CareerCurve™

Given the economic conditions, it is highly likely that you have employees currently experiencing the stress of an unemployed spouse.  Unemployment ranks near the top of the list when it comes to most stress-inducing life experiences, along with divorce and death.  If an employee is living with someone who is going through this doesn’t it stand to reason that this is affecting your employee as well? And does this stress decrease your employee’s productivity?  According to a recent study, yes it does.

Associate Professor Maw-Der Foo and lead author Professor Zhaoli Song of the National University of Singapore co-authored a paper called “Unraveling the Stress Crossover Between the Unemployed and Their Spouses”.  To summarize part of what they discovered, an unemployed spouse can mean a less productive employee.  According to Foo, “our findings call for more attention on the family as an integrated system in responding to the unemployment situation.”

Can and should your organization do anything to assist?  I can think of a few reasons that you should: 

• A calmer and happier employee will be more productive.
• Engagement and retention rates will be higher for those who feel supported by their organization.
• Demonstrating that you care for your employees will positively influence your corporate culture and brand, making you attractive to top performers when you are hiring.

Learning how to support an unemployed spouse in a healthy way could really make a difference to an employee who not only has the added burden of being the sole bread winner, but also has to navigate the emotional terrain of their partner.   But what can your company actually do?

Offer stress management information.  This could be in the form of newsletters, literature, webinars or a counseling session on site.  This could also be as simple as sending a mass email with a link to a relevant article every Friday.

Provide coaching for the employee.  These employees may find themselves stuck between being so compassionate they end up enabling and pushing so hard they seem uncaring.  A healthy balance makes all the difference in successfully supporting their spouse.

Schedule financial management workshops focused on suggestions of how to save money.  Most people have experienced the fear of instability in one way or another over the last couple of years.  As a result, more people are thinking of the future.  This means that practical suggestions on how to live on less money would be very useful, not only to employees with an unemployed spouse but to all employees.

Create a support group within the organization.  This could be done using social media or your intranet.  You could also provide resources to external support groups that already exist.

Taking a little initiative to understand and assist this employee challenge can mean a big payoff for your company.

Many years ago, job hopping was viewed as the first red flag on a resume.  Those resumes that showed multiple jobs over the previous 5-10 years were instantly moved to the “not interested right now” pile.  If no solid candidates were in the rest of the pile the resume might get a second look, but for the most part that resume was considered out of the running. 

But with the current economy, has this changed?  It seems as though it should.   There is even information out there that suggests that hiring a job hopper could be good for the employer .

There are many reasons why job hopping does not necessarily mean the candidate is a risk.  Here are a few to consider:

• Many companies are moving to more contract and temporary employees in order to save money, particularly on benefits.  Contracts may not have been renewed or the employee was brought in on a short term basis for project work from the start.

• Many candidates were laid off in the last couple years but unlike years past, this does not necessarily mean it was due to poor performance.  When corporations are laying off hundreds, it is not realistic to believe that all those affected were poor performers.

• With the economy shifting so dramatically in the past few years many companies restructured significantly.  Candidates may have been affected by these changes in strategy a everyone tried to tighten up.

• With all the other changes in organization and acquisitions, a lot of bosses were afraid of losing their jobs.  They may have sold a complete turnaround to their bosses as an attempt to retain their own employment.  The result could be that the job itself changed considerably and the employee was no longer a fit for the organization.

• Candidates affected by organizational changes may have taken other jobs just to pay their bills.  The news about unemployment was not good and the mindset for a few years seemed to be that you better take any job just to have one, since there were so few out there.  The luxury of looking for the perfect fit was pushed aside for quite a while and candidates have been in survival mode. 

If the job hopping was due to some of the reasons above and was essentially out of the employee’s control,  isn’t it possible a job hopper would make the perfect employee?  Doesn’t it stand to reason that some of these candidates are seeking loyalty, security, and stability?

Outplacement is tricky business. Solid organizations recognize the need but may not be sure how valuable it really is. Candidates (our term for those who are laid off) may be hesitant to engage and may not understand the impact having a personal coach will have on their job search.

I have a story I just had to share to help those that may not be using their coach and those in HR who may not understand the genuine value that offering these services can bring. I’m also hoping this advice can help those who may not be fortunate enough to have access to outplacement services. This is an example of how a coach’s expertise really helps the job search.

I received a call from one of our coaches who wanted to tell me about an experience she had with a somewhat resistant candidate. Initially, he wasn’t convinced that she could do anything to help him. (This is very common and why it is important to work with a company that has good coaches.)

Photo credit www.freedigitalphotos.com

As they got to know one another he realized that she provided sound advice and could be useful. One area where he remained unconvinced was in using LinkedIn. This particular candidate has a pretty technical background and his profile was solid, based on his experience. Our coach kept trying to encourage him to modify his profile in a few ways so that he could be “found” more easily. As he remained unemployed and was not getting any calls, interviews, or opportunities he became more and more frustrated and discouraged. He decided he had nothing to lose, so he implemented her suggestions. Here is the advice she gave him about what to do and how he modified his profile:

• Re-wrote his summary and added several specialties (keywords)
• Wrote his experience and achievements in conversational tone (rather than simply copying and pasting from his resume)
• Requested recommendations
• Added a current reading list
• Pumped up his education and research area (explained his research in a way that is more understandable and less technical)
• Began adding contacts (he started with 11 – is up to 100 now) and sharing his knowledge and expertise with his contacts
• Added his professional groups and joined various LinkedIn groups

The results were amazing! After weeks of basically no activity, he received 3 calls within 2 hours of making these changes! He could not believe it and called her with a whole new mindset.

This coach, by using her skills, changed everything about his job search.

Photo credit www.freedigitalphotos.net

• Rather than being depressed and frustrated he is excited, positive, and motivated. Anyone who has ever lost a job knows how hard it is to achieve this while unemployed and how important it is to portray that attitude to potential managers. Attitude is probably the biggest driver in how successful the search is.
• He is now interacting with professionals in his field on a regular basis, which will help him keep his skills sharp while he continues his search. It also provides an opportunity to learn and discuss trends in his industry, as well as helping him feel less like he is searching in a vacuum.
• He is now embracing his coach’s advice and looking for more.
• He is well on his way to his new role.

I LOVE stories like this and hope that this is inspirational for others.

Do any of you have a success story to share?

I have recently been reading about jobless recovery and the effects this will have on both corporations and job seekers.  To begin with, the term “jobless recovery” refers to a specific type of recovery after a recession.  This recovery is defined as an increase in gross national product without an increase in employment opportunities.   Or at least without a return to the level of unemployment that existed prior to the recession.  I could go on and on about the whys of this and they all make sense to me, but I am more interested in the individual impact, specifically to our clients and candidates.  In other words, it is what it is, (one of my favorite sayings) so what do each do now?

For a job seeker there are many things to focus on throughout the search, but most boil down to self-management.  This has become the prevailing theme in what determines a successful job search (defining career goals, strategizing, executing said strategy consistently and with discipline,  being flexible, continually and actively learning, etc.)   Sometimes you just need someone holding you accountable to successfully maintain these goals.   It is a different world out there now where there are simultaneously more candidates and fewer jobs (meaning positions that were eliminated and will remain eliminated).  As a result, job seeking is a process to be finessed and managed, not simply an outline of steps to be taken to get the next job.  

For corporations who are managing this same trend, what are the biggest challenges?  Is it the emotional state of the remaining employees after a high impact restructuring?  Is it finding the resources to adequately cover the responsibilities formerly handled by the displaced employees?   Is a culture of mistrust and fear created?  Does it depend on how it is handled?  I know from my job within CareerCurve that the clients (corporations) go through their own brand of turmoil when decisions like this need to be made, but it would be interesting to better understand what it is like for them after the changes occur. 

Is anyone aware of some good conversation taking place on this topic that I may have missed?  I think many times the focus is on the displaced employee alone, but the reality is that this ”jobless recovery” affects individuals and corporations alike.  And then our society as a whole.  The impact is huge and I look forward to your comments and resource recommendations.