CTO job hunt advice

Unfortunately, it’s all too common a story these days: Your company missed its numbers last quarter and has to tighten its belt. Or your firm was acquired and “redundant” positions are being eliminated. Or worse, the VCs have pulled the plug and the doors are closing.

Suddenly there’s a new CTO available for hire: you.

Finding your “next big thing” can be a stressful experience. Here’s how to get through these tough times and land on your feet:

1. Don’t take it personally and move on. One of the most important things you can do is to maintain a positive attitude. Don’t blame the management, the investors, your customers, your peers. Most importantly, don’t blame yourself.

Hey, it happens to the best of us. It happened to me, which is why I’m writing this article.

2. If you can, take some time off. Odds are you’re a little fried, which is not a good frame of mind to be in when you interview. Take a vacation, reconnect with yourself and your family. Spending quality time with your loved ones will help you and them in all sorts of ways, and when you come back you’ll be refreshed and ready to attack the industry again.

3. Develop a plan for finding a new position. A word of warning: The high-tech job market is tougher than it has ever been. It may take you several months or more to find something. You may have to settle for less money than you’re used to; you may not find the coolest job on the planet.

Decide on your goals and priorities. Is there a particular technology you want to pursue? Do you have certain financial requirements? Do you want the stability of a big company (remembering they’re not as stable as they used to be), or the risk of a startup? Can you relocate?

4. Write a great resume. Keep it concise. Two pages is long enough, and consider having a personal Web site where you keep the latest version online and make other “collateral” — trade articles you wrote, and so on — available.

Writing your resume can be lots of fun, by the way. After all, you’re writing about your favorite subject. Think about being original. In place of a resume I once created a PowerPoint “portfolio” of about 10 slides with top-level bullets outlining my experience, scanned images of articles about and by me, my patents, and screen shots of products I worked on — not for every potential employer, but surprisingly effective in some cases.

5. Talk to every headhunter you can. Because most CTOs are also hiring managers, you know how this works. A company wishing to fill an executive position will usually retain a search firm. It follows then that to know of all the available positions you have to talk to as many search firms as you can.

Use your contacts. Search firms always respond more quickly to candidates they know. Don’t be surprised if they don’t return your calls; many of them are simply swamped with applicants these days. Sad, but true.

6. Network, network, network! With the glut of people on the market today, many companies are not even bothering with professional searches. They’re calling on friends, friends of friends — in short, minimizing their risk by bringing on known quantities.

Break out the Rolodex and let the world know you’re available. Have lunch, drop off a resume. If your friends don’t have openings at their companies ask them for introductions to other companies.

Many companies now have alumni sites where you can hook up with old associates. For example, former employees of Lotus Development, where I spent 11 years, maintain an online directory of ex-Loti at www.axle.org . These sites can be gold mines for contacts.

7. Found your own company. Well, why not? Every CTO I know has at least a dozen really great and viable ideas percolating in his or her head. Get your friends together, refine the idea, write the business plan. Be forewarned, though: It’s much, much harder to attract venture capital these days so be prepared to spend some time time shopping your idea around. Still, it can be done, and really good ideas will always be funded.

So, you’re asking, what did you do, Barry?

I picked option seven. I and a number of others are starting an exciting new software products company, called AptSoft, focusing on CRM infrastructure. My search is over. I hope yours ends soon too.