Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

Should I Stay or Should I Go? 

This is a question serious jobseekers are asking themselves these days. Should I stay in my current situation, or should I go? In our Industry, we seem to have a surplus of resumes early in the week, but by Thursday and Friday, resume submissions seem to diminish. Why? Many jobseekers suffer from a bad case of the “Sunday night scares” as they head back to a job that has become difficult for one or many reasons. But, by Thursday, when the weekend is approaching, job search becomes a lesser priority. Sound familiar?

What drives career unhappiness for you?: 

• Too many hours?
• Not enough hours? 
• Compensation concerns?
• Lack of company opportunities? 
• Are you witnessing that the meetings you’ve been invited to in the past, you are no longer being asked to attend? 
• Is your remote accommodation changing? 
• Have you lost your company mentor or sponsor?

I speak with many potential job search candidates, and I discover that about 70%+ of the time, that person is under-compensated vs. the market. This usually happens about 3.9 years into a relationship with a company. You receive your 1-3% annual merit increases, and again at about 3.9 years, you are below what the market may dictate as competitive compensation. If you were to leave that organization, there would be a high probability that the company would be forced to compensate more to backfill that position. The number one reason for a job search is compensation, followed by a lack of advancement opportunities. Those who don’t push for more pay risk losing out on what extra money companies are putting toward raises this year. According to the Conference Board, a research group, employers say they set aside an average of 3.9% of total payroll for wage increases in 2022—the most since 2008. 

A supermajority of our clients that have accepted an offer this year, and over the past 18 months, have realized an improvement as to how they are compensated. This is a “classic” job search market…wages are up, so are prices. But are you currently in financial lockstep with the inflation rate of 9.1% (through 06/22)? 

Another valid concern for jobseekers is the amount of overwhelming competition that they are facing, and the numbers these days are staggering. Millions of professionals are in some state of search, either passive or assertive. The number that is surprising to many is the “Quits Rate” …people that quit a job without having a new one. They are so confident that they can find a job but want full-time focus to accomplish that feat. I am not advocating for this approach, but at the same time, this jobseeker will have a competitive advantage.

So, my question here is –  How do you stand out or differentiate yourself vs. the job search market and competition?: 

• Are you utilizing job boards as your primary or secondary vehicle of search? 
• Do you have an effective LinkedIn strategy to reach the appropriate decision-makers? 
• Are you becoming fatigued by all the spam offers filling up your inbox? 
• Are you being ghosted by recruiters after an initial discussion? 
• Are you guilty of one of the definitions of insanity- doing the same action time and time again, expecting different results? 

I have a solution that has enabled thousands of Executive Career Partners’ clients to achieve the opportunities that they most certainly qualify for. A process that is successfully designed for the mid-higher level of positions that exist in the market today. And that PROCESS needs to be based on and centered upon “Personal Brand Marketing”. Executive Career Partners has perfected this approach to both the advertised and non-advertised space. 

Utilizing the “Basic P’s” of Positioning, Packaging, Promoting, Presentation of credentials, and Personal Presentation. These basic tenants are necessary to conduct a successful job search in today’s complex search environment. For every disciplined effort there is multiple reward, so as ECP discovers the “fault lines” in the traditional job search process, we also provide the remedy.

In closing, the U.S Job Market remains fluid, but over the past four (4) months, a “flattening of the curve” is beginning to show as illustrated in the chart below –

Some industry verticals are slowing, and many are showing no indication of any major softness ahead. So, If you are totally frustrated by your individual efforts and have reached a decision that you CANNOT do this solo, please feel free to reach out. You will not be disappointed.