What do REFERENCES say about YOU?

Welcome to TishTrek - THE JOB BLOG!

If I called your former colleagues or supervisors for a business reference or recommendation, what would those people say to inspire me and my team to consider you for an open position at our company?

Below are two actual recommendations I wrote yesterday (May 14th) and submitted to the Professional Networking Site, LinkedIn, for Michael J. Cunningham, who is President & Chief Operating Officer @ United Healthcare National Accounts. What I wrote outlines how I knew Mike, what challenges he faced, what he delivered, and what business benefit he brought to the companies he was accountable to. From my observations of Mike's performance since 1988, I also work to explain how he led others and why for the past 22 consecutive years Mike has made the "Tish Top Ten List" - saluting and honoring Ten of the Top Global Executive Candidates in any market!

After you read the recommendations below, think long and hard about what your references would say about you? Will they say terrific things? Will they define exceptional work habits, skills, competencies and consistent leader behaviors which always separate you from other colleagues and/or from other employment candidates when you're competing for that job you want? Will they say you delivered high-end results on behalf of the companies relying on you and that they give YOU the personal bragging rights to scream those corporate successes as your own from their roof top?!

TIP OF THE DAY: References & recommendations can and often do make or break even the best execution efforts in JOB SEARCH NETWORKING! I know it because I live this reality in my job every single day!


Tish Ferguson Recommends:
Michael J. Cunningham
President, Chief Operation Officer
United Healhcare National Accounts
Senior Vice President at GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY:

Today, Mike is currently the COO of an $8B unit of UHG with full responsibility for all strategic initiatives, overall customer service and delivery experience, service partner governance and performance improvement, driving product delivery and the prioritization of future investments.

Ladies & Gentlemen, here's how Michael Cunningham got there...


Senior Vice President GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY:

When Mike and I worked together at ADP, the business benefit our company enjoyed as a result of his tremendous contributions were extraordinary. As a result of my personal observations, I recruited Mike to join CEO Joe Sergeant & CIO Dennis Callahan at Guardian Life Insurance during our Action Agenda to lead & transform a myriad of Guardian's business silos into a single enterprise-wide infrastructure dedicated to excellence and efficiency - where appropriate and where federal regulations allowed. Mike's participation in the execution of this aggressive agenda delivered results which enhanced & dramatically improved how Guardian executed its business nationwide. Specifically, Park Avenue Securities, our General Agents, and the Health & Welfare businesses @ Guardian all benefited from Mike's work in the trenches. He delivered incredible tools, technologies, and world class processes dedicated to Sales Automation, Infrastructure, CRM, 24/7 Operations, and the list goes on... As an executive, Mike's ability to leverage his deep skills & competencies across all business/ functional areas and multiple industries puts him in a class of his own. I have the highest regard and respect for Mike and that's why I work to recruit him any time a client is looking to bolster its business with "customer-focused change". This incredible "change agent's" successes are always tied to the fact that he leads with consistent and repeat Leader Behaviors that both clients and employees can rely on. - Tish Ferguson May 14, 2010

Vice President / Director at AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING, INC:

I was the HR Executive on the ADP Executive Mgmt Team for the Front-Office Services Division of ADP's Brokerage Information Services Group. Our team hired Mike in January 1988 because we recognized that we had a high caliber/ high potential candidate with remarkable transferable skills who could lead our company's transformation to a world class provider of services for our brokerage clients worldwide. For over eight years, Mike's stellar performance put him on the "fast track" @ ADP to multiple executive roles leading global sales, account management, mergers & acquisitions, deployments, integrations, and service-centric initiatives. Mike's performance always ranked in the top 1% of ADP's 22,000 employee population and he was often recognized as a leader who "made the time" to mentor others all along the way. As an executive, Mike's ability to leverage his deep skills & competencies across all business/ functional areas and multiple industries puts him in a class of his own. I have the highest regard and respect for Mike; most especially because all of his successes are tied to the fact that he leads with consistent and repeat Leader Behaviors that both clients and employees can rely on. - Tish Ferguson May 14, 2010

Tish Ferguson (Director of Human Resources at ADP) worked directly with Michael J. at AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING, INC.

In closing, it has always been a privilege to work with and for Mike. He always inspired me and everyone around him to demand more of ourselves so we could meet our challenges and exceed our goals. By doing so, he elevated the performance of individuals and teams alike and I can tell you from experience that every company benefited exponentially!

How many of your former Colleagues or Directors of Human Resources or Executive Bosses would write a recommendation like this about you?

Best regards,
Tish