"I've always gotten along well with everyone so far, but this time it doesn't really want to work out". Mr. Kemper was an athletic man, in his early forties, casually dressed, dark eyes and black hair with slightly Romanesque-looking features. If he hadn't been so tall, he could easily have been mistaken for a Frenchman or an Italian.

"What's not working out," I asked back. "Well, my job applications. Rejections again in the last week. I hope you can help me". "I assume so, but I should know more about you first. Then it will be easier to support you".

"Ok, so I'll tell you what I've been up to." And then he began to tell his story. He was a classic self-made man. After completing his banking apprenticeship, he had run a freight forwarding company as a sideline early on, then soon left banking and started marketing ERP systems. He had already been interested in IT during his apprenticeship and was quickly successful in this field. Through his years of consulting, he had gathered a wealth of know-how across many industries. This eventually led him to a managing director position at a medium-sized company. He worked there for several years. From his experience in the market, he developed the idea of founding a company that dealt specifically with CRM systems. The idea was to have an industry-independent module programmed that could be docked onto any existing ERP system. He had taken this step a year and a half ago with two other managers. Now he saw that the programming was dragging on and that the industry giants were covering this field better and better. His fellow partners didn't see it that way, but he was sure it wouldn't last much longer.

"That's where I stand now, and I've been trying myself to get back to a similar position as managing director as I had before I started the company. But that seems hard to do on my own. And besides, I've never actually had to apply for a job. I think the last application I wrote was for a banking apprenticeship." He laughed. "Yeah, long, long ago. I probably did quite a bit wrong and don't have to wonder about the rejections. And the story at our new firm here is getting too hot for me. Who knows if we'll get through the next round of funding in these times."

I considered. Banking apprenticeship, lots of experience in the market, no degree, years of self-employment: No easy prerequisites for his goal. After all, he had been a managing director before. That was a challenge in itself. I looked at him. Sure, we needed a convincing profile, and we needed to strongly emphasize his hands-on mentality. "I get the theme," I said, "it's not going to be easy, but I think we can find a way."

"Ok, let's get started then".

We started coaching over the next few days, developing a compelling profile, very focused on IT sales and mid-market. We showed his achievements in his performance and experience overview and decorated the whole thing with meaningful customer references, which at the same time gave an idea of his network.

The recruiters he came in contact with were very taken with him. Only a few weeks later he was already in concrete job interviews.

An IT consultancy seemed to be particularly interesting. Here, they were looking for a successor for the retiring owner, who had a similar path in life behind him. It didn't matter that he hadn't studied. It was much more important to his interviewer that he knew the business and could prove it. Nevertheless, he wanted to know everything in detail. And it was only after several intensive discussions that the decision was made. As we looked at his new contract together, he asked me rather abruptly: "Can you help me decide how best to communicate my departure to my fellow partners?"

"Of course, we can talk about that. Do they suspect anything yet? What are the terms under the bylaws, then?"

"I've indicated before that I won't be around much longer. And the upcoming second round of funding gives me the opportunity to get out. I will lose some money, but I prefer the new option."

"Good," I said, "let's start planning the move from the hot seat back to the driver seat."

He nodded with satisfaction and we got to work.