McCombs Alumni Network News

Darrell W. Gurney, BBA ’84, came to McCombs as the first in his family to go to college, looking to succeed and make something big happen in his life. “I felt sort of like George Bailey in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ when he said ‘I’m gonna shake the dust of this small town and see the world,’” says Gurney, who grew up in southeast Texas.

That ambition propelled Gurney into the school’s honors program, its international business association and a finance job in London right out of school.

“In five years, the world became a much bigger place to me,” Gurney says.
After a year in London, Gurney moved to Los Angeles, where he met a corporate headhunter who helped Gurney realize that he was more suited for sales than finance, and offered him a job as a recruiter. Gurney instantly realized it was the right fit, and 20 years later, he is still in the career coaching business, with his firm Permanent Success Partners.

“I’m the Career Energizer” Gurney says of his profession. “I help people keep going and going and going.”

Gurney prefers career coaching to recruiting because with recruiting, “I like teaching people how to fish rather than just give them a fish,” he says. “A lot of people in corporate roles don’t realize you have to treat yourself like you are a business. I want to help people become responsible for their own careers.”

Gurney says the first step anyone—job seekers and happily employed professionals alike—needs to do is create a “career tribe.” Your tribe is made up of people around you who are always aware of your gifts as well as what’s going on in your industry.

“So many people wait until they need a job to start networking, or they let their network go once they find a job” Gurney says. “But calling someone up out of the blue when you need a job is one of the worst job-finding tactics; you need to have that network already in place.”

Gurney also suggests doing a career inventory. Look back over your various positions to discover what your past can tell you about how you can be successful in the future. “Look for that unique essence that you bring to everything you touch,” Gurney says.

For more career advice and details on how to obtain a McCombs alumni discount on Gurney’s services, visit the McCombs Career Resources Web site.