Job-hopping: just for the money...or a way to actively manage your career?

For a lot of candidates, one of the worst things that may happen is that they would be considered ‘a job-hopper’. Consequently, I have numerous discussions on whether it is ‘the right time’….or whether changing jobs would be bad for their resume.

Back in the 1950s there was an unspoken agreement between employer and employee that the company would offer lifetime employment in exchange for loyalty. Today, this has radically changed. With a re-organization always just around the corner, we can be let go at a moment’s notice. Career self-management has never been more important so why does the label of ‘job hopper’ still carry a negative connotation?

In view of managing your career, job-hopping has quite a number of advantages.

You have a chance to see how other businesses work and build your skillset in ways that might never be possible when you stick to one employer. This flexibility to be successful in a variety of environments could make you very attractive on the labor market. Secondly, job-hopping can be a fast track to upgrading your title, your salary and your benefits.  

Last but not least, it can help you in building a powerful professional network.

An obvious downside is that changing jobs too fast and too often will label you as unreliable, unable to deliver or lacking commitment.

It is all about finding the right balance between managing your own career & skillset and bringing added value to your employer.

Every job comes with a certain ‘infancy’ period, usually 6 months to a year, where you have to get to know the company and its ways of working. During this time, your employer will invest time and money in getting you up and running. You can achieve some quick wins but your long-term impact will be limited. It is only after that onboarding period, that you will be able to truly show the added value that you bring and achieve lasting results.

When you switch jobs every year, your next employer will become quite hesitant to hire you as they risk loosing their investment. And yes, you might get the negative label of being a job-hopper.

However, once you have been able to demonstrate your capabilities and generate measurable achievements, it might be time to reflect on your next move.

You can choose to stay with your current employer to show commitment, gain additional experience and craft your job in such a way that it allows you to grow your skills.

However, if you are no longer challenged, it is time to take ownership of your career.

Here are a few questions to consider, before making the decision to explore new horizons:

• ·       Can I demonstrate measurable results and will I be able to identify people who can serve as a reference?
• ·       Am I leaving this job because I am desperate or am I making a strategic decision that will allow me to build my skill set?
• ·       What are the skills that I want to develop and how will that help me in the long term? What is the type of position that would correspond to that?
• ·       What doors will be opened and what doors will be closed from making this choice?

Asking yourself these questions will allow you, when an opportunity comes along, to take an informed decision to engage in a selection process…or not. This way, a job change won't be just for the money or the title but it will become a deliberate step in the way you manage your career.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch

The slippery slope of explaining why you want to leave your job…

Last week, a friend of mine had a job interview. During dinner, he asked me whether I had any tips that could help him prepare. My main advice was not to be negative about his current employer.

Research shows that the number one reason for voluntary leaving a job, is a bad manager or a bad company atmosphere. Isn’t it strange that although I advocate for honesty and openness during a selection process, my advice is not to tell the obvious?

If you speak poorly of a company or boss during an interview, a new employer will automatically assume that you’ll do the same to them one day. And everybody knows that would be bad for business.

So how do you avoid the slippery slope of entering in discussions about the non-existing people management skills of your current boss, the low company morale or the below-market compensation packages?

The key is in the preparation. Combining an honest response without spilling your guts requires some investigation and some soul searching.

• Find a non-biased statement about your current employer that is not focusing on individuals. Be candid, yet respectful.  For example, if you think that your current manager totally lacks interest in people and is treating you like a slave, you can say that you have a different view on people management that will impact the long-lasting working relationship.

• Indicate what you have learned from the disappointing working situation. Getting back to the previous example, you can explain that this situation has made it obvious to you that you prefer to work for a manager that empowers his staff and that acts as a true role model. Even if this will prove not to be the case in the position at hand, you still win because you don’t want to get trapped in the same situation twice. 

• Move as quickly as possible to the positive aspects of the position that you are applying for. In the example you can state that your research has shown that the company that you would like to join highly values empowerment.

The question of why you voluntarily want to leave your current job will always pop up. Your answer may very well be a decisive factor in the selection process. Investing time in finding that positive, yet honest response may prove to be an asset moving forward.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch

Patience is not the ability to wait…

But the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting (Joyce Meyer)

Remember that feeling: you nailed the interview and there is perfect chemistry between you and the hiring manager. Your hearts skips a beat when they call you to tell that you are the preferred candidate and that an offer is being prepared…and then comes the waiting part….

Day one goes by without a call, as does day 2. By that time, you have checked whether your phone is actually on, you have sent a test-mail to yourself to make sure that that is still working as well…in a nutshell, you are stressing out!

A couple of candidates called me in these last few days, suffering from waiting anxiety. Here is what I told them on keeping your cool in nerve-racking times:

Time moves slowly for you but it flies on the company side.

Preparing an offer involves calculations, approvals… activities that often require other people to intervene in the process. As important as the job offer is to you, for others it is merely a task on their to-do list.

Follow up with purpose

If you call and get voicemail, no need to try again after 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes…. It looks pretty stalkerish on caller ID.

That does not mean that you cannot take any action. It’s ok to call or to send an e-mail when the timeline that they told you has passed but limit your follow up to once. If you are the strongest candidate, you don’t need to keep yourself in the forefront of the hiring manager’s mind, you are already there.

Keep applying and interviewing for other jobs.

Appealing as it may be to cancel all planned interviews when you hear that an offer will be prepared, don’t. You never know what may happen. An internal candidate may pop up; a sudden hiring freeze may be imposed.

Should this happen, you don’t want to be in the position where you have blown up all other opportunities that you were working on.

Bluffing that you have another job offer won’t speed things up

If you are trying to use another job offer to speed things up, be it fake or real, it may blow up in your face.

Employers typically like to think that they are your number one pick. They also assume that you have thought things through and are not accepting just any job. Waving with another job offer may ruin that picture. There is no way back if an employer tells you to accept the other offer.

And last but not least: Stop obsessing

If the hiring manager does not accept your linked in invitation immediately, it does not mean that he has changed his mind. If the job is reposted, it does not automatically mean that they are looking for additional candidates. Difficult as it may be, try not to read something in small details. It won’t change the outcome; it will only make you miserable.

There is no one single right way to spend the waiting time for an offer. These suggestions may help you to put it in perspective but the golden rule remains: go do something else to get it out of your system, something that takes your mind off the wait. And you’ll see…when you least expect it…the phone will ring J.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch

Avoiding mine traps in the face of rejection

How I dread those days where I have to inform people that they have not been withheld for a job.

Obviously, there is much more fun in calling you to tell that an offer will be extended. But reality is that for every person that receives a job offer, there are at least 5 candidates that do not make the cut.

The way you deal with rejection, tells me a lot about you as a person. When you deal with it in a professional manner (and why wouldn’t you, it is a normal part of life), I will remember the positive side. And who knows, tomorrow, there may be another search that will fit your profile perfectly.

Last week however, I had a very bad reaction from a candidate. After 10 minutes of debating as to why he was perfect for the job, he decided that it was time to start badmouthing my client.

Although I fully understand the stress that is associated with a job search, negative or frustrated reactions usually confirm the correctness of the decision and will make me think ‘thank god we got rid of this one’.

Needless to say that this negative impression is long lasting and will make me hesitant to contact you again in the future.

Everyone has his own way of responding to rejection. You may like to send a thank you note, give me a call or just leave it be. It’s only human to feel frustrated but before you pick up the phone, here are a few mine traps that you want to avoid.      

• Don’t take it personally and keep some perspective. An interview is not a measurement of your professional worth. If you performed to the best of your ability, displayed all your relevant technical expertise, demonstrated your competencies and communicated in your most engaging manner in an interview but were still turned down, then you can take comfort from knowing that it was the wrong job for you.
• Don’t ask a thousand questions about why you did not get the job and others did. 9 times out of 10, it wasn’t about you. It was about someone else being a better match. That does not mean that you cannot ask for more detailed feedback but try to focus on your own merits instead of comparing yourself to others.
• Don’t debate. A decision has been made and usually, I am only the messenger. Repeating the reasons why you were perfect for the job, won’t change that decision, it will only make me want to put the phone down. It is also an absolute ‘no go’ to start contacting directly the people who have interviewed you to discuss the decision they have made.

Staying away from these danger zones and giving a positive twist to rejection will make me want to contact you again. And who knows, maybe one day, I will stop dreading those days.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch

Are we judging you by your cover?

This weekend, the annual Antwerp book fair starts. There are few events that I enjoy so much as this one. Strolling through thousands of books, checking what is new on the market, screening some of them and in the end walking out with the pleasant outlook of autumn nights with interesting literature.

I can’t help but seeing the resemblance with finding the perfect candidate.

And it all starts with its cover.

Publishers put a lot of effort into designing the perfect cover of a book. They pay attention to the font that they are using, the picture that should give a flavour of its content and the overall look and feel.

After all, in the midst of fierce competition, the cover is what will attract the customer’s attention.

Candidates however, when hunting for a new job, put a lot less effort into designing that perfect cover.

Only last week, I received feedback from a client on an interview she had done. She elaborated on the positive points in the candidate’s experience, question marks that his responses had raised but her main remark was around the fact that he wore jeans to the interview. Did this influence her decision not to continue the process with him? I don’t think so…but it surely wasn’t a great start.

Should you be judged by your cover? By what you wear and how you appear? Perhaps not, but the reality is, of course, that you are judged.

Your attire makes a statement about yourself even before you open your mouth.

Everybody knows by now that you should ‘dress for success’. Multiple articles and blogs have been spent on the subject.

Most of them advise to adjust your appearance to the company culture. Personally I believe that it is ok to have your own personality reflected in your appearance.

Nevertheless…based on years of meeting people in all shapes and forms… here are 3 ground rules that you always need to keep in mind.

• ·       Designing the perfect cover is more than the clothes you are wearing. It is also about the little details that can spoil or enhance the image that you are picturing. Having to rumble through piles of clutter in your bag to find a pen does not immediately give the impression of being organized.
• ·       Reflecting your own personality in your dress code may also prove to be a mismatch with the company culture. When my candidate walked in wearing shiny red shoes, I knew that I would never present him in a more traditional environment. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because finding the right job is also about finding the right company.
• ·       Avoid that the interviewer gets to focused on what you are wearing. Focus should be on what you have to say, your appearance should support that, not vice versa. If an interviewer starts wondering how you managed to walk into a room with such high heels, chances are that he or she will be less focused on your story. And you don’t want to be remembered as the male candidate who wore a handbag (yes…real life example).

With these 3 rules, you should be able to use your appearance to give interviewers a flavour of who you are.

But if you need an objective party to assess…let me know and I’ll be happy to help.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be

Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch