CRC Alumni Spotlight: Alex Sliwa
Alex Sliwa spent 20+ years as an executive with Northern Trust. He started in operations at the bank and moved into a client service internal advisory role. During his time in client services, Alex was responsible for day-to-day contact with high net-worth family management teams to whom he provided his advice and expertise. Eventually, Alex moved into a special projects role focusing on Northern Trust’s foray into the development of business intelligence tools. Ultimately, Alex found the technology role unfulfilling and he moved on from Northern Trust.
When he left Northern Trust in the spring of last year, he hired someone to write his resume and began interviewing almost immediately. While Alex got plenty of interviews, he found that he was not getting second and third interviews – or good job offers. In the summer, he contacted CRC. He learned of CRC through a relative who had used CRC’s services several years before.
Alex got to work immediately with his advisor. “We put together a game plan for my job search…there was a lot of one-on-one interaction.” In addition, he noted that “before I stated working with CRC, I wasn’t getting to second round interviews”. Alex and his advisor focused especially on the interview process. “As we spoke, Rich (Alex’s advisor) gave me lots of good insights on interviewing…We replayed interviews and he taught me to consider why a company asked a certain question…and how to frame a good response.”
“I felt more confident in my responses because I understood why they were asking the questions…and my interviews became more conversational.” The advice he got from Rich as well as other interviewing specialists at CRC made a huge difference. “I went through the mock interview process…and did mock interviews with Rich” at CRC which helped tremendously.
After a few months, Alex received a great offer from RMB Capital. He is in a new and exciting role at the investment firm and will be responsible for a major growth initiative while also utilizing his expertise in efficiency management.
Alex noted that “this process can be very difficult mentally and emotionally…my advisor helped me get through it.” One other piece of advice Alex offers to other job seekers – “make sure you know the company’s values…During interviews, my ability to speak to their values was a big plus” and something Alex attributes to his receiving the job offer from RMB Capital.
- Interview and story by John Strauss, CRC Board Member
