Career Move Ahead

Oh, misery!

Anyone who’s tried to lose weight will know it’s not wise to eat when you’re starving. Why? Because when you’re ravenous you make poor food choices.

The same philosophy applies to changing jobs. If you’re miserable in your current position you’re prone to accepting the first thing that comes along. Or worse, quitting before you have another job to go to. All you care about is getting away from your bad boss / inadequate salary / uninspiring role / firm’s toxic culture. While that’s understandable, misery is a condition which often leads to questionable decision making.

Now, one bad decision might not ruin your career but it can definitely set you back a few years. Make a habit of acting impulsively and you could very well find yourself permanently branded.

Don’t run away from something bad. Wait until you can run toward something good.

Digital disrupts the job market

Digital disruption is breathing life into the recruitment process, making it faster and easier to find and fill job vacancies. Whether the figure is 30 percent or 80 percent or something in between, a large proportion of jobs are never advertised. Instead, companies fill these roles through recommendations, internal referrals, or from the pool of candidates already in their database.

Simultaneously, whereas in the past many employers lacked the capacity to manage recruitment internally, today, with the combination of automation and artificial intelligence, they can.

Apply direct – irrespective of whether there appears to be a current opening – and use your professional network to gain introductions to the companies you are targeting.

The break-up

Last week one of my friends vented that a particular recruiter regularly pressures her to consider roles within the legal sector, even though she’s told the consultant countless times she doesn’t want to work in a law firm.

Don’t be deluded into thinking the recruiter-candidate relationship is symbiotic – it’s not. The digital age represented a defining moment for the job placement sector. The tide of consultants exiting agencies to take in-house roles is evidence that the sector is under threat. With many employers now engaging agencies only for strategic hires, consultants need quality candidates far more than candidates need an intermediary.

If as a candidate (or, indeed, as a client) you ever get the sense a recruitment consultant is not listening to you, or does not have your best interests at heart, end the relationship.

Myth busted

We’ve all heard (and maybe even repeated) the statement ‘The average person will change careers seven times in their lifetime’, right?

Well it’s wrong. At least, it’s unsubstantiated and based on no known research.

Here’s a truth: the older you get, the harder it is to change careers.

Be alert to the impression each job change will leave on your CV. And when you do come to change jobs, aspire to securing:

• A better role, meaning a promotion or the opportunity to retrain

• A better employer, meaning one that offers improved conditions (flexibility, work-life balance), opportunities (career path)

• Better remuneration or benefits, be it immediate (salary), medium term (access to paid parental leave, study support), or long-term (superannuation top-ups, long service leave).