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You are here: Home / Archives for Guest Blog / Dubin & Lee

September 16, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 2 Comments

Top 5 Reasons a CFO Needs LinkedIn

This Blog was written by Saundra Lee of Dubin & Lee

Many CFOs I talk to as an Accounting & Finance Headhunter are under the impression that they don’t need LinkedIn or that LinkedIn is just for job seekers and neither of those is true.

The truth is that a C level professional, such as a CFO, needs LinkedIn more than they think.

Here Are the Top 5 Reasons CFOs Need LinkedIn.

1. It’s the “Golden Rolodex.” First, it is important to understand LinkedIn. LinkedIn is basically your “Golden Rolodex” on steroids! Picture every time one of the great contacts in your “Golden Rolodex” moved on that they could find you (because you’ve moved on too) and sneak into your office in the middle of the night and update their contact information.

2. Peer Group Discussions. What was once only possible at Roundtable Meetings or CPE seminars, can now can be done in real time with very specialized groups. LinkedIn is not a replacement for face to face meetings but you can get discussions going instantly which can be very time efficient for immediate feedback. Also, just like the face to face meetings, it is a great way to build your network.

3. Just because you are not a job seeker now does not mean you won’t be someday. Waiting until you need a network to start working on one (like the out of work job seeker hopping from networking event to networking event in hopes of running into that perfect contact that will set them up with an interview) is like waiting until your teenager starts applying to colleges to start saving money for college tuition…..it’s too late.

4. Finding Talent. Running a Staffing firm, I can tell you that middle management openings like Controllers and Managers of External Reporting are harder to fill than CFO roles as they fly a bit more under the radar and are not listed on company websites or 10Ks & 10Qs. Most likely there are several people that you have worked with before that you would like to work with again but it is too time consuming to find them. Using LinkedIn, it could take less than 10 minutes to pop off an email to several people in your network. Also, with just a few keyword searches you might even find someone new or you can pay an agency fee and they will do it for you.

5. Beating the “Dated” Stereotype. The most common complaint I here from a CFO that is on the job market is that they think they are experiencing age discrimination. I have to say, in over 20 years of recruiting, I have not seen age discrimination but I have seen people not get the job offer because they were not on the “cutting edge”, comfortable with change or a big fan of new tools. When I see a CFO that does not have a complete profile or only a few connections, my first impression is that this person either does not see how social media can be useful, does not value his or her network or just is not that into new tools. Of course, this may not be the case but to beat the “dated” stereotype, one must do everything one can to appear on the cutting edge.

I see 2 commonalities in all professionals that have the most marketability and longevity in their profession.

1. They understand of the importance of their professional network.

2. They place a high priority on new tools to help them stay on the cutting edge.

LinkedIn is a great place to work on both!

Interested in a LinkedIn workshop?

Click here for more blogs by Saundra Lee

Author: Saundra Lee, President, Dubin & Lee

Filed Under: CEO, CFO, CFO Consulting, CFO Lounge, CFO Readiness Program, CFO Relationships, CFO Search, LinkedIn, Social Media, The Lonely CFO

September 15, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 1 Comment

7 Steps to Climb to Become CFO

Just because you have the skills to be a solid Controller, this does not mean you have the right stuff to become a Great CFO….

but it doesn’t mean you can’t become a Great CFO.

To become a Great CFO, one needs to be able to move beyond the technical of accounting and finance. Having great Excel skills, being a GAAP Geek or being able to add 100 numbers in your head within 60 seconds is not what a CFO does. If a CFO needs to these things, there is a good chance a CFO will hire you. That might be why you were hired, but these skills will not get you the CFO job.

So what do you need to work on to become a CFO?

Read my Guest Blog published on the Dubin & Lee Blog

Filed Under: All of Samuel's Blogs, All of Samuel's Blogs, Better CFO, Build your Finance Team, CFO Coach, CFO Coaching, CFO Coaching, Controller, Finance Team, Great CFO, Guest Blog, Guest Blog, On the Road to CFO, Successful CFO, The Strong CFO, Training and Development

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