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Career Advising

Over the long term, careers generally do not follow a straight line. Opportunities, dynamic change, risks and alternatives lie all around us. I help individuals improve their work lives based on their abilities, what they’ve accomplished, and what they value as they look ahead. Working in one-on-one consultation, my clients and I focus on three main elements:

• developing an authentic sense of self

• setting professional objectives

• working on effective tactics to achieve those objectives

I engage with people across all kinds of careers, industries, personal backgrounds and geography. What my clients have in common is the desire to address an important need with an experienced professional guide. Examples of client profiles include:

• college students, recent graduates, new PhD’s, and young people designing their trajectory

• tech workers, managers, and executives looking to optimize their value

• professionals dealing with career disruption or fatigue

• business owners strategizing for growth or a new direction

• musicians, designers, filmmakers and artists seeking to increase income

• people retiring from lucrative careers who want to work in a new way

What we work on is tailored for each client. Some projects last hours, more last months, and many clients come back to focus on new objectives. Often, engagements begin with a deep dive into my client’s background to understand their journey — and we learn to convey that in a coherent, positive narrative. We work on brainstorming and weighing alternative paths forward. We fine-tune the building blocks of a job search including resume writing, uncovering potential roles, interviewing, and offer negotiation. Sometimes we identify hurdles to progress, and work to address them. We work together to stay accountable to our goals.

For many of us, little is more satisfying than using our skills productively toward goals that matter. We all have the potential to achieve that.

Talent Acquisition & Management

Nothing makes a greater difference to an organization’s success than building
high-performing teams of skilled and diverse people. Over a couple of decades, I’ve recruited, managed and developed people who are particularly well-suited for the task at hand and growth over time. For one of the world’s largest investment firms, I built an in-house executive recruiting function, and I started my career in talent in Los Angeles with a global executive search firm.

I work with client organizations to enhance their ability to attract, develop, and retain talent. When you get this right, the impact on the individual and the organization is profound. Areas of focus include:

• Implementing best practices in recruiting and human capital

• Creating strategies to identify and attract most-suited talent

• Planning and hands-on execution of executive searches

• Recruiting team building

• Internal talent assessment and analysis of internal versus external options

• Coaching and development of supervisory and other managerial skills

• Design of specific roles, hiring criteria, and compensation

• Performance management and performance problem solving

Ted Congdon
Managing Principal

Granite Peak Advisors was founded and is led by Ted Congdon. My career has been devoted to marrying the capabilities of people with the needs of organizations and with the common good. I have 15 years of experience building corporate recruiting functions and talent management capability, and 10 years of experience as a retained executive search consultant, before launching my own enterprise in 2013. A key element of all of my work has been helping organizations develop practices to attract and manage people who will thrive in the work environment. Equally important is my experience helping individuals recognize their strengths and potential. Coaching and relationship building has been central to my approach in guiding the hiring of approximately 1000 individuals.

From various vantage points, I have seen careers rise and fall, and rise again. I’ve interviewed thousands of people from all walks of life at all stages of development. I have built and managed high-performing teams. As a friend, a colleague, and a professional, I’ve listened to the stories of people from around the world and motivated them to make the most of their work life.

I have a passion for craftsmanship of all kinds, endurance sports, and backpacking high up in California's Sierra Nevada range. I believe in the potential and gifts which each of us hold. In the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, I studied and earned a degree in History and Economics at Williams College (where the distance running was spectacular). I am married to Melissa Mechem Congdon, M.D. Melissa and I met at Williams and are the parents of two children. In addition to western Massachusetts and my current home in the Bay Area, I’ve lived in Los Angeles, New York City, and Cincinnati, and loved them all.