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Most promising, of course, are the half-steps back that offer plenty of room to grow. Ford tells of one finance executive who accepted a position as a bookkeeper for a small company in the early 1980s and soon convinced the firm to make him a partner.
More recently, this past spring, Steve McElhinney, former CFO of Warren, Michigan-based Warrior Sports, accepted a job as controller of Karmaloop, a Boston-based retailer with similar revenues to Warrior, with the promise that he would transition to the CFO role within 12 to 18 months.
For McElhinney, the driving force for the job change was geographical; the desire to move his family back to his wife's home state. With that box checked, he was happy to work through the transition period, something he says has so far yielded "no frustration" since the current CFO often prefers to work from home, making it easier for him to take on more responsibilities at the office.
Such arrangements are rare, occurring in only about 10% of all job offers, estimates Colin Moor, senior vice president with Keystone Associates, the firm that helped McElhinney in his search, and rarely carry a guarantee or any sort of contractual obligation.
However, it may be worth asking about future opportunities at the firm. "Some companies are very forthcoming, and will explain that you would be the planned successor when current CFO retires, generally indicating a timeframe," he says.
Still, some finance executives remain unmoved by such an approach. "The only time I would consider that is for a short-term project," says Gary Starr, who was CFO of a mid-market consulting firm in the New York area before helping to sell it late last year. In fact, he's currently mulling such a project, one that would involve "a meaty role" and some income but would mean reporting to someone whose job he feels he could easily handle. Taking a lesser title on a permanent basis, however, is out of the question for him at the moment. Says Starr: "It seems like settling."