Realism kicks into the job market – work is not just about achieving your own Nirvana!

I want to work flexibly; I only want to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays; I would like to work in the mornings and late evenings; I would like to base myself abroad; I would like to work when it suits me; I can only pop into the office on Fridays; my dog gets separation anxiety so I can’t go back into the office…….

When Covid first took hold, we all began to appreciate the unpredictability of life and to recognise ?that our time on this earth is finite. We began to think deeply about how we apportion our time. Our employers appreciated the logistical challenges of Covid and were falling over themselves to get us back to work in whatever way they could. We felt great that we could work remotely and dodge the regular commute. On the recruitment front, recruiters found that candidates were becoming ever less responsive, no doubt mulling over what they really wanted from life. All of this made it difficult for us to steer candidates into job opportunities as few were thinking about the here and now. Instead, people were thinking about their ideal jobs or, in some cases, questioning the careers they had gone into.?Buoyed by numerous articles heralding the great changes that were happening to the way in which we would be working, many felt a power shift towards them as employees with an emphasis on flexibility and a meaningful “work/life balance”. We would no longer be fully beholden to others!

Hmm. Not quite. You can’t help but notice how these uplifting stories are now few and far between. Instead, we have become concerned about inflationary pressures, broken supply chains, energy price rises and tales of employers struggling under the burden of increases to national insurance and the minimum wage. It seems like we are suddenly under attack on multiple fronts and need to try and defend ourselves. Indeed, at the very least, many of us recognise that we may need to have a “reasonable” job in case things get a lot worse and inflation tries to outrun us. Gone is our dream of “self-actualisation”. Instead, our attention is shifting to how we sustain ourselves in a hostile environment. OK, I might be being slightly over dramatic here, but there is a real and palpable shift going on in the news which inevitably seeps into our mindsets and saps our confidence. On top of this, whilst we are all in favour of “saving the planet”, we are beginning to recognise this comes at a cost to us financially.

Just as we had started to see ourselves in the driving seat at work, we are having to swallow a dose of realism. Although we would love it if our work gave us the meaning we are searching for rather than just being a means to fund our lifestyle, this will never be achievable for everyone. It becomes even less achievable when economic threats start popping up on the radar. At times, we have to do what we have to do, even if we believe our job or other jobs like it are not what we have been dreaming about.

Covid destabilised the employment market to the point where we were led to believe that the world of work and employment would never be the same. However, we are quickly beginning to face old realities again as businesses recognise too that employing people at any cost makes no sense. Happily, there are jobs out there to be filled and the global economy has still yet to fully reopen. We are not wrong in wanting more from our work, but we must also be realistic. As we start to moderate our expectations from work, the opportunities out there now will become more attractive which is good for the recruitment sector and employment overall. It is also good for those who will still want to progress.