Their wanderlust is fueled by a desire for higher pay, better career opportunities and flexibility amid rising inflation, a shrinking labor market and an increase in jobs that offer more choice about how workers get things done.

Sixty percent of employees in technology and hardware jobs are the most eager to leave their current positions in search of higher pay. Some 42% believe that pay increases are the key to addressing staff turnover – although only 18% of employers agree.

Flexible working arrangements – among the largest factors leading to employee moves last year – are now less of a driver. The reason: Most workers are already employed by companies that offer some kind of flexibility. Only 19% are seeking remote-work flexibility in a new job, while 17% say well-being programs would prompt them to move.

The Great Return?

Despite the continuing shift toward flexible working models, 22% of employers say they want employees to come back to the office five days a week. Employees, however, want to work remotely at least two days a week.

In addition, a shift was evident over employees’ view of culture and productivity. Workers reported a desire to seek out new roles “even though they hold relatively upbeat views about company culture,” the report said.

“The number of employees who believe their organization’s culture has improved has risen from 48% to 61% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report said. “At the same time, employers’ confidence in their own company culture has dropped from 77% to 57%.”

And while employees believe that new ways of working have increased productivity, companies’ confidence in productivity is being eroded by increased turnover.

“Organizations have to work to retain their employees, instill trust and provide a package that takes into account total pay, career path and flexibility to balance market concerns and risks,” said  Roselyn Feinsod, principal at Ernst & Young’s People Advisory Services.

The pandemic accelerated a work realignment that was already in progress, and transformed people’s views on success, purpose and value, EY said. “Rising inflation, the Great Resignation, expectations around environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are reshaping a workforce terrain that we’re all trying to navigate with new eyes.” The workforce, “is resettling into pools based on how we work, what we value and who we are,” the firm said.

Mark Feffer, (2022 April 29). Half of Gen Z, Millennial Employees Ready to Change Jobs  Recruiting Daily https://recruitingdaily.com/news/half-of-gen-z-millennial-employees-ready-to-change-jobs/

Do you find yourself saying yes to things you don’t really want to do? Are you the one everyone around you expects to step in and take care of things? Do you find yourself constantly exhausted with little to no time to do what you really love, or to just enjoy what you’ve already done?

Some of us thrive when there’s action of any sort.

I’ll admit I’m driven and I have always loved having lots to do. If you wanted it done, bring it to me. It’ll get done. Since I became a teenager, I have always been involved in many things. I played sports, I was in band, I was an engaged student, I was always involved in church, I loved learning and achieving, I was a worship leader in some capacity for almost 35 years, I loved doing things for people, I loved juggling many interests and I loved knocking out projects in demanding jobs.

Until I didn’t.

It’s not that I didn’t know how to say no. I just didn’t.

I was a people pleaser. I was afraid of letting people down. And to be honest, I think in the depth of my heart, that maybe those things made me more lovable. Then I learned the hard way, that NO was necessary for my wellbeing. It was then that no became a complete sentence. I stopped explaining and hedging. I started choosing what I needed to be well.

It has changed everything. As a result, I have peace, I enjoy the present a lot more, and I’m far more present to my own life. I’m still learning.

We all have limits. It’s time to say no to everything that is too much, and say yes to what matters. We get one life. What do you need to say no to?

What are you worth? When you know your real value, it’s easier to speak up for yourself.

What’s difficult is when we don’t know our value and compare ourselves to others. When we’re constantly looking outside of ourselves for validation, it causes us to doubt our worth.

Your worth…your value…encompasses many aspects of life; not all financial. Today, we are focusing on worth when it comes to “your value” in the workplace. Knowing your real value will help you to speak up and ask for a raise or promotion as well as salary negotiation during a job interview.

Are you paid fairly? Is your offer competitive? Try the below salary calculator to get a rough idea of where you should be.

Salary Calculator

Search our jobs database to directly apply to thousands of jobs!

How many times have you been right up to the line of making your biggest decision only to stop short because you were afraid? You could see what you wanted. It was right in front of you. A job opportunity. A relationship. A new house. Your dream career path. A great idea that could pave your future.

Almost every one of us have stood at the precipice and then turned around because we didn’t think we could do it. Those moments are the ones that remind us that we are alive, life is temporal, and dreams require something of us—the courage to risk what we know for what we don’t.

Fear plays an important role in our lives. You are alive right now because fear likely kept you from doing something catastrophic at some point in your life. But what happens is fear doesn’t do a good job of staying in the boundaries. And you might have grown up in a family where fear made most of the decisions. That kind of stuff gets ingrained in us. If so, our brains don’t even know how to function without fear, without doing a fair amount of work to rewire them.

Fear is a terrible decision maker when it comes to our dreams and potential. Sometimes you have to put it back in its place, and refuse to allow fear to make decisions about how you will choose what is right for you. The most important decisions we make have risk attached. If we avoid risk because we’re afraid, we will find ourselves living a very status quo life where we realize we missed our chance to find out what we were capable of doing. Don’t let it happen!

#pivotalmoments
#faithoverfear
#riskreward
#braveliving

For too long, culture seemed to exist in a vacuum, seemingly distinct from the workforce it is meant to support. That stems from the fact that there is more than one culture within an organization, there are two: your company culture and your hiring culture. Here’s what that means and how it impacts the role talent acquisition and human resources play in the process:

Company Culture

Nine times out of 10, when you sit down to read a book about becoming a better leader, it will tell you to build a better culture. That’s usually where the lesson ends because most of these resources are talking to CEOs and drawing on the work of management consultants, social scientists and industrial-organizational psychologists rather than HR and TA pros. Still, the basic premise of company culture hasn’t changed much since researchers coined the original definition.

Following Edgar Schein’s model, company (or in his context, organizational) culture involves behaviors and artifacts, values and basic assumptions. The interplay of these three factors forms the basis of company culture, influencing how employees interact and treat each other.

Some artifacts and behaviors are visible, such as those kegs in the kitchen or takeout Fridays, whereas values and basic assumptions are implicit, like open feedback and speaking up when you have a good idea.

Schein also suggests  company culture isn’t built in a day, which gives those with a longer tenure an advantage over newer employees and leads to the debate between hiring for “culture fit” versus “culture add.”

Hiring Culture

Hiring culture is representative of your company culture, but extends beyond your employees to include candidates, too. It is the first thing candidates experience when they engage with your organization and should reflect everything your organization embodies, including the treatment of others, candidates and employees alike.

All stakeholders play a role in shaping hiring culture, from the candidates you choose to how employees engage and interact with them. Hiring culture demonstrates how both sides treat and perceive one another.

That is why it’s essential to secure alignment between TA and HR teams as you develop the strategies that bring your cultural entities together.

Jackye Clayton, Vice President of Talent Acquisition and DEI at Textio, described how to put this in action during a recent webinar, “As recruiters and talent acquisition folks, we get to bring the change. We have to be thoughtful in understanding that the people we bring in could potentially change the whole culture. We have to take the time to build the persona of what type of person is going to find this environment great. So that means a regular visit of what is our company culture? What are we looking for? What’s missing? What voices are missing that add to that culture? And we have to bring those things full circle when we’re looking at candidates.”

Striking a Balance

Building on what Clayton shared, if you can trace where the company culture comes from, structurally and institutionally, you can communicate it to candidates from your initial point of contact. That establishes a baseline of understanding between company and candidate that will evolve throughout the process.

If you start out of sync, it’s more likely a candidate will feel the company duped them when they walk in on day one and find the culture isn’t what they expected. That said, hiring and company culture will always be separate to some extent, both evolving over time. It’s up to TA and HR to team up and reflect company culture in hiring culture in a way that feels authentic.

The bottom line is that by only focusing on company culture and not hiring, employers run the risk of hindering organizational growth and development. For instance, you can be diverse, inclusive and equitable on the inside, but if your candidates don’t experience that during the recruiting process, they’re less likely to feel like they will belong as an employee.

Ultimately hiring culture is what brings those people into your company culture. It’s a chance to promote the values that are important to your organization alongside your artifacts (even the ping pong table) and assumptions – everything a candidate would need to know to join the team – and succeed.

Gina Vlosky, (2022 April 19). Is That Your ‘Company Culture’ or Your ‘Hiring Culture? Recruiting Daily https://recruitingdaily.com/below-the-surface-is-that-your-company-culture-or-your-hiring-culture/

Create your own playlist instead of listening to someone else’s. It can be challenging to say “no”…especially if you are a people pleaser. To find true happiness, you must figure out how you can say “NO” without guilt.

Be polite and grateful to your inviter. Saying “NO” does not mean that we lose our manners, tact, or professionalism. A response can be as simple as: “I’m flattered, but no thank you” OR “It sounds wonderful, but I would not be able to give that the focus it deserves”.

Most of us are our own worst enemies when it comes to doing things for ourselves. We must get past this fear, no matter where it comes from and create our own playlist.

Everyone’s playlist is unique. Ultimately, the point of the playlist, is to do things that bring you joy and that are fun for you! What is on you favorite playlist?

While there are many variables for job seekers to consider in order to zero in on their best-fit roles, it’s helpful for candidates, recruiters and employers to be as honest as possible at every step of the search, so that all parties can most efficiently find a strong two-way fit.

Here are a few tips that candidates can consider to decide which opportunities are most aligned with their background, expertise and intended direction. Doing this will ensure that all parties are showing up to the right interviews, in an honest fashion, and using each other’s time wisely. ~Credit to Rachel Serwetz

Explore Options and Clarify Best-Fit Career Direction

The clearer you get on what is right for you, the easier it will be to share your goals with recruiters and networking connections. This way, you can efficiently identify fitting opportunities, show up to interviews confidently and seamlessly find a strong role and company fit.

• What titles strongly align with your natural affinities? Is there more research, networking or reflection you can do to gain confidence in which role is the best next step for you? In my experience, if you still have options here, you’ve not done enough learning, reflection, or both.
• What industries align with your background or areas of interest? What mission, purpose or problem do you want to put your time toward? (Understanding this helps you get ahead of and authentically answer the interview question, “Why do you want to work here?”)
• What do you need or want out of a company’s environment (i.e. culture, values, style, personality, remote work, hours/flexibility, etc.)? What should it look and feel like? What should it NOT look and feel like?

Use Self Awareness to Assess the Proper Response to an Interview

While all interviews can be treated as practice, would it be better to be honest with the recruiter or employer if the role they propose isn’t aligned with what you’re looking for? For all you know, they may have other open roles available. You can simultaneously be polite, professional and authentic if you mention your intended career direction and see what other relevant opportunities they may be aware of.

Make Your Questions Specific, Creative, Concrete and Comprehensive

Remember that interviews are a two-way assessment of fit. Take the time to prepare and craft the questions you want to ask so that you can get a full, accurate picture of the role, team, company and environment, and thus easily and adequately assess your fit.

• When learning about a role, here are a few key topics you can consider and ask about:
  • Understand where the person holding this job would typically spend their time, as well as the role’s ultimate goals and performance expectations. Understand who you’d typically interact with. First and foremost, understand the style and nature of the day-to-day and consider whether that aligns with what you are great at and enjoy doing.
• When learning about a company, consider and ask about:
  • The core of what they do, how they do it and why they do it. What’s their place/positioning in the industry and does that intrigue you?
  • Also consider how their teams and departments are organized, how they approach growth and career development, how and when they handle promotions and how they handle performance reviews.
• When you ask about hot topics like culture, management style or diversity/inclusion, get creative with how you ask questions so that you can get accurate answers.
  • First, be clear with yourself about the most specific key factors that are critical to you to see in this employer.
  • Then, phrase questions in a way that can elicit stories or examples. For example, instead of saying, “What’s your company’s culture?” you can ask something like, “Tell me about a time when someone on the team brought up a new idea and how did that go?” That will help you assess how the company empowers employees, whether it’s meritocratic and/or whether it’s open to improving processes.
  • When you ask for real stories or examples about things that matter to you, the company will “show” rather than “tell” how it operates so you can accurately understand and assess its style versus hearing fluffy, generic answers. (They ask you for stories, and you can do the same).
  • Know that a fluffy answer can also be treated as an answer itself if it seems like the company’s sugarcoating or not being specific enough.

What If You’re Not Sure?

Every job seeker is different in terms of their personal needs and timeline. Consider these factors to help you decide on an offer:

• How much personal financial runway do you have? If you’re in a dire situation, any job will help you feel a sense of security. You can always consider your broader career plan and growth once you begin working in the role. That being said, if you have more time on your side, consider how closely the role aligns with your intended goals.
  • Trick: Give 1-10 ratings for your fit with the role, your interest in the industry and your alignment with the company culture given the people you’ve met so far.
  • If you’re at least a 7 on each category, it’s a safe bet to take the role. If there are any ratings below 7, ask yourself if these are areas where you can go back to learn more, or important enough to be deal breakers.
• Do you have any key concerns or hesitations given everything you’ve learned (considering the role, industry and environment)?
  • If so, any potential positive answers to the below questions may be irrelevant. Don’t ignore red flags, and if you’re not sure how serious they are, get perspective from a peer, mentor or coach.
  • Decide if there are things you need or want to ask more about.
  • Understanding what you want or need upfront, before your job search, is a key to ensuring that you notice red flags and assess whether an issue is in or out of line with your needs.
• How long have you been searching?
  • If it’s been a while, could this be an interim move to get you closer to a better future step? If it hasn’t been, do you think, given your background and your intended direction, you could see some more traction?
• Do you have the right guidance or support to make your job search as efficient and effective as possible? If you’ve only used your own devices and strategies so far, perhaps with some career coaching or mentor support, you may strengthen the odds of nailing more interviews for roles that you’re excited about.

• Saying No Takes Courage… But Can Open The Door to Yes

If you feel that the role or offer isn’t the right fit, here are some tips on how to handle it:

• Get support so that you’re not just saying yes for convenience’s sake, but rather you’re, finding a way to get comfortable with the difficult, yet necessary, act of saying no to something that isn’t right for you. (Remember you’re doing the employer a favor here by being honest).
• Thank each interviewer for their time and reiterate what was interesting about your conversations with them.
• Be authentic about how your reflections or realizations changed during the journey and which roles you feel would be a better fit for you to explore. Could that lead to an introduction with a different team within the organization?

Mention that you’d love to explore other opportunities that are a closer fit, would appreciate any other personal or professional introductions they’d be willing to make to help you in your job search, or that you’d be grateful to simply stay in touch in the future.

Credit to Rachel Serwetz of Recruiting Daily

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hardest-part-job-search-secret-get-beyond-dawn-graham-phd/

Always be positive!  Never bad mouth a former employer!  Never!

Give out a positive reply like this “I am in pursuit of a better opportunity”.  This is short and to the point

OR

Start by offering a positive about your former/current employer:  “I’m so grateful for the opportunity that I have had at ABC Company.  I learned a lot, and am now ready to move forward and use those skills while furthering my career goals”.  Then smile and stop talking!