Is this shift affecting you?
The other day, I heard from a former client of a large tech company that I coached for six-months. Dave, a senior sales leader in his organization, reached out because he was recently job eliminated. In fact, all of the sales leaders in the organization were eliminated regardless of performance. That was especially hard to take since he is a high-performer.
Of course, being laid off today is not surprising since there have been over 144,540 layoffs in tech as of May 19,2023 in addition to more than 93,000 tech layoffs in 2022 according to Crunchbase News. And that’s just tech! When we spoke, Dave remained optimistic, while also being practical about the current realities. All of a sudden, after years where companies were frantically hiring, they have put the brakes on. An article in the WSJ over the weekend entitled 9 Rounds of Interviews and No Call Back and podcast, The Disappearing White-Collar Job, share personal stories and the reasons for the dramatic shift. Companies are being cautious, taking more time to hire and being more selective. Technology is having a big impact, with AI eliminating jobs. And companies are also being being squeezed for profits with higher interest rates, so they are looking to cut costs.
What does this mean if you are out of work and need to get a job? Be aggressive in your search, use your network and stay positive. Reach out to a career coach if you need support. You may also not want to be too picky if in fact you need to get out of the rain.
#WiseWords
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.“
My former partner at a communications company we launched in NYC was a theatre director. Ellie Heyman often spoke about “business speak” and how it gets in the way of communication. I agree.
On the lighter side of all the job-elimination news out there, this refreshing opinion piece
from Fast Company breaks down some of the prevalent business speak we hear today – in job descriptions and in-person communication.
Written by Whitney Posterick, it shines a light on the absurdity of it all. Her point is that jargon filled job descriptions turn off potential employees. She focuses on stakeholder, cross-functional and multi-level marketing in her piece. I would add to that, the acronyms that companies use ad nauseam such as KPI, SEM, POC, TOFU, MOFU and BOFU.
Take a minute a check out Want to hire someone creative? Don’t do any of these things, and please, take the author’s advice to heart.
And Finally...
We just got back from a very relaxing two-week vacation. I was able to send my last email while away thanks to Cheryl at Virtually All. Thank you Cheryl!
Two things I did differently this year were so obvious, it is surprising that I have not tried them in the past, especially since they made a huge difference.
- I totally detached. Putting my out of office on, and letting go of the day to day was so healthy. I confess, I did scan emails a couple of times, but overall I honored my time away. What a difference it made in my ability to relax.
- I was fully present. In the past, while relaxing with my husband on vacation, I often asked the question “Where shall we go next?”. How dumb is that? Being in a beautiful place, learning new things, and meeting new people is such a joy for me, why did I try to minimize it and focus on the future rather than the present? Vacation season is upon us. Whether you take a day or a week, have a staycation or go someplace fabulous, I hope you detach and take the opportunity to be fully present.
Have a great week.
Mary Jo