Some aspects are similar to my old job, but there are also different responsibilities and opportunities to learn new things. All in all, it is a good fit!”

“The program really works. It quickly got me from no responses to many responses – and all in the unpublished market. This job was published nowhere,” said Hans. “Once I started with TCD it was a smooth process. I’m very happy in my new role.”

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