“Sam, I’m just not learning that much in my current job.”
According to a survey by The Muse, 58% of people say they plan to change jobs this year. The biggest reason? They want learning and growth opportunities.
Conventional wisdom is that people care most about salary when they make career decisions, but more and more, that’s shifting. Today, millennials in particular care deeply about what they stand to learn on the job and how it will help them grow, both professionally and personally.
But the Muse survey wasn’t limited to polling millennials, for what it’s worth. People across generational lines reported that they care deeply about opportunities to learn and grow at work.
As an employer, your takeaway should be that learning and development is a critical aspect of workplace satisfaction.
Do Job Titles Matter? Sometimes.
“Sam, I want the job, but not that title.” Occasionally I hear from a job-seeker that they’re interested in a role but would like to negotiate the title. Is this OK?
Sometimes. The answer depends upon your motivation for wanting a different title.
For instance, if you’re in sales and frequently interfacing with potential customers, your title could help tremendously with prospecting. You may have smart ideas about how your title could be improved to help you succeed in your job.
But if you’re simply not happy with being called a “VP” versus a “director,” you might not have a lot of leverage. Every company structures roles differently, so being a VP of one might not equate to the exact same thing as being the VP of another.
There’s not always a lot of wiggle room in a title, but don’t lose focus on what’s really important: the impact you’ll have in the role itself. Make sure you aren’t overly focused on what will appear on your LinkedIn profile. It’s the day-to-day experience that ultimately will matter.
What Everyone Can Learn From Linda Rendle, Clorox’s First Female CEO
You may have heard that Linda Rendle was recently appointed to first-ever female CEO of the Clorox Company. This is a big deal. But how exactly did she get there?
Rendle climbed the ladder at Clorox for 17 years, starting as a sales analyst and making her way through 15 roles before this latest achievement.
In fact, The Hustle recently published her exact trajectory in an infographic. A few more roles 42-year-old Rendle has held at Clorox:
✅ Regional sales manager, West
✅ Director of customer supply chain
✅ VP sales cleaning division
✅ EVP, global operations and strategy, international, better health
I share this to give you insight into how you, too, might think about your career path. At Newcastle Associates, I work with a lot of leaders who started from humble, but ambitious, beginnings. Everyone starts somewhere.
Maybe one day you will be a “first” like Rendle!
3 Great Insights from Microsoft’s Remote Workforce Data
Wondering how this whole remote work thing has been working out for other companies?
Microsoft recently analyzed data on its newly remote workforce using its own software, Workplace Analytics, along with anonymous sentiment surveys. Here are some of the nuggets of wisdom uncovered:
✅ The rise of the 30-minute meeting: weekly meeting time increased in a remote paradigm, but meetings got shorter, reversing a trend that’s been going on for decades.
✅ Senior managers are carrying a lot of the workload and putting in more hours a week. In many ways, they’re the heroes ensuring employee cohesion in a difficult time.
✅ Human connection matters! The good news is, people are figuring out how to get it. They’re having virtual social meetings and organizing fun themes around Slack channels.
As I speak with my clients, I definitely see some of these trends reflected.
Whether remote work is a new normal or a for-now fix, it’s fascinating to see how companies and employees are flexing to make it work in 2020.
Should I Switch Careers? Here Are Five Keys to Keep In Mind
For a lot of people I talk with as a Recruiter, the careers they went to school for don’t necessarily map to the roles they’re interested in today.
One big reason for this is the rapidly changing nature of the professional landscape. A lot of critical roles in today’s economy simply didn’t exist 10 or 20 years ago.
There are other reasons for a career switch, of course. You get to know yourself as you endure in professional life, and hone in on what drives you and where you can make the biggest impact.
Jeff Gothelf, an award-winning author and coach, wrote a book called Forever Employable that puts forth five key concepts to embrace when considering a career pivot:
✅ Adapt a spirit of entrepreneurialism
✅ Practice self-confidence about sharing your experience to date
✅ Embrace continuous learning
✅ Constantly improve at everything you do
✅ Don’t shy away from reinvention
Companies are not afraid to re-org and reinvent themselves. You should not be, either!