By Barry McCall
Despite warnings from Morgan Stanley and others of an imminent recession triggered by the sharp uptick in inflation and continued global uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine, the jobs market remains as hot as ever.
ADVERTISEMENTEmployers continue to complain about talent shortages and difficulties in retaining staff while many employees are taking advantage of their increased bargaining power by joining the Great Resignation.
Moving to a new job is often seen as being the best and quickest route to career advancement and higher pay. Many also see it as a pathway to increased happiness and personal wellbeing.
These factors were reflected in the results of EY’s Work Reimagined global study, published in April. More than two-fifths (43 per cent) of the 17,000 employee respondents said they were likely to quit their jobs within the next 12 months. And 35 per cent of those potential leavers cited better pay as the main objective, while 25 per cent pointed to career growth, with just 18 per cent saying they were looking for more flexible working arrangements.
PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey of 52,195 workers in 44 countries and territories, carried out in May, found that one in five workers say they are likely to switch to a new employer in the next 12 months.
Movers Remorse
The grass isn’t always greener, however, and many ‘great resigners’ have had cause to regret their decisions.
ADVERTISEMENTTwo main reasons for resignation remorse have emerged – the first is the fear of a downturn in the job market which would make it more difficult than anticipated for jobseekers to secure the type of job they are looking for, while the second is that in some cases the new roles people have found haven’t lived up to expectations.
And even when the new job does deliver a morale boost and professional growth, this tends to be short-lived and disappears totally within a year, according to a study from the What Works Centre for Wellbeing in the UK.
Those who have moved into a less than satisfying new role are faced with something of a dilemma. Do they quit their new job in search of something better and more fulfilling and risk creating questions around their CV in the process? Or do they tolerate the misery while biding their time before quitting at a more appropriate point in the future?
Neither is particularly attractive. Before the pandemic hit, the accepted wisdom was that people should stay at least two years with an employer lest they be perceived as lacking staying power or loyalty. That view seems to be changing, among employees at least. According to research carried out earlier this year by The Muse, 80 per cent of job seekers think it’s acceptable to leave a job you don’t like within six months.
Employers are unlikely to feel the same way of course.
Weigh It Up
The advice for people seeking to avoid that dilemma is to weigh up all the pros and cons before making the decision to leave their current jobs. The first step is to identify clearly the reasons for quitting. These can range from a desire for higher pay, better career development prospects, improved learning and development opportunities, better work-life balance, a need to move home for family or other reasons, or simple unhappiness in the present role.
The next step is to establish if moving jobs will achieve the objectives identified. There is no point in moving for more money if work-life balance is your priority, and the new job would involve a longer commute.
While it may seem obvious, many people fail to do even basic research before moving. It is quite easy to research companies on sites such as Glassdoor, to get an idea of how it rates with current and former employees. You can also reach out to your own professional and social media networks to ask people for their opinions. And a very basic Google search will quickly throw up any instances of employee or other relevant litigation.
Fresh Starts
Having weighed up those pros and cons and made the decision to move on, the very good news is that there are plenty of openings in what is still a jobseekers’ market for people with the right qualifications and experience.
For example, Bosch is hiring across the UK for a number of roles including that of a Technical Support Advisor to join its 1,800-strong team. The successful candidate will be rewarded with a competitive salary, company pension, employee discounts and extensive health and wellbeing support.
ADVERTISEMENTGlobal engineering giant Siemens is seeking a Senior Digital Consultant in Brunswick, alongside more than 1,100 openings in Germany alone. Semiconductor manufacturer ASML has over 300 openings in the Netherlands, while DevOps platform GitLab is looking to fill a number of interesting positions including Strategic Technical Account Manager, North Europe in a remote capacity.
See who else is hiring on Euronews.jobs, set up alerts and bookmark the link for regular check-ins.
