Last week was my birthday. And last year, I turned… well, it was a BIG birthday. The number isn’t important (but yes, I did dress as Madonna for Halloween for a few years when I was a kid). The opportunity that big birthday offered was a true crossroads moment to take stock. The sands are flowing through the hourglass a little faster these days. So. I asked myself “How do I *really* want to spend my time?”
If you know me at all… the films I’ve connected to over the years continue to play out and show up for me. So… for me, this was my Jerry Maguire moment. Breakdown. Breakthrough.
Nobody likes to re-architect their life. It’s so messy*!
People push big decisions off as long as possible. We stay in dead-end jobs. Too people stay in bad marriages that stopped thriving long ago, and now act more like a business partnership. Humans love to stick with the status quo. It’s *really hard* to change our lives. Often change is painful, and we only learn through unwanted earthquakes. The earth shifts. We react. We run for cover. Then we rebuild.
Most of my life I’ve had jobs. Many roles, especially in the last 15 years, were related to Talent & Recruiting. About 10 years ago I co-founded a business called The Good Jobs. It wasn’t successful (by our traditional capitalist metrics… read: we missed the BIG exit). But I loved what our team created and I’ve never stopped thinking about how to improve the HR/Recruiting process (which coincidentally… always seems to have more room for improvement). Even when Talent Attraction / Retention wasn’t directly tied to my performance metrics in my most recent role, I never stopped trying to solve challenges around talent attraction and retention by attending college job fairs to speak with recent graduates and helping other team members to find their voice (and getting a seat at the table) as well as helping leaders to improve their management skills. I really care about this stuff.
And for the past few months, I had a first row seat as a candidate. And whoa… the candidate experience is still really bad. Like bad. Overall. I was shocked. Employers are struggling and they say they don’t understand what employees want. But are they really listening?
2022: This is a candidate-driven market.
Ok. So. What does that really mean?
That means, as an employer, leaders need to dig deep to understand what really matters to us, your team(s). If you are losing your best people month over month… ask yourself why? Sure, the easy answer is: “It’s the wild west out there… we can’t pay 30% higher. 50% higher. It’s madness.” That might be true, but that’s not the whole story. People still want to feel connected to the mission. What do you do to help people to feel connected to the company’s mission? Do you have fun together? Real fun (not mandatory attendance at parties… that’s not fun).
We say in Recruiting, there is no silver bullet. There isn’t one easy thing that companies can do to solve all their talent challenges. There are only lots of steps to build trust and build community. We all have a part to play. Transparency is a big part of the success. Telling the truth. Looking at *real issues* and solving for them.
With no easy fixes, we need to think about what gives people purpose and helps people to feel like they can contribute and really be part of a bigger solution.
Eeeek! I totally buried the lead.
A few weeks ago, I accepted a role with ManpowerGroup. I interviewed and scrutinized the company just as much as they interviewed and scrutinized me. We both found a match. We recognized each other as trying to do good. I’m thrilled to work for an organization who believes in ‘Doing well by doing good’.
It’s not simply about the bottomline. It’s about helping people. It’s about our work having purpose and meaning. It’s about caring about our clients and co-workers. It’s about making friendships with the people we serve and work with that last a lifetime… because… what else is life really for?
Here I am, proudly standing among the international flags that fly in front of ManpowerGroup’s HQ on Water Street in Milwaukee, WI.
ManpowerGroup, like so many of the world’s employers is hiring. Please reach out if you’d like to know more about why I chose MPG and I’ll give you the straight scoop about why I chose MPG over other opportunities.
*Messy = ok, truth. Learning to use Microsoft Office after an 18-year sabbatical from that platform has been tough. Like… really, really hard. But so far, the good has far out-weighed the bad.
And I’m here for the good.
betsyrowbottom 