You Can Hate the Landlord, but Still Love the Building

All my friends know I’m a huge baseball fan. I have an impressive streak of being at 35 of the last 36 Pirate home openers. It’s been a labor of love because the on-field product has stunk for most of those years! The Pirates are owned by someone who is perfectly content just sitting on that gem of a ballpark and not caring about signing the talent to compete in the Major Leagues. Quite a few people I know don’t care about the Buccos, but that’s because they can’t remember the last time the team was good. I’m old enough to remember when they competed for a division title annually. I’m as frustrated as anyone else, but my love for baseball supersedes what kind of product is on the field. I mean…can’t you still appreciate a beautiful building, even if you hate the landlord?

Being in the job market can be similar. I talk to many candidates who start a job but feel something that isn’t ideal, only to jump ship and move on to the next position quickly. Maybe, they weren’t crazy about their manager. Or perhaps they didn’t start quite at the pay rate they wanted and weren’t willing to see how soon they could get a raise. They don’t realize that by doing that too many times, future employers may look at their resume and sense no loyalty. It makes sense to build some equity with a company at some point. Who knows? Things may change and become better. The worst-case scenario is that you’ll show future employers that you’re worth the investment because you stuck around to see if the environment could improve. There are several factors to consider; what’s my commute time to and from work every day? Is the pay performance-based? Can the environment grow on me? Is my manager challenging to work with? The rest may fall into place if you can find one or two positive things. I hate Pirate management, but I love the Pirates!

Mark Metzger- Recruiter @ TOPS Staffing, LLC