Back around 1870, automation shifted the production of most goods consumed in the US to centralized factories. Factory owners needed workers who would contentedly stand in an assembly line for hours on end at low pay. Schools bred workers who were compliant and not trained well enough to have higher aspirations. The paternalistic employer offered workers life-long stability and benefits to keep them content. Unions guaranteed minimum working conditions. Detroit auto workers are an example of this co-dependent culture.

This education model continued through the 1970s when high tech innovation, and the increasing shift of low level manufacturing overseas required that most US workers needed a college education to succeed. Simultaneously, workers began to have higher aspirations for themselves in their relationship with employers. An engineering degree was a ticket to success and long-term approbation.

Fast forward to 2011. Innovation and globalization are well-known phenomena. I think we all understand that the rate of both is accelerating. The average permanent job is lasting 2-3 years as business owners must constantly re-group to meet competitive threats. Yet, workers have become increasingly less engaged, crabby that the employer is not taking care of them, threatening to move on at the first opportunity.

•  69% of employees describe themselves as under-engaged or un-engaged.
• 30% of executives describe themselves as under-engaged or un-engaged.
• 47% of engaged high potentials say they will leave “at the first opportunity.”  (#)

I don’t understand the disconnect. I talk to folks every day who proudly threaten they will move on within the next 12 months to a “nicer” employer.

Why do you think the next employer will be radically better? The phenomenon we are caught in is happening to all of us, employer and employee alike. Yes, the employers could be nicer in many instances. CEOs should not make so much more than the rest of us. However, the bigger trend is that employers will have less and less choice to nurture the relationship with employees in the way you are all accustomed to. Companies are being pushed into decisions that will make the relationship with employees more and more transient.

So what are you doing about it? Showing disengagement to your current employer or a hiring manager is likely to put you high on the first-to-be-fired list. Feeling disengaged is counter-productive, a dead end. It won’t get you promoted.

Instead, you need to learn how to succeed and shine versus other employees in the future or work for yourself.

(#) http://www.workforce.com/section/hr-management/feature/special-report-employee-engagement-losing-lifeblood/

Topics: career strategy, solving problems | 2 Comments »

Pursuing “what you really want to do” sounds totally impractical in the buyer’s market we are in. I just wrote several blogs on what you need to do to get ahead based on what the corporation and industry responds to. But consider this. You will perform best in the role and everyday activities that you excel at most and with the products you love. The right job is the one you would do for free if you could afford to. Your customers will be happier and respond to your sales pitch more often and with more fervor.

Some folks who are not finding jobs or promotions have set goals for years based on what they think they should be doing. But many do not want those results enough to remain fully committed to the goal. Hence they do not perform as well as those at top of the band. Or they may not know how they measure up against the most successful people in their band because they were promoted regularly in better economic times and didn’t spend much time thinking about emotional alignment as long as bigger paychecks continued to arrive. Men have been taught for hundreds of years that they are only successful if they can buy the family successively larger houses, cars, and boats. I can name a COO who is convinced he must be CEO to be deemed successful. (His co-workers all think CEO is entirely the wrong move.)

So however you got to the position you are in, if you are not being promoted and hired as often as you were, it is time to re-consider if your goals are in alignment with your priorities in life and your actual skill set. Maybe you would be MUCH happier as the owner of a Bread and Breakfast or as a woodcarver or at a non-profit. And much more successful.

Topics: career strategy, solving problems | No Comments »

Having been a recruiter/coach for 20 years, I am shocked at the degree to which it is true in this recession. Fear is an emotional stumbling block common to most executives who are “stuck.” Read the rest of this entry »

Topics: branding + positioning, career strategy, networking, recruiting, resume + cover letter, solving problems | No Comments »

Selling Yourself to Management

As I said in my last post, as a recruiter, I am not actually seeing any evidence of a Recession outside of the financial industry. However, many of the strategies that protect you in a bad market also improve your status with in a good market.

• Network to keep your value, your brand, visible at all times with your present management and clients. Networking builds bridges to get things accomplished on an every day basis. You should be networking at 2 or 3 title levels above you as insurance if your boss leaves the company. Network with other departments. Network with people junior to you as they may have very different philosophies towards work. Read the rest of this entry »

Topics: branding + positioning, career strategy, networking, salary | No Comments »

Jobs to Target

As a recruiter, I am not actually seeing any evidence of a Recession although that may change. I am seeing a mixed market, but that has been true since 9/11/01. The most obvious exception is the Financial companies which have been disproportionately affected by the mortgage market defaults. Whether or not we evolve in to a Recession, many of the strategies that protect you in a bad market also will help you get ahead and be more promotable than your co-workers in any market.

These are the more secure roles and companies to target if possible:

• The companies and product groups which cannot afford NOT to innovate continuously or they risk falling behind their competitors. Examples are medical device companies in highly Read the rest of this entry »

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