Reply:
Companies do hire entire teams, but it's rare. I recently worked on a project to place a great team of eight engineers. All went very well with the client company until a senior executive got involved and nixed the whole deal. Why? Because the company would have had to buy workstations for the new hires. There's just no telling what might crop up with such a complex deal.

You can certainly raise the possibility of a company hiring your entire team while you're in an interview, but you might stun the interviewer. When managers face unusual situations, they often respond by doing nothing at all: That's the "safe" choice. A progressive manager might jump at the chance and view it as a creative way to boost business. But there aren't many managers like that around.

I think the best way to pursue your objective is through inside contacts. Let it be known that you're available as a team and that you want to stay together. The most powerful way to do this is to target specific companies. Study each carefully and decide whether (and how) your team could either solve dramatic problems or create dramatic opportunities for each of these targets.

Produce a business plan (not a resume) that shows how and what you could contribute. This should be the kind of plan you'd create if you were looking for funding to start your own business, and that's precisely what you're doing here. You're trying to get a company to put up money to let you all do what you do best: Produce profit. That's a form of venture funding.

There are lots of books around about preparing such plans. You need not go so far as to work out all the pro forma financial statements and so on, but a tight plan that shows what you're going to do and how will impress any company with your team's acumen. (Please note: I'm not suggesting you give them so much detail that they can walk off with your ideas. The point is to arouse their interest, not to solve their problems without hiring you.)

Here are the people who could help you get in the door: a company's vendors, sales reps, customers, consultants, and even the headhunters they work with most. Make those contacts and use them to get you in the door to meet management. With this approach, you'll have two important kinds of references: insiders and respected members of the larger industry community.

I hope it all works out for your team!

Best,
Nick Corcodilos
Ask The Headhunter(R)

Nick Corcodilos is a nationally recognized headhunter, speaker, and authority on job hunting, hiring, and career success. Nick started headhunting in 1979 in Silicon Valley and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fast Company, and on CNNfn, CNBC, and MSNBC. Check out his book, Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job (Penguin/Plume, 1997).

The Croc's got teeth
Each week, Nick Corcodilos shares his iconoclastic perspective on job hunting in The Crocodile(TM), his column on TechRepublic.com. This week, Nick offers a two-part test to help managers determine who to promote.