Anne Beitel
Managing Director and Part-Owner,
Executives Online
Anne Beitel's career was first in technology marketing, where she worked in two software companies in the Boston area (United States) that completed successful IPOs (ON Technology, and Dr Solomon's Software, a British anti-virus software company which was subsequently acquired by Network Associates for $640 million). She then moved to the recruitment sector in 1999 and moved to London in 2000 as the European Marketing Director for Aquent, a specialist staffing company.
Since 2002, Anne has been working for Executives Online (a UK-based company): first as Marketing Director and since January 2008, as Managing Director. In December 2008, she teamed with fellow directors to complete a management buy-out of Executives Online from its founder and majority shareholder.
Anne has an MBA (Harvard) and a BA Mathematics (Washington University, St. Louis).
ExpatWomen's Interview With Anne
ExpatWomen: Anne, congratulations on your climb to the top as an expat woman abroad! Tell us, is it as sweet as you thought it would be, or do you always feel like you can never smell the roses because you are always chasing the next quarter's results?
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Anne: Well it has definitely been a journey; our ambitions for Executives Online are such that I would be remiss if I thought we had already reached the top! As a small, growing business, we are definitely always chasing the next quarter's – or month's – results, and coping with the knocks when we fall short.
One lovely event that made me pause and savour the moment was our Management Buy Out of Executives Online which we completed in December 2008. In the current climate for lending, and with pressure on our results from the economy, we were delighted that our bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, advisers and incoming investors stayed with us and we got the deal done. This increases my and my colleagues' opportunity for risk and reward in the business, gives us control of decision-making as we grow it, and enables our founder and former MD to realize some cash from the business for retirement. It was a complete emotional roller-coaster over the 10 months we worked on it, with both vendor and bank getting the wobbles along the way. |
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ExpatWomen: What do you consider to have been your greatest obstacles in reaching the professional position that you are in today and how did you overcome them? |
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Anne: The obstacles have been in two areas: finding out what sort of organisation is best for me; and structuring a career that accommodated the demands of a young family.
Early in my career, I had not yet found an organisation with the profile that was right for me. I experimented with early roles in management consulting and in a global consumer products company, but these both required a more diplomatic, patient, conformist work style than I will ever have. Business school gave me a great opportunity for self-assessment, after which I decided that my future lay in smaller, more entrepreneurial companies. Had I not figured that out, I would definitely not have had the career success I have had, and I certainly would not have been part of two successful IPOs.
On the second point: I moved to the UK with Aquent when I was pregnant and with a 21-month-old daughter. It was a huge year of change for me and my husband, trading places as primary and secondary breadwinners (he was doing a Master's degree before we came here), moving across the Atlantic, having another child.
Here is another way small companies really shine: When I joined Executives Online in 2002 and for the next three years, we structured a 25-hour work week and significant work from home. This let me progress my career and still spend time with my daughters when they were small. As they grew, so did the job, expanding beyond the marketing to include client service, sales, finance, and International development. Now that my girls are older (they are now eight and ten), I really have it all: a full-time, dynamic job, yet still with enough flexibility to keep us all sane. I would not have this in a bigger company, and had I not gotten past this obstacle, I would not have the career that I have today. |
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ExpatWomen: Please share with us more about Executives Online and its success to date. |
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Anne: Executives Online is an interim management and executive recruitment company. We source candidates for interim management, project management, change management and permanent executive recruitment. We have 60,000 senior executives in our global talent bank and we have nine 9 UK offices, with further operations in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Johannesburg, Paris and Sydney. In early 2009, we hope to also open offices in Milan and Germany.
What makes us different than other executive recruitment businesses is our online candidate acquisition engine which sources talent globally, our speed of service, and our cost-effective fee structure. |
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ExpatWomen: From your expertise in the job arena, what tips can you give our audience members for finding work abroad, especially those who might have already explored the obvious job avenues and be struggling a little? |
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Anne: In my own experience and in what I observe from the vantage point of recruiting for our clients in multiple international territories, my best advice is to find a link between yourself and the job opportunities abroad, whatever it might be.
That link can be professional: An existing employer who wants to expand abroad, or already has operations internationally, or a relationship with someone – a venture capitalist or entrepreneur – who is willing to sponsor you. It can also be personal, as in a spousal, fiancée or ancestral visa. It is very, very difficult without having one of these, and especially difficult if you are targeting larger companies with rigid hiring practices.
Be flexible, and be creative. Be prepared to work in a role which is beneath your capabilities. Consider work in smaller companies. Be prepared to turn freelance, and this type of engagement structure can sometimes avoid the immigration pitfalls around employment.
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ExpatWomen: Thinking back to your US experience with the two companies that went to successful IPOs, were your experiences characterized by the adrenalin, risk and hard-work that IPOs are renowned for, and what insights can you share from your experiences with those companies? |
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Anne: Definitely, those years in software companies that IPO'd were characterized by adrenalin, risk and hard work! Long hours, a young team, many of whom were in their first jobs post-university, and a creative and commercial senior management team out to transform how the world bought software.
Like many young, growing companies, it was very social. I met my husband during this time, a former "expat kid" who had moved with his parents from North Wales to Cleveland to Singapore, and gone to boarding school in northern England before returning to the USA for college. His dual citizenship is what enabled our move to the UK, although after 8+ years, all four of us now have it.
During part of that time at ON, we saw the Internet bubble with flaky companies bringing groovy concepts to market, not being profitable yet, but getting crazy valuations on the back of that, but that was not us. In the early to late 90s, companies had to have products companies wanted, but also be showing profits, and growth. ON Technology in particular, was absolutely rigorous in its discipline regarding sales and marketing management – a very Return-on-Investment-(ROI)-driven approach to generating sales.
I learned great lessons during that time, which I make use of every day. As a marketer, knowing what to say "no" to is as important as what you actually do, because it is possible to waste precious cash and resources on programs that will not actually generate the result you need. Brand identity can be powerful, but brand without the investment in tactical programs to take that message to market is useless. Figuring out the right promotional strategy and programs for a particular product or service is key; there are no one-size-fits-all marketing plans. As my role has expanded beyond the marketing sphere, these same lessons have remained, as valid as they ever were.
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ExpatWomen: Anne, thank you very much for your time and we wish you many more successful years abroad. |
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April 2009 |
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