I am placing a wager on the future of the American worker. I believe that power will shift, companies will come to understand the value of the labor, and you will have every opportunity to work for [and demand] the compensation & benefits you deserve.
Unfortunately, the future is not here. Not yet, anyway. It’s not coming tomorrow. Or the next day. Or sometime in the near future. The future comes incrementally and at its own pace. The biggest changes often take years to fully realize.
If the concept of work isn’t changing in any major way any time soon, I’d like to ask,
Where does this ambiguity leave us as job seekers, recruiters, and HR professionals?
I don’t know about you, but I think we’re in a perpetual state of beta. Trying new things. Learning new technology. Fucking around the edges of our comfort zones. Making shit up as we go along because that’s the only way to do it, sometimes.
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As a job seeker, I want you to remember this moment when I warned you against 99% of career bloggers, including me, who are fully dependent on your confusion for a main source of income. These writers and bloggers use your fear and listlessness as a means to further their own personal agendas and economic interests.
As a recruiter, I want you to think about how your your choices and personal misconceptions about the hiring process can relegate an entire family into poverty. What personal biases do you carry about the ideal candidate? Have you ever been wrong? How do you atone for those mistakes?
As a Human Resources professional, I want you to think about how you’re interjecting yourselves at the wrong times and in the wrong ways. Think about how you operate as a speed bump in the global marketplace, and think of ways you can extricate yourself from those situations.
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As a career advisor and Human Resources blogger, I will connect you with the best and the brightest thinkers out there. I will deconstruct the myths behind social media, recruiting, and your job search. I will tell you what works and offer solutions. I will help you learn how to use new & emerging technologies to connect with the right people. I will encourage you to challenge the status quo — if only for the sake of understanding new ways of thinking about your career, your compensation, and your personal identity.
I ask that you do the same for me.
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It’s a big fuck personal mission statement you have set for yourself. I think you can do it. I hope to help. That is all.
I think that things may shift faster than you think. Social media is getting folks back to the basics of marketing–allowing people to connect and interact on a personal level–and shifting the marketplace away from big business. It has leveled the playing field so that small businesses can compete with the big ones, often more effectively because of the personal touch. Once health insurance becomes more affordable for small businesses and self employed entrepreneurs, I foresee a big shift towards smaller and more compassionate business models that are more conducive to the needs of employees.
No offense, but wouldn’t it be nice if HR became obsolete because employees were in charge of their own careers?
LR, this was really, really good…
I think I starred at the line “F’ing around the edges of our comfort zones” for 5 minutes.
I agree, don’t trust just anyone that is willing to give out career advice. Since every knucklehead has had a job at some point, we all think we are qualified to tell you how to find a job, keep a job, quit a job, etc. That’s why NASCAR is to popular and championship chess isn’t. We all have driven a car, so we think we can get out there and trade paint with Dale Jr. and Tony Stewart. Well you can’t, and you can’t play chess either. In fact, don’t trust that this comment makes any sense either.
Great article…I hope the shift happens sooner rather than later and definitely look forward to seeing the career world my little one will work in – I don’t think it will resemble today’s and I think our “war stories” about workplaces will seem just as silly to that generation and our parents “walking to school, up hill, both ways, in waist-deep snow” seem to us.
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa…I have atoned for my prior sins in an unusual and unique duality.
The first place I go to is the bar. Black on the rocks. Usually dulls the pain of the idiots for a good few minutes.
Then I usually manage to drag my sorry ass into Confession. Although, I never usually confess about shit at work.
This is so timely, Laurie! I was at a meeting in Washington DC last week with a number of corporate, government and non-profit leaders who were considering a very basic question: What would have to happen for every adult in the U.S. to understand basic career management principles, be skilled in career management, and actually own their own careers? It was a fascinating conversation that was summarized in this way: is it really possible to have a national career development policy? What do you think?
(marking the date and time on his calendar)….and so it begins….
Dang fine post dude!
I think it is easy to lose sight of what we do and why we do it. As a recruiter, I’ll tell you f@ck no, I ain’t perfect (nor was I hired to be perfect), we all make mistakes. The honest goal is to minimize them better than the next guy. I don’t believe in atonement, I believe in karma, and if my failures outweigh my success’s, then woe shall be mine to endure.
This post needs a countdown clock. I got the over/under 7 years for that to happen.
Have I told you lately that I love you? Because you know, I do!
I just read an interesting article called Make HR Happy:
http://www.talentmgt.com/performance_management/2009/July/1011/index.php
Sadly, I related to this article all too well. It’s a struggle to stay plugged in and energized when I’m ping-ponging between senior management expectations and still staying on top of my daily workload. I outsource what I can, but, as a post-layoff department of one, there’s next to no money for anything else.
And I’m not convinced that employees actually want to be empowered! I understand that change is scary now more than ever, but we’re in survival mode here. I’m constantly amazed that employees – including shareholder employees – continue to reject basic business principles in these difficult financial times. We show them the numbers, communicate til the cows come home, yet a large number of employees keep fighting change initiatives with “but this doesn’t fit with our family culture!” (And I’m talking several months of development and communication here; we’re not just springing things out at the drop of a hat.) “Family culture” has caused us far more trouble than good. Fine. If we’re a family, then I’m the cousin who always gets drunk at family gatherings and starts calling people out. At least that would be fun and entertaining.
But until employees can understand the simple equation of change or die, empowerment isn’t going to happen. SRSLY. If we don’t change how we do business, we will be out of business. No amount of “family culture” can save us when our smaller competitors are willing to risk putting themselves out of business in order to get work we’re trying to get as well.
@michael Thank you!
@BZ No offense, but wouldn’t it be nice if HR became obsolete because employees were in charge of their own careers? None taken. I’ve been preaching this for years. Go out and shout this from the rooftops!!
@amanda Thank you, I’ll take your stars. Now what?
@Steve I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.
@leanne I love the idea that these war stories will go away. I hope they’re replaced with something better.
@john Punk Rock HR is borne out of that same guilt. We are kindred spirits.
@china is it really possible to have a national career development policy? I love this. Let’s ask PRHR readers what that would look like — maybe tomorrow!
@mark I hope it’s not all sound & fury signifying nothing.
@Puf Karma. Atonement. I believe in you.
@Tracy You are a gambler.
@Totem Oh shucks. Thanks.
@H Aria Holy crap, this article is great. By the way, you are so right about employees who don’t want to be engaged. Maybe the reality is that we don’t need all these jobs in the world. Most of us occupy our cubicles because we don’t know what else to do with ourselves. If I’m not an accountant who takes my daughters to Disneyworld, who am I?
good questions!!
A1: I gave up feeling personally responsible for a candidates plight a long time ago— Govt RFP’s will do that to you. And like you’ve mentioned before– no one wants to hire the desperate candidate anyway. On the other hand– I think Recruiters could work on making an extra effort in nailing down what the client “wants” in a candidate, on top of the “need” of the minimum qualifications. That would save time and unnecessary stress for everyone involved.
A2: None. My personal biased is almost always with the Client who rejects the ideal candidate for the STUPIDEST REASONS sometimes. Usually money— but when it says on the resume this person, upon implementing a restructuring of a department, and saved the company 4.2 million over a three year period– the client rejects them over a LOUSY 10 GRAND A YEAR???? Un-Freaking-Believeable!!! I wants to choke me a Client B*tch!!!!
A3: Back when I wasn’t the Super Recruiter I am now— made plenty of mistakes– and annoyed quite a few people. I’ve learned to communicate right out of the box– and personal responsibility is paramount. I will not be to blame for not finding the right candidate if the client refuses to communicate what they “want”, versus what was given to me via the job description. Lack of correct and timely communication usually causes the most amount of stress on all sides.
Wow, that’s powerful stuff. Everyone needs to take it to heart, including me.
Possibly apropos of nothing…
Hey Laurie, if you can dig a little hardish sci-fi, read the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, in that order). It uses some outlandish vocab because it’s from the point of view of scientists as early Martian settlers, so be forewarned. But one of my favorite things about that series — other than the perfect synergy of science fiction, philosophy, sociology, politics and other epic what-ifs — is the concept of work and how it ultimately leads to a Martian rebellion against Earth (sort of U.S. revolution as idealized in high school history style). Ultimately, manager/worker relations is coded into their constitution: the managers who make executive decisions are hired by employees who own their companies. But a lot of what you said in this post reminds me of the troubles the characters go through getting to that point.
What I meant was “stared”.. it’s an awesome, awesome line.. btw You should always expect bad spelling and poor grammar from me …
@MattyMat You are a portrait of an artist as a young man.
@Minion You are awesome just the way you are.
@mouse Some people think that our modern technological, social, and political advancements are rooted in science fiction. What do you think about that?
@Amanda I like starred better. Hearts and stars are my favorite!
In response to your question; from your fingertips lady. I reread this series about once every two years or so and every time I do, for all the troubles they have, I’m envious of the world they build for themselves. If we could build half that world here and now, I’d die a moderately happy chick someday.
For the record your recent themes of government accountability, health care, and education are all thrown in there too.
awww… shuckety shucks!