May 6, 2003

Show me the money
Posted by jbutler@bostonworks.com">Jason Butler at 11:16 AM -

Do you need an agent to manage your career?

Since the demise of the Hollywood studio system and the rise of free agency in professional sports, the use of agents in those areas has become ubiquitous. But until Hyman came along, the agent model had never translated to corporate talent. The longer job tenures of corporate execs would make for infrequent--and therefore unprofitable--agenting work, the thinking went. The subjectivity that comes with judging executives would make an agent's value questionable. And compared with the limited universe of which sports agents must keep abreast, the business world seemed infinite and unknowable.

[Agent Jeff] Hyman is convinced, however, that those realities have changed. The mass layoffs and shorter job tenures that followed the Internet bubble mean that executives now have to juggle two careers: their current position and the ongoing search for the next one.

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