Post-recession Promises. Are You Keeping Yours?
2011 marks my 3rd economic recovery in the IT consulting and staffing world. Last year, candidates were humbled. Amazing employees were laid off. Egos were bruised. Relationships– based on need– were solidified.
Not surprisingly, among job seekers, a lot of new promises were made.
Of the promises that we continue to hear, these stand out the most:
- I will network more. Regardless of how busy and “heads-down” that I am at work, I now recognize the value of networking. When I land my next great role, I will continue to network so that I have plenty of peers to connect with for job referrals moving forward—particularly during the next economic downturn.
- I will pay it forward. I am lucky to have had friends and acquaintances who hand-delivered resumes for me in a tough job market. I will do the same, and once I am well-employed again, will go out of my way to help job seekers in need of an extra hand.
- I will focus more on my personal brand. I was told I am too scattered and that I need to solidify the message that I am trying to portray about myself in order to build a consistent personal brand. I will further my development in this focused area, and build my profile around the associated skills and experience. This includes building, and honing, my personal brand through social media and other online channels.
For employers, we still hear that..
- I will reward loyal employees. It was a tough year, and I will take great care of those employees who went without raises and those who worked harder to compensate for the void left by laid off team members.
With a recovery, unfortunately, comes broken promises. We quickly forget how bad it really was, resume our regular activities and just like that, our promises become yet another victim of the recession and its aftermath.
Does the same go for you or not? What promises have you kept, now that the recovery is upon us and the recession is a (knock on wood) mere “distant memory”?
