Lost your Job? What's next: loss of a high-level position, though never easy, can provide a unique opportunity for the financial executive to explore different options--and perhaps pave a new path, one that results in a smooth transition.

• Author: McDonald, Paul
• Position: Career

Many senior financial executives across a broad spectrum of industries are currently finding themselves in career transitions--and often not by choice. For most, this is hardly familiar territory.

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While much of the job loss at the director, vice president and chief financial officer level is a direct result of the recent great recession, the downturn is not the only cause. In organizations impacted by merger and acquisition activity, for example, staff redundancies have led to reductions in senior-level positions as well as those of rank-and-file employees.

Company relocation is another trend causing involuntary turnover at this level. Businesses typically become more strategic as they mature, which often leads to a decision to move the firm to a region that is less burdensome to the bottom line, such as a state with more favorable corporate taxes. In many such cases, senior-level executives, often with deep roots in their communities, do not want to move. Though a lifestyle choice, such personal decisions enlarge the pool of seasoned professionals who must now compete for work in a particular market.

Another factor contributing to unanticipated career transitions among the ranks of CFOs is a renewed interest in initial public offerings. With IPOs on the rise, a company with a sitting CFO who has no IPO experience and is unfamiliar with the investor community may be subject to replacement if investors deem the incumbent less qualified to help take the company public.

This assessment is nothing new: it is simply part of what venture capital firms do--evaluate the top team of an IPO-candidate organization to see if the existing players have what it takes to move the company to the next level. A CFO without experience in making the required road shows to talk to investors may be offered a different position or be released from the organization.

Whatever the cause, a job loss at a company an executive has devoted years to building and nurturing can have a significant impact on self-esteem and confidence. Many CFOs have been caught by surprise, thrust into an open employment market that is decidedly different from any they've faced previously. Successfully navigating through this critical transition takes proactive career management and for many, there is a steep learning curve.

Though one may believe that a professional at the senior level would have virtually unlimited contacts and therefore job opportunities, this is not typically the case. Many CFOs have not been proactive in managing their careers, especially when it comes to maintaining connections outside their immediate companies. And though very close to key managers within their own organizations, many have failed to maintain similar relationships with counterparts across their field and industry.

In many respects, an executive focusing on his or her role should not be surprising. During the most recent recession, headcount reductions placed more pressure on those who remained. Top financial...