Temporary Worker: Can also be known as a seasonal worker, contingent workforce, a person hired for a temporary possibly undefined period of time but typically used on a short term basis to augment a busy period, vacation period, project, maternity leave or increased but temporary workload driven by projects or production.
Contractor: A role or position offered to a specific worker utilizing specific skills for a specific period of time. Industries that are well known for contractors are IT, Engineering, Drafting, Graphic Arts.
Not all Job seekers are looking for that permanent full time role where they can spend their work days until retirement. Some of us love the flexibility and challenge or learning opportunities presented to us in a constantly fluctuating world of work or perhaps we need this free form of employment to accommodate other worldly passions. We may be caregivers to aging parents, new parents returning to the work force, what ever situation you might be in it seems that these two options can be very attractive. Unique employment relationships or "non-standard" employment relationships such as part time, working with employment (temporary agencies) or contracting are actually pretty standard in today's business world.
My many years of working within the staffing industry has shown me that virtually everything I touch, use or work with has been built by, administered by or serviced by a temporary worker somewhere along the way to market. It is pretty amazing when you stop and think about that. The toothpaste you use each day, the cell phones we talk on, the car we drive, the packaged foods we consume, beverages, the call center you argued with this morning, guess what? All of them utilize a temporary workforce to get their products to market. In a 2009 survey conducted by the Ontario Provincial Government while exploring the options of Bill C139 (which I will address later), discovered that over 700 000 workers in that province held temporary jobs through agencies. In the US that number of temporary workers is substantially magnified.
The Business Case for Non-Standard Employment
Contractors and temporary workers augment an existing workforce within a company. These workers come in ready to work during busy peak times of production and enable deadlines to be met. These roles may also back fill a permanent workers vacation time which is common for office workers as well as fill in during sick time, maternity or personal leaves.
Advantages to these types of temporary or contract roles can be really great for you for a number of reasons such as:
- A temp role can get your foot in the door of an industry or company you want to work for
- It is an excellent way to re-enter the job market after an absence such as maternity leave, school or travel
- Temp work offers incredible flexibility so if you are seeking that work life balance that enables you to go to school, care for loved ones because you are choosing when you want to work you can.
- You can move job opportunities fairly quickly and with great flexibility because you do not need to give much notice.
- You can travel and work at the same time! Some of the best temp workers I have had the pleasure of working with were recent post secondary grads that came to Canada for a work/ski vacation time through the SWAP program.
- Experiment with different roles and industries without the full commitment until you decide what you want to do.
There are some disadvantages to be mindful of as well in the contingent/temp world of work. Pay rates can be up to 40% lower in this form of employment as compared to actual salaries paid within a company to permanent workers. The hiring company has flexibility to end your assignment at any time which can open a can of worms regarding pay in lieu of notice or severance. Your employment agency is on the hook for this if you qualify for that pay out. Vacation pay as well as statutory holiday pay may also come into question for you. Taking your own vacation time may be a challenge because you are there augmenting a busy or already short staffed work force. Many temporary workers have expressed frustration to me over the years because they have felt pulled in multiple directions listenting to the employment agency rules or direction as well as the hiring company. They have felt powerless in this three way relationship.
The heart of the business case or reasons why temporary agencies are used by corporations of all sizes are the incredible cost savings. Yes, cost savings! Lower salaries are built into the bill rates for your work. Hiring managers do not need to concern themselves with worker's compensation insurance, cost of fringe benefits such as your vacation pay, medical/dental benefits, paid sick days, paid vacation time not to mention the incredible paperwork during tax season. Companies that employ temporary workers do not incur legal responsibility because those temp employee names never appear on their payroll. Many times as a temp or contract worker, your pay rate is fixed and there is seldom room for further negotiation around that. It is what it is.
A Brief Comment About Bill C139
I am far from being the "Subject Matter Expert" regarding this bill soon to be potential law when passed in the Province of Ontario but I will tell you it is going to have some profound and sweeping changes to how temporary workers and their agencies do business. In fact, this bill once passed will likely see a migration across the country to other provinces.
This bill was born out of difficult economic times where highly paid workers were downsized and began to look at returning to former work sites as temporary workers perhaps or other places of employment. Due to the fact that temps do not receive paid sick time, vacation pay in some agency environments (not all), workers felt they were not working in a fair or equitable environment. They were working beside permanent employees who did receive all of the benefits and pay so you can only imagine how this would feel. Employers say they require a flexible labour force but some of these temp workers have actually worked on their sites for quite a long period of time. If these long term workers were hired permanently, the cost of benefits and of course the legal responsibility would shift from the agency to themselves.
Another sticking point with Bill C139 addresses is the charging of fees between agencies and employers to hire, convert or process a temporary worker from agency payroll to the permanent job. Temp to perm fees or these administration fees can prevent a business from making the hire due to budget or policy. Another concern is that after a six month stretch of employment or more, why is a fee necessary other than profit to the agencies bottom line since the cost of recruiting the temp has surely been paid off months ago.
At the end of all of this, Bill C139 in a very general statement is trying to address the definitions and employment terms between the tripod relationship of temp, temp agency and company that pays for the service. It attempts to clarify these relationships and create fair, equitable and reasonable work practices for all workers regardless of the temp/perm debate.
Resume Tips To Attract Temp Recruiters Attention
In another blog I will address the whole topic of agencies, how they work and the hot ticket, how to make them work for you. One of the ways you can ensure that your resume stands out and attracts the attention of a temp recruiter is to make sure you focus specifically on your core competencies, your achievements and your personality. Recruiters need to be aware of your hard skills immediately so they see the fit with their client group. Be sure that you mention your software skills and work experience. Lay it all out clearly and concisely. Temp recruiters will use you for their immediate opening so they need to understand your capabilities fast.
One little trick that I loved but drove me crazy at the same time was to see a resume of a job seeker listing every company that they ever worked on temporary assignment for. I loved this because I instantly understood the types of environments they fit into and the type of work they enjoyed. It was a great marketing gift as well because I saw where my competitors were staffing. I also cringed because I knew this market intelligence from my group of temporary employees was out there for my competitors to see as well. Oh Well!!!
Good luck and happy hunting! Your next career is just waiting for you to take it on!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Employee Retention - What is this and why does it matter?
I have been asked to share my thoughts around the topic of employee retention on a number of occasions recently because of the huge economic downturn experienced in 2009. Companies have had serious struggles with the downsizing of employees while many of my managerial friends have felt like they were pulling for the longest straws in the boardroom deciding the fates of their teams. It now seems that companies are slowly recovering from those turbulent financial nose dives but are now facing another crisis.......retention of their talent. In other words, are you going to stay with your employer after the hard times? I think there is a 70's love song out there with that exact theme.
I hear it everyday, how demotivated you felt during these hard times. Your bonus plan frozen, wages frozen, extra perks frozen, the darn coffee fund was even taken away! Now that may sound silly to many people in their current job search and they may even feel that you should be grateful to at least have a job never mind the coffee fund. What we as job seekers need to understand however is that not only is it vital to find your next role but what will keep you there? Countless consultants and managers have discussed why people choose to move on. There are surveys all over the Internet and I am sure if you asked to speak with your companies HR representative, they would love to engage in this very conversation.
Here are some of the top reasons why we break camp and move on.
1. The Boss - How well we get along with our manager really cannot be ignored. Are you micromanaged? Respected? How does your manager deal with you on a daily basis? Do you feel listened to or does every meeting or phone call face rescheduling on a constant basis? Workplaces that promote employee empowerment or enable workers will see fewer depart the work environment. Another key element for managers to consider is the fact that they only look as good as their team performs!
2. Higher Salaries Elsewhere - Pay is tied for the number one spot with a bad boss as a reason to go. Financially certain companies or industries can only afford so much and the money to pay you more has to come from somewhere.
3. Internal Pay Equity - An interesting and often over looked fact or perception by existing employees is that new talent is attracted by higher pay in the exact same role they currently fill. To add insult to injury, when annual raises are issued at the standard 4% these employees still feel the new coworker is earning more than them. This perception makes for some very resentful feelings in the work place.
4. Benefits - The beloved coffee fund, flex days, medical or dental benefits, work place dress code, paid time off, educational reimbursement, vacation time, training are all seen as leverage by recruiters. Savvy job seekers want to know about how much all of this will cost them each month and employment decisions to work somewhere or not can be strongly influenced by this whole benefits package.
5. Pay Increases, Bonus Payout Guidelines - many employees feel that their current bonus structures are difficult to achieve if not impossible or the goals are constantly changed by management to target even more.
6. Workloads - In these past 12 months or more employees have been doing more with less. Teams have been downsized but workloads have remained the same with the overload shifted within the team. Workers are picking up the load from these empty cubicles as well as survivors guilt and grief over the loss of a coworker. This leads to severe burnout and more coworkers off on sick time.
7. The Lone Wolf - A little syndrome that happens rather common place in today's world of work as far as I am concerned. Employees are sometimes forced to go it alone during their work day. They may work remotely or perhaps management is located in another city. These workers rely on management to reach out remote by phone or email but sometimes managers are unavailable forcing decisions or creating a whole feeling of lack of support.
8. Human Resources - There is a perception in the world of work that the company HR department is responsible for all of their hardship or unfair treatment. This evil department is responsible for every raise that passed them by, benefit form rejected, pay error and the like. Please understand that your HR department is none of the above. HR does not write company policy but rather they are your advocate in the work environment. The HR department is your "Sherpa guide" if you will that will assist with your forms, explain legislation to you that is accurate rather than the advice given by your friend. They want you to come to them when you feel you have concerns because employee retention affects them directly! (That was just a paid service announcement for all of my HR friends out there)...but seriously ....
9. Job Site Location and Maintenance - I am puzzled by job site location as a key retention point but in all of my years, this is a surprising reason for turn over. Let me explain what I mean here. Workers accept a role that may be a considerable commuting distance from home or several public transit transfers that quite frankly wear the worker down each day. End result, they find a job closer to home with a commute that feel less like traveling across the country each day.
Maintenance is an interesting but serious reason for turnover. I have heard this before but recently met a job seeker who had left a "dirty" work environment without another job to go to. I inquired further to discover that as part of company cost cutting, management decided to end the cleaning contract of the office in order to save money and also save employee jobs. A great thing to do but every person's definition of clean can be different and this worker could no longer stand office mates that did not throw out their desk garbage cans on a daily basis or keep the restroom clean.
10. Lack of Movement or Future Opportunity - While some employees may not care to climb the corporate ladder, they still want growth in their roles. This can mean further training, attending seminars or working in other departments perhaps cross training. A cross trained employee in my opinion is worth their weight in gold. Other employees might be reaching for the top of their department, division or region. Others still may want to be the future company leader.
Employee Retention Is Not All Doom And Gloom!
Employee retention is actually a very positive and fun set of strategies that job seekers can use to their advantage. Solid employee retention strategies are the life blood of any organization. The cost of employee turnover can be enormous when you consider the following:
- attracting talent - costs associated with recruiting
- screening processes
- salaries and signing bonus (often times salaries increase as roles are back filled)
- costs of on boarding and training
All of these costs affect the company bottom line which in the end does trickle down to the pool of money that can be paid to current employees incumbent in their roles. Remember the dollars have to come from somewhere!
There are some things employees would like their company and managers to start doing today and not all of them are going to cost their business a small fortune.
1. Selection, Selection, Selection - The right hires are an absolute first line defense when it comes to the loss of talent. Using great selection and screening tools helps ensure the right fit for the company. Using proper screening and selection helps companies drill down to the heart of hiring decisions as well as ensuring a new hire has the appropriate job description that provides very clear understanding of a companies expectations over the next 30/60/90 days. Supportive "on boarding" support also is essential. Ambiguity in the first months to a year will absolutely result in employees leaving or being terminated.
2. Benefits and Salary - Pay rates and salaries are what they are in many industries so there can be little room for leverage or barganing here. What can a company do or an employee ask for? Benefits! This can come in the form of flex days, personal days, sick days, vacation time, medical/dental benefits, tuition reimbursement, educational spending accounts, health and wellness spending accounts, RRSP or pension fund matching strategies or time off to attend seminars and courses. Very creative strategies might be a work from home option or workshare program between new parents returning to the workplace. Dress code can also be a very nice perk.
3. Management and Leadership - Bosses need to be available to their employees within reason. Managers need to coach or mentor employees building an empowering relationship. After all, the next happy retained employee could be the head of IT or the new CFO. With the right leadership in any organization employees have a sense of belonging and value which goes a long way to keeping them in place. Leaders need to be aware of bad habits like postponing meetings, micromanaging and not following through on what they say they will do.
4. Praise and Feedback - Employees want to know how they have been doing. They want to be recognized for going the extra mile, they want regular feedback even if it is not favorable. Coaching and providing feedback keeps the work environment healthy by setting goals that are attainable or corrective actions. Great feedback is the foundation of a solid and trusted work environment.
5. Growth and Challenge - Even when there can be no opportunity for growth in a role, challenge and learning can certainly be added. Cross training employees provides new experiences and knowledge that can only benefit a company. It also gives employees new experiences that make them feel more valuable in their roles.
6. Have Fun!- This should be the number one thing to start doing today in my opinion. Employees definately need to have a laugh at work. Remember, we spend more time with our coworkers in many cases than our family members. Funny competitions or theme lunches might be what is called for especially if your company has been flying through some very rough turbulance. One company I am familiar with has organized lunches weekly where some employees attend a book club while the others have cribbage tournaments. A very Canadian thing to do I might add! Other workplaces support charities and donate employees during work time to work within the community which is very rewarding for everyone involved.
7. Work Life Balance - What does this really mean or even look like? When companies ensure proper staffing levels or adequate coverage teams can balance a variety of employee needs such as an important day at school for somebody's child. That parent can now attend that special concert or in a generation of baby boomer's people find themselves caring for an elderly parent so this could be time to take that person to medical appointments or assessments. It could even be as simple as a flex day taken to do some personal de-stressing.
8. Include Employees In Company Planning - Where possible and of course allowable, include all members of the company in the decision making process especially if it involves their department. Keep your employees engaged and reminded of company mission statements or visions but managers, live up to them yourselves! Be creative and have a workshop where employees contribute to the operating principles or vision of the company.
9. Recognize And Celebrate Employee Successes - Celebrate milestones like birthdays or company anniversaries. Celebrate the big win or successful proposal with the team or writer, celebrate your customer service rep who deals with some of your most challenging customer(s), this is all very simple and inexpensive but demonstrates the employees value to the business.
10. Clear Communication - This comes up frequently when I speak with job seekers. Often during my conversations it is divulged to me that people felt their former bosses spoke to them in code, unknown languages or a dialect of their mother tongue they have never heard before. Answering questions with more questions, deflecting, bobbing and weaving the question is a very frustrating experience for an employee. Employees want the straight goods in a clear understandable language spoken with honesty and integrity.
I hope my message here has been clear for you. There has been a lot of information in this post but my hope is that you will find some reasons to stay in your current role or provide some guidance around how companies are looking to keep you once you are hired.
We have all been in the top 10 situations to leave an organization or have that strong desire to do so. The reasons to stay are pretty good however if your company utilizes some or all of these basic strategies to keep you on board. This is great intelligence gathering however if decide to interview and you understand the perks of retaining employees as well as the cost of turnover as leverage. These retention strategies will I hope give you food for thought or great interview questions that will help you assess your next career move.
Good luck, happy hunting!
I hear it everyday, how demotivated you felt during these hard times. Your bonus plan frozen, wages frozen, extra perks frozen, the darn coffee fund was even taken away! Now that may sound silly to many people in their current job search and they may even feel that you should be grateful to at least have a job never mind the coffee fund. What we as job seekers need to understand however is that not only is it vital to find your next role but what will keep you there? Countless consultants and managers have discussed why people choose to move on. There are surveys all over the Internet and I am sure if you asked to speak with your companies HR representative, they would love to engage in this very conversation.
Here are some of the top reasons why we break camp and move on.
1. The Boss - How well we get along with our manager really cannot be ignored. Are you micromanaged? Respected? How does your manager deal with you on a daily basis? Do you feel listened to or does every meeting or phone call face rescheduling on a constant basis? Workplaces that promote employee empowerment or enable workers will see fewer depart the work environment. Another key element for managers to consider is the fact that they only look as good as their team performs!
2. Higher Salaries Elsewhere - Pay is tied for the number one spot with a bad boss as a reason to go. Financially certain companies or industries can only afford so much and the money to pay you more has to come from somewhere.
3. Internal Pay Equity - An interesting and often over looked fact or perception by existing employees is that new talent is attracted by higher pay in the exact same role they currently fill. To add insult to injury, when annual raises are issued at the standard 4% these employees still feel the new coworker is earning more than them. This perception makes for some very resentful feelings in the work place.
4. Benefits - The beloved coffee fund, flex days, medical or dental benefits, work place dress code, paid time off, educational reimbursement, vacation time, training are all seen as leverage by recruiters. Savvy job seekers want to know about how much all of this will cost them each month and employment decisions to work somewhere or not can be strongly influenced by this whole benefits package.
5. Pay Increases, Bonus Payout Guidelines - many employees feel that their current bonus structures are difficult to achieve if not impossible or the goals are constantly changed by management to target even more.
6. Workloads - In these past 12 months or more employees have been doing more with less. Teams have been downsized but workloads have remained the same with the overload shifted within the team. Workers are picking up the load from these empty cubicles as well as survivors guilt and grief over the loss of a coworker. This leads to severe burnout and more coworkers off on sick time.
7. The Lone Wolf - A little syndrome that happens rather common place in today's world of work as far as I am concerned. Employees are sometimes forced to go it alone during their work day. They may work remotely or perhaps management is located in another city. These workers rely on management to reach out remote by phone or email but sometimes managers are unavailable forcing decisions or creating a whole feeling of lack of support.
8. Human Resources - There is a perception in the world of work that the company HR department is responsible for all of their hardship or unfair treatment. This evil department is responsible for every raise that passed them by, benefit form rejected, pay error and the like. Please understand that your HR department is none of the above. HR does not write company policy but rather they are your advocate in the work environment. The HR department is your "Sherpa guide" if you will that will assist with your forms, explain legislation to you that is accurate rather than the advice given by your friend. They want you to come to them when you feel you have concerns because employee retention affects them directly! (That was just a paid service announcement for all of my HR friends out there)...but seriously ....
9. Job Site Location and Maintenance - I am puzzled by job site location as a key retention point but in all of my years, this is a surprising reason for turn over. Let me explain what I mean here. Workers accept a role that may be a considerable commuting distance from home or several public transit transfers that quite frankly wear the worker down each day. End result, they find a job closer to home with a commute that feel less like traveling across the country each day.
Maintenance is an interesting but serious reason for turnover. I have heard this before but recently met a job seeker who had left a "dirty" work environment without another job to go to. I inquired further to discover that as part of company cost cutting, management decided to end the cleaning contract of the office in order to save money and also save employee jobs. A great thing to do but every person's definition of clean can be different and this worker could no longer stand office mates that did not throw out their desk garbage cans on a daily basis or keep the restroom clean.
10. Lack of Movement or Future Opportunity - While some employees may not care to climb the corporate ladder, they still want growth in their roles. This can mean further training, attending seminars or working in other departments perhaps cross training. A cross trained employee in my opinion is worth their weight in gold. Other employees might be reaching for the top of their department, division or region. Others still may want to be the future company leader.
Employee Retention Is Not All Doom And Gloom!
Employee retention is actually a very positive and fun set of strategies that job seekers can use to their advantage. Solid employee retention strategies are the life blood of any organization. The cost of employee turnover can be enormous when you consider the following:
- attracting talent - costs associated with recruiting
- screening processes
- salaries and signing bonus (often times salaries increase as roles are back filled)
- costs of on boarding and training
All of these costs affect the company bottom line which in the end does trickle down to the pool of money that can be paid to current employees incumbent in their roles. Remember the dollars have to come from somewhere!
There are some things employees would like their company and managers to start doing today and not all of them are going to cost their business a small fortune.
1. Selection, Selection, Selection - The right hires are an absolute first line defense when it comes to the loss of talent. Using great selection and screening tools helps ensure the right fit for the company. Using proper screening and selection helps companies drill down to the heart of hiring decisions as well as ensuring a new hire has the appropriate job description that provides very clear understanding of a companies expectations over the next 30/60/90 days. Supportive "on boarding" support also is essential. Ambiguity in the first months to a year will absolutely result in employees leaving or being terminated.
2. Benefits and Salary - Pay rates and salaries are what they are in many industries so there can be little room for leverage or barganing here. What can a company do or an employee ask for? Benefits! This can come in the form of flex days, personal days, sick days, vacation time, medical/dental benefits, tuition reimbursement, educational spending accounts, health and wellness spending accounts, RRSP or pension fund matching strategies or time off to attend seminars and courses. Very creative strategies might be a work from home option or workshare program between new parents returning to the workplace. Dress code can also be a very nice perk.
3. Management and Leadership - Bosses need to be available to their employees within reason. Managers need to coach or mentor employees building an empowering relationship. After all, the next happy retained employee could be the head of IT or the new CFO. With the right leadership in any organization employees have a sense of belonging and value which goes a long way to keeping them in place. Leaders need to be aware of bad habits like postponing meetings, micromanaging and not following through on what they say they will do.
4. Praise and Feedback - Employees want to know how they have been doing. They want to be recognized for going the extra mile, they want regular feedback even if it is not favorable. Coaching and providing feedback keeps the work environment healthy by setting goals that are attainable or corrective actions. Great feedback is the foundation of a solid and trusted work environment.
5. Growth and Challenge - Even when there can be no opportunity for growth in a role, challenge and learning can certainly be added. Cross training employees provides new experiences and knowledge that can only benefit a company. It also gives employees new experiences that make them feel more valuable in their roles.
6. Have Fun!- This should be the number one thing to start doing today in my opinion. Employees definately need to have a laugh at work. Remember, we spend more time with our coworkers in many cases than our family members. Funny competitions or theme lunches might be what is called for especially if your company has been flying through some very rough turbulance. One company I am familiar with has organized lunches weekly where some employees attend a book club while the others have cribbage tournaments. A very Canadian thing to do I might add! Other workplaces support charities and donate employees during work time to work within the community which is very rewarding for everyone involved.
7. Work Life Balance - What does this really mean or even look like? When companies ensure proper staffing levels or adequate coverage teams can balance a variety of employee needs such as an important day at school for somebody's child. That parent can now attend that special concert or in a generation of baby boomer's people find themselves caring for an elderly parent so this could be time to take that person to medical appointments or assessments. It could even be as simple as a flex day taken to do some personal de-stressing.
8. Include Employees In Company Planning - Where possible and of course allowable, include all members of the company in the decision making process especially if it involves their department. Keep your employees engaged and reminded of company mission statements or visions but managers, live up to them yourselves! Be creative and have a workshop where employees contribute to the operating principles or vision of the company.
9. Recognize And Celebrate Employee Successes - Celebrate milestones like birthdays or company anniversaries. Celebrate the big win or successful proposal with the team or writer, celebrate your customer service rep who deals with some of your most challenging customer(s), this is all very simple and inexpensive but demonstrates the employees value to the business.
10. Clear Communication - This comes up frequently when I speak with job seekers. Often during my conversations it is divulged to me that people felt their former bosses spoke to them in code, unknown languages or a dialect of their mother tongue they have never heard before. Answering questions with more questions, deflecting, bobbing and weaving the question is a very frustrating experience for an employee. Employees want the straight goods in a clear understandable language spoken with honesty and integrity.
I hope my message here has been clear for you. There has been a lot of information in this post but my hope is that you will find some reasons to stay in your current role or provide some guidance around how companies are looking to keep you once you are hired.
We have all been in the top 10 situations to leave an organization or have that strong desire to do so. The reasons to stay are pretty good however if your company utilizes some or all of these basic strategies to keep you on board. This is great intelligence gathering however if decide to interview and you understand the perks of retaining employees as well as the cost of turnover as leverage. These retention strategies will I hope give you food for thought or great interview questions that will help you assess your next career move.
Good luck, happy hunting!
Monday, February 22, 2010
In the beginning....reasons to job search
In the beginning there was the need for a job search.......
Changing jobs by your choice or not is possibly the most difficult situation we can experience during our adult lives. If we are terminated, the sum of all fears come together in an instant sitting in your managers office listening to their business decisions. The cold sweat, the ringing in your ears as you try to figure out when your medical benefits will end. You ask yourself, "why me? I was always" .....(insert best qualities here). The sum of all fears come together in an instant that hold your life together. You visualize your bills, your rent or mortgage payments, car payments, dollar symbols flash before your eyes. You think about your family, all the responsibilities they bring you, your vacation time as well as all of the other things you have earned that have defined your life. Now what?
Even when we choose to leave our jobs for a new one, the process for many is just as stressful. We fear the probationary period, we experience job changing remorse and second guess ourselves until all hours of the night. Typically we do not leave our current roles for new ones until we are so fed up with the nonsense of that job or the boss it can be a very bitter ending indeed. I hope to guide you through the career changing process with this blog and show you that there is a better way to feel and operate in these life changing situations. It can be done in a more positive and successful transition that will leave you feeling much better about this whole process.
Some people are constantly passively searching for their next role. They might be career gypsies that enjoy movement and constant change. In a way, I admire their courage but I am stuck on the other side of the coin worrying about what perceptions my resume might leave with a future potential employer. Others are simply not happy so they feel constant change of work environment may lead them to that perfect setting where they will retire. From my experience as a recruiter and career developer, they are likely in the wrong careers in the first place! Still others move from one role to the next to develop their work experience in their chosen field and this is a necessary part of that growth.
Could any of the above describe how you feel at this moment? Desire for a change in location or duties? Are you feeling stuck in your career? Are you second guessing the career you have chosen? Everyone feels this way on a fairly regular basis in their world of work. A suggestion I offer to you is to take the time to find a source for some great personality assessments or apptitude assessments. These are valuable tools because they can offer suggestions or confirm what you may already know. These assessments can tell you about your work style, the types of challenges you function best or worst in and depending upon the assessment, the type of management style that works best for you.
How can I find one of these assessments? There are many free online resources available as well as community job finding clubs in your local area. There are employment counsellors or facilitators trained in the delivery of these for a minimal cost or no cost at all. If you are serious about change but unsure what that looks like or you are suddenly in the middle of change through no planning of your own, this can be a very valuable use of your time. Start taking some control of your career now, make sure you are on the path you are meant to be on!
It is important to feel good about what you do and where you do it. North American workers spend more time in their work environments than they do at home with their families. Think about that for a moment. If you spend eight hours per day, five days per week at work that equals 40 hours. At home during your waking moments you average 20 hours on the weekend and about 20 waking hours during the week with your loved ones. Your most productive and conscious time is spent with your coworkers earning a living. If you are a manager or senior manager, this figure probably looks worse. This is just a rough estimate here but it is no wonder we have a health crisis on our hands. This is why it is so important to make sure that what you do makes you happy and when you come home, your day is something you can feel good about.
Changing jobs by your choice or not is possibly the most difficult situation we can experience during our adult lives. If we are terminated, the sum of all fears come together in an instant sitting in your managers office listening to their business decisions. The cold sweat, the ringing in your ears as you try to figure out when your medical benefits will end. You ask yourself, "why me? I was always" .....(insert best qualities here). The sum of all fears come together in an instant that hold your life together. You visualize your bills, your rent or mortgage payments, car payments, dollar symbols flash before your eyes. You think about your family, all the responsibilities they bring you, your vacation time as well as all of the other things you have earned that have defined your life. Now what?
Even when we choose to leave our jobs for a new one, the process for many is just as stressful. We fear the probationary period, we experience job changing remorse and second guess ourselves until all hours of the night. Typically we do not leave our current roles for new ones until we are so fed up with the nonsense of that job or the boss it can be a very bitter ending indeed. I hope to guide you through the career changing process with this blog and show you that there is a better way to feel and operate in these life changing situations. It can be done in a more positive and successful transition that will leave you feeling much better about this whole process.
Some people are constantly passively searching for their next role. They might be career gypsies that enjoy movement and constant change. In a way, I admire their courage but I am stuck on the other side of the coin worrying about what perceptions my resume might leave with a future potential employer. Others are simply not happy so they feel constant change of work environment may lead them to that perfect setting where they will retire. From my experience as a recruiter and career developer, they are likely in the wrong careers in the first place! Still others move from one role to the next to develop their work experience in their chosen field and this is a necessary part of that growth.
Could any of the above describe how you feel at this moment? Desire for a change in location or duties? Are you feeling stuck in your career? Are you second guessing the career you have chosen? Everyone feels this way on a fairly regular basis in their world of work. A suggestion I offer to you is to take the time to find a source for some great personality assessments or apptitude assessments. These are valuable tools because they can offer suggestions or confirm what you may already know. These assessments can tell you about your work style, the types of challenges you function best or worst in and depending upon the assessment, the type of management style that works best for you.
How can I find one of these assessments? There are many free online resources available as well as community job finding clubs in your local area. There are employment counsellors or facilitators trained in the delivery of these for a minimal cost or no cost at all. If you are serious about change but unsure what that looks like or you are suddenly in the middle of change through no planning of your own, this can be a very valuable use of your time. Start taking some control of your career now, make sure you are on the path you are meant to be on!
It is important to feel good about what you do and where you do it. North American workers spend more time in their work environments than they do at home with their families. Think about that for a moment. If you spend eight hours per day, five days per week at work that equals 40 hours. At home during your waking moments you average 20 hours on the weekend and about 20 waking hours during the week with your loved ones. Your most productive and conscious time is spent with your coworkers earning a living. If you are a manager or senior manager, this figure probably looks worse. This is just a rough estimate here but it is no wonder we have a health crisis on our hands. This is why it is so important to make sure that what you do makes you happy and when you come home, your day is something you can feel good about.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Hunt Begins
This blog is written for everyone who is either bored with their current jobs and cannot sit for one more day in a cubicle pretending to look busy, the under appreciated, the under worked, the over worked, the downsized or terminated crowd.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)