Look Before You Leap!
In the last few months, it’s been impossible to get through a week without reading another article on “the great resignation ” of 2021. Employees across the United States are resigning or jumping to new roles in record numbers as they take stock of an exhausting year of the pandemic and conclude that it’s time for a change. Some are looking to leave because of burn out, others because they don't want to go back to an office. For all sorts of reasons, employees everywhere are deciding it’s time to jump.
But, is it?
How do you know it’s the right time to make a move in your career? And how do you know that you are making that move for the right reasons?
Just last week, I was reviewing some resumes with one of the leaders on my team. We were both drawn to the great experiences of one particular resume – until my colleague stopped and said, “Then again, yikes. This person appears to have changed jobs every 18 months on average. I’m not sure they have the kind of resilience and commitment we are going to need to fit in with our culture.” That same day, I listened to a great podcast about building culture featuring Reid Hastings from Netflix. He shared that in building a lasting company, he looks for people who have the tenacity and willingness to stay and grow with the organization.
This all got me to thinking... are we doing enough to counsel young ambitious employees on the importance of depth, as well as breadth in their careers? Sure, the world has changed since our parents showed up and worked for one company for their entire 40 year work life. But in swinging the pendulum so far the other way, have we forgotten to point out the importance of making clear career decisions for the right reasons? Are we communicating the value of building your experiences as you go?
Are we doing enough to counsel young ambitious employees on the importance of depth, as well as breadth in their careers?
So, if you are considering making the leap... here are some simple question to ask yourself to be sure you’re making it for the right reasons.
Have you stayed in your role long enough to have real accomplishments to point to?
When it comes to building a great resume, it’s not about the brand names of the places you have worked. What is much more important are the contributions you can actively speak to from your time at the company. In most instances, it takes at least a year to not only understand the business, but to have developed the internal collaborative relationships to actually lead or contribute to effective initiatives. Then, it takes time to see those efforts land in the market… AND be sustained. Hiring agencies or vendors, launching new products, initiatives or campaigns, are not significant contributions unless you can also speak to what happened once they hit the market. It is essential to show how you nurtured and grew them, and, just as importantly, how you learned and evolved along the way. Any interviewer is going to want to know about your journey as much as your destination. Make sure you’ve stuck it out long enough to have both epic fails and great wins in your story!
Are you someone that has a track record of attracting great talent to follow you?
The further up you go in your career, the more important it is that you can hire amazing talent to get the job done with you. A great mentor once said to me, “At your level, individual heroics will not get the job done.” And yet, really deep relationships with teammates are generally not formed at a quick stop along your career journey. When I think back over my career, and the amazing friendships formed from so many eras of my journey, it was always the time spent in hard yards of tough headwinds that bonded us more than the sunny days of a booming economy (hello 2021!). Teammates need to see you as a leader - in good times, and in bad – to be willing to take a bet on their career to follow you. Having the patience and persistence to stick out a role or two in a company is important in building that trust.
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Are you a giver or a taker? How have you contributed to the cultures you have been a part of?
At the end of the day, we all want to hire people who have great functional skills and experiences. However, if you are trying to build a truly powerful company, nothing will ever be more important than cultural “fit”. Being a cultural fit doesn’t only mean that you like a company’s mission statement and the values listed on its website; it also means that you want to actively participate in bringing that culture to bear by nurturing it and helping it grow. We’ve all met people who come into a company in a rush to get the resume check mark, as well as people whose names are fast forgotten when they leave prematurely. It’s very different to those who have put in the real hustle and heart to help the company grow. When the day comes that these people who have contributed a great deal say that an opportunity outside the company has presented itself, we thank them deeply for their service, knowing that their name and style will be part of the company legacy forever.
I don’t know about you, but that is the kind of leader I would like to be and have around me. Having to show up to an office or having the flexibility of being virtual are far less consequential issues in your likelihood to thrive in a role than being in a high performing culture. There's no better place to thrive than being surrounded by people who share your values and who are pushing hard to climb the same mountain as you.
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So, if you’re sitting right now salivating at your LinkedIn inbox with recruiter messages dominating the feed... maybe take a step back first and remember that this moment is just that – a MOMENT. Everyone, everywhere is getting recruiter calls right now. It’s a frothy market in more ways than one. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right time for YOU to make a move in your career journey.
Look before you leap!
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Sarah Robb O'Hagan was named among Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business” and Forbes "Most Powerful Women in Sports". She is currently the CEO of EXOS , the human performance company - and she is a sought-after expert on business innovation, and inspiring human performance.
Sarah shares insights on leadership and business innovation in her free monthly newsletter.
Honesty is The Best Policy | Skipping the formalities and having great conversations with passionate & brilliant leaders. | Husband | Doggy Dad of 3 | Veteran Advocate | All Glory to God ????
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LLB MBA | Corporate Law | M&A, Private Equity, Venture Capital | General Counsel | Legal Advice
3 年This is such an amazing piece, and it echoes a discussion I had with a friend recently. Nonetheless I do believe that sometimes some work places are harmful to people, physically and emotionally; some work places also pay abysmally. Therefore it’s often the case that people don’t really have a choice but to change organizations for their own good. A lot of people don’t have the luxury to ‘wait it out’ on a job or to be resilient. I think this is like a whole topic on its own.
Regional Sales Manager at jiatai International Ltd.
3 年??
Was, till recently, helping IT CxOs overcome anxiety, overwhelm and procrastination, unleashing their potential using 1:1 CBT sessions | Assertiveness Training | Burn-out Prevention | Beat Perfectionism
3 年I recently had a client who took a lower paying job to decrease stress. Unfortunately now he has two problems. He has less money and STRESS. Add to it he is taking orders from younger less experienced people and that has resentment building up inside him. The key to dealing with stress is learning to deal with stress and not avoiding/hiding from it.