Thursday, July 24, 1997

You may want to try your old workplace a second time around

By HAL LANCASTER

The Wall Street Journal

Can you go home again?

It's a question being pondered with greater frequency as companies that want to expand try to woo back talented managers who were downsized or who left for other jobs.

"A lot of organizations cut so thin in recent years, they're just desperate for talent," says Mike Salvagno, a partner in Cambridge Group, a Westport, Conn., executive-search firm. "Anybody who's got experience and expertise is in demand today."

For years, hiring back departed - and presumably disloyal - managers was verboten at many companies. But in a fast-moving economy, many companies are starting to see the advantages of recycling managers. They get a known quantity who knows their business and culture and requires little hand-holding.

Moreover, some companies have had bad experiences recruiting outsiders who clashed with their culture. "At the executive level, culture kills," says Rick Miners, of New York's Sedlar & Miners executive-search firm.

In some cases, the rehirings are temporary gigs for retired executives, who are brought back for a specific project or to bridge the gap between generations of managers. PepsiCo recently tapped 72-year-old Andrall E. Pearson, its former president, as chairman and CEO of the $10 billion restaurant company it plans to spin off. His assignment: Win over Wall Street prior to the public offering and groom his successor.

But companies are also pursuing their younger former executives for longer-term goals. Rayna Brown has seen a lot of that as vice president of human resources for Ziff-Davis, the New York publishing firm.

She also has some firsthand experience. In 1991, she left Ziff-Davis for Capitol Records and the chance to be near her family in Los Angeles. Ziff-Davis had a reputation for welcoming back those who stray, so Brown maintained cordial relations with top executives there. When there was a change of management at Capitol and the operation was eventually consolidated in New York, Brown returned to Ziff-Davis, which allowed her to stay on the West Coast.

For those facing a similar choice, here are some points to ponder:

-- Remember why you left in the first place.

Amid the flattery of a big-bucks offer from your former boss, "people forget to reacquaint themselves with the reasons they left," Brown says.

Was the company slow to promote or offer raises? Is that boss who drove you batty still around? Is there any reason to believe that anything has changed?

Brown listed her abilities and interests and eventually decided she missed the atmosphere and people at Ziff-Davis. Letting her stay on the West Coast also helped.

-- Survey the political landscape.

Andrew Beaver, now senior vice president, account director, left Deutsch Inc. in 1994 when the New York advertising agency was in the midst of a power-struggle. But after just eight months, he decided he didn't fit in at his new employer, Foote, Cone & Belding. Fortuitously, Deutsch asked him to return in a higher-level position.

First, however, he learned from his allies at Deutsch that he "had to make things right." That meant reassuring the head of the agency that his departure hadn't been a statement of support for the chief's vanquished rival.

"Look at the management team and what your relationships were," Ms. Brown advises. "Who were your advocates and who were your naysayers and where are they now?"

-- Assess the opportunities for future growth.

Don't be seduced by a big salary alone. The company may be looking for a quick fix and nothing more. Before going back, discuss longer-term opportunities.

"It's very important to ask yourself, what would you be risking?" Brown says. "Can you resurrect the career path you were on?"

Get it all out on the table, she advises.

"Don't take anything for granted. What's your title, what's the package, how important is the profit center they're assigning you to?"

Talk to others who have returned (if there aren't any, that should send you a message). What path did their careers take? "If the company doesn't have a track record of moving people around and promoting from within, I would look suspiciously" at its offer, Brown says.

-- Catch up with changes.

Because of the inevitability of change, says Joseph Meissner, president of San Francisco career-management firm Power Marketing, "you can't go back and replicate your old ways; you have to adapt to changes in the environment, the marketplace and technology."

Although she was only gone one year, Brown says she returned to a company with new markets and management. "I had to reconnect with all the team managers at the company and get a sense of how things had evolved and what was happening in the market," she says.

-- Re-establish old ties and woo the unconvinced.

You may need the support of old friends, because your return, inevitably, will irk some.

"You may be coming back above someone you were below before," Salvagno says.

Solicit the opinions of those who might resent you and show appreciation for their contributions.

Finally, adds Beaver, don't leave and return again. "You can't do it twice," he says, "regardless of how good you are."