I recently saw an article on www.recruiter.com about ‘What Motivates People To Jump’, and it had me thinking why in today’s climate would someone be motivated to change their current career path to pursue something completely different? Is it a generational thing? Did the career you strived for not end up being what you had hoped it would be? Or do the current conditions of the workplace cause you to throw up your hands and say, ‘That’s it! I’ve had enough!’
In one of my previous blogs, ‘Are more people today settling for any job as opposed to finding their dream job?’ I found that most people were settling more for a job that pays the bills as opposed to actively pursuing their dream jobs, so again this has me wondering, are we actively thinking this through if we are volunteering our resignation, whatever the reason may be? Is it that easy to find another job just around the bend?
I came up with some possible reasons as to why I thought someone would volunteer to leave their current job, and this is what you voted:
It’s good to see again that you consider the relationship factor more important than the money when it comes to workplace sustainability, and another website I observed http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com confirms:
It also goes on to say that four out of the seven hidden reasons why employees choose to leave is because of ‘Little or no feedback/coaching is provided in their roles, they feel devalued and unrecognized, they feel overworked and stressed out or lack of trust or confidence in their leaders.’
Uh-oh management, are you reading this?
That is not to say we need to point the finger at one cause, but to be successful as a manager you need to understand the needs of your employees before any growth within your organisation can take place. And with an environment that is constantly changing in terms of trends and needs, are you being adaptable? Are employees approaching you for advice because they know you will listen to them? If you are investing all of that time and money into your organisation, why not invest it in your employees?
With that said, the attitude of staff members also need to be positive when dealing with constructive feedback and guidance from managers within the workplace. You may not be an identical personality type to your current manager, but as long as you can find an understanding in each other when it comes to the focus of the business then you can at least create less tension in your day to day activities. If you haven’t already, I found the Myers Briggs Personality Profiling to be quite advantageous in terms of finding out what personality type you are , as well as reviewing other personality types in the workplace and how you can best interact and co-exist with different personalities.
A website called http://voices.yahoo.com also points out that a lack of clear direction because of the company structural changes can also cause frustration amoungst employees because they feel a lack of security as to what the future holds for them. I can relate to this, however, this can always depend on an individual’s viewpoint on change.
Most organisations that I can remember working for have gone through some sort of structural ‘change’. Either changes in management or procedures, or just overall adapting to more modern methods of completing daily tasks. I have been offered full time roles as a result of theses, been promoted to then brought back to the same position again, I have been made redundant, you name it! And even recently our organisation is undergoing change. But when you can see the change overall affecting the greater good of the company, and you get to take part in that, that is when I find change to be good. It’s new, challenging/exciting and motivating is it not? That’s certainly how I see it now.
A less dramatic reason to leave the current role would be because the job does not fit the talents or interests of an individual, or that the role was not what the candidate expected it to be. We have all been there one way or another, and each new role we take on is a stepping stone in the path to our future careers.
One piece of advice that I would like to give any individuals that may be changing roles on a more frequent basis, from a recruitment perspective, would be to try and maintain a decent level of time within an organisation, as this will show company loyalty and commitment when reviewing your resume. Unless you are on a working holiday visa, if it appears that you are moving around every couple of months within organisations, employers who are looking for longer term commitments from applicants may question investing there time in you for the long haul.
Do you have any feedback on this blog or anything else that you would like to add? Please have your say below. Don’t forget to check out our latest poll as well, Do you believe that the measure of success is through a dollar figure? You could be in the draw to win a Hoyts Cinema Double Pass!
