Career Changes and Job Search Services for Attorneys, Executives and Professionals

Since 1992, Career Strategies has offered complete career development and job search services for attorneys, executives and professionals in transition.

More recently, we have been serving corporate clients with recruiting, outplacement and business enhancement programs.

Whether working with individual job seekers or with corporate clients, we design customized programs for their unique needs. We simply do not believe in a "one-size-fits-all, off-the shelf" approach.

For the individual job seeker, our services include:

  • Identification of career options based on objective analysis of skills and experience
  • Preparation of powerful resumes and personal marketing materials
  • Information on effective methods for generating leads and mounting a campaign
  • Creation of personalized marketing action plans
  • Coaching and guidance on campaign strategies and interviewing techniques
  • Distribution of resumes to targeted companies and recruiters through our massive contact database

Our unique combination of marketing experience, in-depth knowledge of job search methodologies, search assistance resources and expertise in the special requirements of attorneys and senior executives, enables our clients to take control over their careers and job search campaigns, identify their options, and then to obtain the positions of their choice effectively, efficiently and rapidly.

As recognized authorities on job search issues, we have been interviewed by news organizations including The New Jersey Lawyer, New Jersey Law Journal, Connecticut Law Tribune, News 12, Westchester Business Journal, the Newark Star-Ledger, the New York Post and others. We have also lectured on job search and career direction issues for legal and business groups in the Northeast.

 

Our Senior Management Team

Without question, the strength of the CSI Group is our people. Our team presents clients with distinguished backgrounds in marketing, business, the law, academics and finance, and each member applies their expertise to the single goal of helping our clients achieve their business and human resource goals.

Bruce Blackwell, President, Career Strategies International, has two decades of corporate marketing and management experience. Early in his career, he was an award-winning editor and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist for Gannett Newspapers. He later became Vice President of Marketing for a cable TV network before transitioning into the motion picture industry, where he was Director of Marketing and Corporate Affairs for New Line Cinema and Director of Publicity for MGM. While with Marketing Corporation of America, he consulted for companies like IBM, 3M, GE, Avon, Lorillard, and Burger King. Subsequently, he was on the U.S. Executive Committee for the world's largest automation software development firm. Before founding Career Strategies, he had been a Branch Manager and Senior Consultant for two of the leading career development firms in the Northeast. Mr. Blackwell is a magna cum laude graduate of Ithaca College, was on the Board of Directors of the International Teleproduction Society, and is a past member of the Personnel Steering Committee of the Westchester County Chamber of Commerce. He has presented career transition seminars for the FDIC, State of Connecticut Legal Services division, the N.J. Bar Association's Institute for Continuing Legal Education and others.

Edward R. Speyer, Ph.D, President, Career Pursuit Services, has a broad-based, 25-year background in academic administration, business and career management in the public and private sectors. He has served as Vice President of National Home Guaranty, Inc., Director of Marketing for North American Educational Services, and Vice President of Operations for American Tele-Marketing. He also served as Director of Admissions for Monroe College. As a marketing consultant, he has provided advice and counsel to companies throughout the U.S. Dr. Speyer has held human resource management positions with the City of Yonkers and the State of New York. He has 15 years of experience conducting career and vocational counseling programs, including 10 years supervising other career counselors. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from City College, an M.A. in Counseling from New York University and a doctoral degree in Educational Administration from LaSalle University.

Susan Skaf, President, Tudor Rose; Director, CSI Search Division, has nearly 15 years experience in staffing, recruiting and executive search. Ms. Skaf now heads CSI's executive search and administrative staff recruiting operations. She was educated to postgraduate level in London, specializing in French, Spanish and German. After holding positions at major international corporations such as The Guinness Peat Group in the U.K. and at other well known companies in Europe, Ms. Skaf came to the U.S., where she began to build a career in the recruitment field. She helped develop the international division of a large staffing firm in New York City before opening her own personnel business, Tudor Rose, in 1993. Tudor Rose has developed an excellent professional reputation among domestic U.S. corporations and with European-based companies with offices in the Greater New York area. Ms. Skaf also has strong writing and editing skills and, in conjunction with Career Strategies International, has already successfully developed a new resume service, Resumes by CSI.

Michael Lord, President, Michael Lord & Company, brings a combination of business, legal and executive search experience to the Group. Prior to founding his own legal search firm, Mr. Lord worked for several years at one of New York's veteran attorney placement firms. Mr. Lord is active in the National Association of Legal Search Consultants, the preeminent trade organization in the field of attorney placement. He is also on the Real Estate Board of New York, the New York State Bar Association, and has lectured on attorney placement in conjunction with a seminar sponsored by Salomon Smith Barney. Mr. Lord holds a B.A. from Emory University, where he played varsity tennis, and a J.D. from Syracuse University, where he was an Executive Editor of the Syracuse Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Board. Before entering the legal search field, Mr. Lord spent nearly a decade as an attorney, both as a litigator and in business and transactional work with law firms in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut. Earlier in his career, he was Deputy Finance Director for Robert S. Abrams U.S. Senate campaign, and had been with the CHD Public Relations firm.