Staying in Touch

Networking and keeping in the loop is cited by just about everyone as hugely important.

To keep current, Kogekar uses his network of colleagues and vendors. "Networking does play an important role because there are the positions that don't get advertised. You hear of changes and you can approach the company - or the company that's doing the search.

"The main difference in a CIO position is that you are in an area where there are not a huge amount of jobs and people are looking for specific skills so there are fewer opportunities and sometimes internal promotions," says Kogekar.

And while Balfour hasn't attended IT industry conferences since she resigned from Telstra, "IBM has still invited me to the global CIOs' meeting". She is also careful to maintain the strong personal links she has developed with other CIOs and senior executives in a range of industries. Being a board member of the Chief Executive Women group hasn't hurt either. Keeping connected is critical, she believes, as is having a good handle on what is going on in terms of technological and corporate developments.

"I tend to attend conferences," says Kogekar, "and talk to people in thought leadership roles and learn about their challenges. The Internet is a good source too. For example, at the moment [I'm reading] all about service-oriented architecture and how to manage Generation Y. It's never as good as being in the hot seat but you can be thinking about how you'd tackle something."

"I think if you don't want to fade from sight - although I think you can make a decision to fade for a period of time - you need to keep in touch with people, go to industry events and start networking," says another ex-CIO. "Just don't act desperate and don't ask people for work.

"I was between jobs a number of years ago. I treated getting a new job like it was a job. I put some time into thinking what story I wanted to tell - how I would explain why I left without looking defensive or sounding like a loser - in other words, put a real positive spin on things. And every day I did one thing to progress my job search, whether it was applying for a job, making one call, meeting one person. It's amazing how things just start happening."