Thursday, April 29, 2010

45 for 10

Researchers have determined that 45% of American workers would leave their employers for a 10% increase in pay. They go on to note that more people are loyal to their favorite soft drink than they are to their employer. And this "45 for 10" would be news because...? It's certainly no surprise to me. Frankly, I would have predicted that at least 2 out of 3 American workers would change employers for a 10% increase in pay.
Assuming that all other factors are perceived to be equal: location, type of work, company stability, benefits, etc; I'm pretty sure that most employees would jump for 10% more money. The reason: Most people have zero confidence in their employer's commitment to them. And I think that lack of confidence is even more evident with younger workers. They have watched their parents go through lay-offs, downsizings, reorganizations and restructurings. As a result, they are not much inclined to consider playing on the same team for 30 years for less money.
And what does this "45 for 10" say about money and job satisfaction? Over the years, studies have shown that more money does not result in more job satisfaction. That job satisfaction comes from other factors, such as the work itself, relationships with co-workers, recognition for performance, respect, control over the work environment and so forth.
Maybe what "45 for 10" is saying is that a lot of workers are not finding job satisfaction, or they've found as much as they expect to find; and believing that the grass on the other side of the fence is the same, maybe not green, but just the same; they have concluded that more money is better than less money.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

What's the Point?

So another headhunter decides to start another blog. Whoopie-Woo. What's the point?
Does he need more unemployed candidates who are looking for work? Does he need more companies who want to use his services after they've looked at thousands of candidates from hundreds of job postings and just can't find the "right" person (and oh by the way, can't really tell you what the right person looks like because the job has been open so long that the hiring authority has changed three times.) Does that headhunter need to vent his frustration? Maybe, sort of.

But that's not the point. The point of this blog is to talk about what works and what doesn't work, from one Headhunter's point of view, when it comes to finding and landing the right job or the right person for the job.

It isn't going to be pretty, but it will be true (at least from my point of view).