About Pat O’Donnell

Like most of you I have been out of work unexpectedly a couple of times in life. I took a next job out of fear of being out of work and found myself in a couple of jobs that were okay, but I didn’t love them.

Then I took a sabbatical to take care of a family member and used that time to research how to improve my job satisfaction rate for the future. The epiphany was to realize that if I invested a lot more time up front figuring out which were the correct roles and projects to apply to, I would be a lot happier in the role AND be perceived as more valuable by the company.

As economic uncertainty has increased, it has become clear that, for many executives, including myself, leaving corporate America entirely offers the most control over our own environments and the greatest potential future reward.

I have spent years exploring the process of aligning the individual’s skills and personality with the nature of work and possible sources of income. My work is now fun and rewarding in a way I had not imagined possible. Let me share that learning with you.

My job history

If you look at my resume, it says I was a marketing executive at ad agencies who later became a recruiter and career consultant. In practice, what I do these days has not changed much in the last 30 odd years. I use the skills I once used to market soap and cell phones to show executives how to market themselves to employers. I show companies how to market themselves to high potential and hard-to-find executives. Or show executives how to market their consulting services directly to B2B customers. It is all about the alignment of goals and creating visibility in a cluttered and frequently indifferent market.

Milestones

• Recruiter and Career Strategist since 1994, placing 50+ people a year in new jobs.
• Left major recruiting firm amicably to go on my own after negotiating for no non-compete constraints.
• Earlier in my career, I spent 20 years as an executive in the advertising industry, in market research and strategic planning. Was VP Saatchi & Saatchi/NY before moving to MN.
• On advertising agency team that made marketing history by growing the Tylenol brand’s business in the year following the first Cyanide incident (’82).
• Won EFFIE (national marketing award) for ad agency for media plan for BVD Underwear. Recommendations credited for growing business approximately 20% in the subsequent year (’84).

Read more about Pat’s services at O’Donnell Executive Strategies