Posted: 07 Aug 2010 06:06 AM PDT

Running Hewlett-Packard is a big job: the company has more than 300,000 employees, did $114 billion in revenue during 2009, and plays in just about every sector of the tech industry. As a committee begins its search for former CEO Mark Hurd's replacement, here are a few of the top candidates they are likely considering for the job.

Ann Livermore

(Credit: HP)

Ann M. Livermore
Current position: Executive vice president, Enterprise Business, HP
Pros: Livermore has been with HP since 1982, working her way up the ranks of the company's software and services division. The group she runs now, Enterprise Business, is a $54 billion business that just successfully absorbed the giant EDS acquisition, and is considered to be one of the main sources of growth for HP going forward.

Cons: Twice she's been considered to be on short lists of CEO candidates at HP and twice she's been passed over for outside hires--once for Carly Fiorina, and once for Hurd. Unless third time's the charm?

Vyomesh Joshi

(Credit: HP)

Vyomesh Joshi
Current position: Executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP
Pros: He's been at HP even longer than Livermore, since 1980, and heads up IPG, the Imaging and Printing Group, a $29 billion business. Besides his longevity at HP, he's no stranger to dysfunction: he's been seated on Yahoo's board of directors since 2005.

Cons: Printing isn't the powerhouse inside HP that it used to be. The new direction for the company is clearly in software and services and not ink and printer hardware, and HP's board may want someone who can reassure customers and investors that they know those markets.

Todd Bradley

(Credit: HP)

Todd Bradley
Current position: Executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP
Pros: Bradley is the only person on this list with actual CEO experience. He came to HP in 2005 after a three-year stint as Palm's CEO and president. And under his leadership of HP's Personal Systems Group, the company has risen to become the largest seller of PCs in the world. Though software and services revenue is driving much of HP's growth, the company's decision to spend $1.2 billion to acquire Palm this year shows that it sees a bright future for mobile technology, which his Personal Systems Group will oversee.

Cons: HP mostly considers itself an enterprise services company these days, and will probably go with someone with at least a little experience selling products to businesses, not consumers.

Carol Bartz

(Credit: Yahoo)

Carol Bartz
Current position: President and CEO, Yahoo

Pros: Bartz is no stranger to the tech industry and weird situations, stepping in to run Yahoo in 2009 amid the chaos left following its disastrous courtship with Microsoft. She can chat with engineers and sales people, loves courting big customers, and has a personality that will leave no doubt who's in charge. Now that she's been at Yahoo a while, perhaps she's wondering if a company that runs like a clock might be easier on the blood pressure.

Cons: Bartz sort of has her hands full at the moment with Yahoo, and lots of financial incentives to stay. She's never run anything as big as HP (although few have) and her style could clash with HP's culture.

Steven Mills

(Credit: IBM)

Steven A. Mills
Current position: Senior vice president and software group executive, IBM
Pros: Mills runs enterprise software at IBM, giving him perhaps the best direct experience in one of HP's most crucial businesses. He's been thought of as a possible replacement for IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, but The Wall Street Journal said analysts aren't sure that, at 58 years old, Mills would be tapped to replace Palmisano, also 59.

Cons: Mills is an IBM lifer, and Palo Alto is a little different than upstate New York. HP also might want someone familiar with the consumer business, and while some IBM divisions are bigger than your average tech company, in the wake of Hurd's unceremonious departure HP's board might prefer someone with CEO experience.

Charles Phillips

(Credit: Oracle)

Charles Phillips
Current position: President, Oracle
Pros: It's not clear which is better preparation for stepping into a tense situation: being a former Marine or having worked for Larry Ellison. Phillips, however, can claim both on his resume, helping build Oracle into a huge company by integrating lots of smaller companies and keeping the trains running on time.

Cons: A few months of experience with Sun under Oracle's belt doesn't really count as the kind of hardware expertise that could be needed in the Big Chair at HP. And there's the little fact that Phillips has had his own problems with romantic indiscretions.

Padmasree Warrior

(Credit: Cisco)

Padmasree Warrior
Current position: Chief technology officer, Cisco
Pros: Warrior would be an interesting choice. She's a regular on the Silicon Valley lecture circuit and is seen as a bit of a technology visionary, having been on the short list of rising tech industry stars for several years. As Cisco's CTO, she's gained experience with complicated enterprise technology, and knows hardware from a stint inside Motorola's old chip operation, Freescale.

Cons: Experience, experience, experience. Coming off this scandal, HP isn't likely looking for someone they'll have to train on the job, and Warrior has certainly never tackled anything remotely as big as HP. Maybe she'll be ready by the next scandal.

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Eight steps to stand out in your job search

Posted: 07 Aug 2010 02:08 AM PDT

By Larry LaBelle, Special to the Times
In Print: Sunday, August 8, 2010

iStockphoto.com

If you want to ignite your job search and win a job fast, here are eight key steps to help you achieve that goal.

1. For each company you are targeting, find out what problems the company/department has as well as any future initiatives. You can get this information from people in your personal network and people you are or can be connected with in LinkedIn. If you have the proven skills to solve its problems and/or to implement future initiatives, you can promote your ideas in the professional summary of your resume (see No. 2 below) and also use your ideas in interviews to help your application stand out from the pack.

2. Create a custom resume for each job with a professional summary section at the top that contains a six- to eight-line sales pitch showing you have the key skills listed in the job description. Also highlight one or two major accomplishments (measurable, when possible) that are directly related to the job that prove your worth. This summary should grab the reviewers' attention, make them say "Wow" and get them to bring you in for an interview. Remember that accomplishments can also include brief but powerful testimonials from managers, co-workers, customers, etc.

3. Build a strategic business value presentation that briefly summarizes your value to your prospective employer. This includes what you've done (brief summary from your resume); your major accomplishments (three to five of them); your strategic business value (three major areas, such as people, processing and planning, with three to five ways that you contribute to each); and, how you can help your future employer. You can send this to an employer a week after submitting your interview, post it on your Linked profile and use it in telephone pre-screening or in-person interviews.

One job seeker showed this presentation in an interview to a director, who was so impressed he brought him to the senior vice president, who also saw it and gave the applicant the job on the spot. See the "Downloads" section of the Training Tamer website for an example.

4. Create a career portfolio containing samples of your work (brochures, reports, proposals, manuals, budgets, graphics, photos, project plans, schedules, customer testimonials, comments from annual performance reviews, awards, etc.). You can use these in a telephone prescreening or during in-person interviews to "prove" your worth.

5. Prepare for an interview by getting a list of interview questions and writing out the answers (this helps you to remember them). Then, you'll be more prepared to answer the hiring manager's questions than your competition. Remember to use compelling examples to support your answers and cite accomplishments where possible.

You can also use testimonials to support your answers. Be sure your answers include the benefits of what you've done as often as possible. This includes benefits to your company, manager, co-workers, customers, suppliers, business partners, etc. Benefits are what will sell you to employers most.

Also, prepare a list of questions that you want to ask the hiring manager. These include questions about the company, the hiring manager and his co-workers, the job and the benefits. One great question for the hiring manager is, "If I were to ask three of your subordinates what it is like to work for you, what would they say?"

6. Remember to ask the hiring manager at the beginning of the interview to leave time for you to ask questions and show your work samples from your career portfolio. Otherwise, he/she may use up all the time. Take notes during the interview so you can assess it later to determine if the job — and the company, culture and the hiring manager — are a good fit for you.

7. End the interview effectively by doing a form of sales close. To do this, first ask the hiring manager if he/she thinks you're a good fit for the job based on your resume, work samples and interview performance. If the manager says yes, ask him if he has any reservations about you. If he says yes, ask what it is. Then provide an example from your work history to prove this isn't a problem. Continue doing this until all the hiring manager's concerns are resolved.

Finally, ask the hiring manager what the next step is (finish the interviews, choose the candidate, etc.). Be sure to get a date when this step will begin or end. Remember to follow up using gentle persistence. The day after a deadline has passed, call the hiring manager (if you haven't already heard from him/her) and check on the status of the position. Avoid calling before one of these deadlines. It will make you appear like a pest. When you do inquire, do it nicely and be sure to briefly reiterate your enthusiasm, value and fit for the position.

8. Send a thank-you note after the interview to thank the hiring manager for his time, reiterate why you're a great fit for the job, and if possible, provide something to address one of his pains (e.g., provide a link to a website that has an article to solve a problem).

For examples of many of the items discussed here, go to www.training tamer.com and click on Downloads on the main menu.

Larry LaBelle is president of Training Tamer Inc., which provides comprehensive training, coaching and support services for job seekers, H.R. staff and hiring managers. To learn more about Training Tamer, visit www.trainingtamer.com or call (813) 924-8404.

[Last modified: Aug 05, 2010 05:00 PM]

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Search firm: ASU could have new president by Jan.

Posted: 07 Aug 2010 12:41 PM PDT

JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) — The director of an executive search firm hired by Arkansas State University says ASU could have a new system president by January.

Tom Meredith of Effective Leadership LLC of Oxford, Miss., told an ASU search committee Friday that it could begin interviewing candidates by Oct. 11 — if it follows his process.

The Arkansas State University Foundation is paying Meredith $45,000 — plus up to $10,000 in expenses — to search for a successor to retired ASU system president Les Wyatt.

Search committee members say they'll meet several times in August before finalizing the job description Aug. 24.

Meredith says he'll begin advertising the position nationally Sept. 1.

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Job Search

Saturday, August 7, 2010

“The search for HP's next top CEO” plus 2 more

“The search for HP's next top CEO” plus 2 more

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