The Causey Consulting Podcast

Be Careful What You Wish For...

May 05, 2022 Sara Causey
The Causey Consulting Podcast
Be Careful What You Wish For...
Show Notes Transcript

Throughout The Great Resignation, the market has rewarded job hoppers more than job stayers. While that may be lucrative, you still need to look before you leap.

Key topics:

✔️ Do some research. That new job with the flashy paycheck? Yeah, it might be a toxic cesspool.
✔️ Unless it's a newly created position, someone left the role you're about to step into. It's worthwhile to question why they vacated.
✔️ Being super thirsty for a job while someone else is still in it is kinda bad karma IMHO. This story of John and Amanda (not their real names) shows you why.


Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Welcome to the Causey Consulting Podcast. You can find us online anytime at CauseyConsultingLLC.com. And now, here's your host, Sara Causey. Hello, Hello, and thanks for tuning in. So today I want to talk about looking before you leap. We're in a time where by and large the market has rewarded job hoppers over job stairs. The other night, I saw a video on Instagram where someone had made like a hypothetical video between one person who stays at a job for about five years and the other person who job hops over the course of that same five years. And at the end of the story, you learned that the person who job hopped has the same management level title, but is making about 50 grand more than the person who stayed, I do think we're going to see a shift in the balance of power. And just to be clear, I'm not sitting out here telling you I'm celebrating that, really, I'm sort of waving a giant red flag at you saying something is on the horizon, I really read and reading the tea leaves and thinking back on past experiences in my life, I do think a recession is on the horizon. I really do. And I hate to sound so bearish and pessimistic about it. But I think as we look at the stock market, we look at inflation, I think there's going to be a contraction. I mean, certainly if you look at the insanity, that has been the real estate market, it's almost like you can look at that as a microcosm and say, Yeah, that's not going to last. And I really think that the power brokers and then the CEOs and the big wigs and fat cats that are in charge of the huge global conglomerates, at some point, they're going to get tired of the great resignation. I really think especially in light of leaked emails, and all of these things coming to the forefront about the conversations that really happen in private behind closed doors. I don't think that they have just willingly embraced the great resignation as a true revolution. I think in a lot of ways they've tolerated it. And they've allowed people to feel in charge. If you've ever seen The Dark Knight Rises when Bane sort of puts his hand on that guy's shoulder, he's like, do you feel in charge? I think that's what's about to happen. And I really want everybody to be prepared. So it's important to look before you leap. Even though we're still in a time right now, where job hopping is more lucrative than job staying, you still want to know what you're getting yourself into. Because it could very well be that someone is dangling a lot of money in front of you. But when you join the company, you realize that you have, unfortunately, taken a giant dive into one big toxic cesspool. So it's important to do some research and to ask around and to figure out, are they bribing me with a lot of money because it absolutely sucks to be here. Unless you're in a position that's completely newly created, someone left that job that you're going into, and I'm sure they had their reasons for wanting to leave. Stories have the tendency to convey messages much better than me sitting here talking. So I'm going to tell you a true story. I'm going to have to be unnecessarily vague to protect the privacy of everyone involved. But what I'm about to tell you is in fact a true story. So here we go. Once upon a time, there was a woman named Amanda, not her real name. Obviously, no names used in the story are real names. So once upon a time, there was a woman named Amanda. And she had a high profile position in the company she was working for. Once upon a time there was also a man named John. And for whatever reason, John was very thirsty for Amanda's job. John had a not very high profile position at a competitor company to the one that Amanda worked for. And on a regular basis, he would get very thirsty for Amanda's job. And to this day, Amanda doesn't know why he was so thirsty and why he had made that particular job at that particular company like the shining city on the hill. It was some wonderful dreamlike destination that he just had to get to. But for whatever reason, John was just convinced that he was going to get into that high profile position and it was simply going to be heaven on earth, but Amanda knew better. Amanda knew that the environment that she was in was not great, even though yes, she had a high profile position and on paper, everything seemed be really great. In reality, it was not. And Amanda started to look for another job quietly. But it's interesting because while Amanda was still in the company, and still in the position, she was told on more than one occasion by more than one person that John was gunning for her job. And that John had made it clear, John had called in to the company and told individuals in the HR department at this place, if Amanda ever quits or gets fired, I want her job. I'm just putting it all out there putting all my cards on the table, I really want that job. And I think I'm the man for that job. Now, was there some sexism involved in this? Probably so I mean, I certainly wouldn't be surprised. But I mean, it's, it's pretty gutsy at the bare minimum to call into an HR department and say, Hey, that person who's already in that job, kind of like Screw them, I really want that job. So if they ever leave, or you ever push them out the door, I hope I'm your first phone call. What a world we live in. My theory is that maybe John had bought into some of the hype, maybe he was just really geeked up about the job title, and the high profile nature of the position that Amanda was in. And he just was so blinded by all that, that he really never took the time to figure out and to ask the right questions about the company culture in that particular place. And that's one of the reasons why I'm conveying the story to you today is you still want to look before you leap, getting caught up in the glitz and the glamour of a flashy new title, an impressive new paycheck, so called Corporate perks, etc. If you are in a horrendous environment, a lot of that stuff is going to go way to the backburner. If your boss is a complete nightmare. If all of your coworkers are trying to stab you in the back, if they have really out of date archaic corporate policies, and you're expected to toe the line to those policies. They don't like innovation, they don't want anybody that comes to the table with new fresh ideas. They just want everybody to engage in cult like corporate groupthink. How happy? Are you going to be at that place in the long run? Will you wind up just having to go back on the market and job hop again. And then when someone asks Well, you've only been at that company for about one month, I mean, what, what's going on that you hate it already, you're gonna have to come up with an explanation for why it is you got in the door and then immediately wanted to leave. So Amanda had her reasons for wanting to exit that high profile position. So she was discretely on the job market. And she was able to secure another position at another company. And from what she shared with me, it's a much better fit, she enjoys the job a lot better, she enjoys the company and the culture a lot more. And it was just more of a hand in glove fit. So Amanda left, and lo and behold, to the great surprise of no one, because John had already put his name in the hat before Amanda ever even left, which I personally think is is tacky and kind of Machiavellian. I mean, I'm sure maybe he had his reasons, we could probably sit here all day and bounce the tennis ball back and forth across the court about was that a good idea? Was it not? Again, I don't know. I just find it tacky and kind of Machiavellian. And I think it's bad karma. You know, especially when you're gunning for somebody's job when somebody is already in it. And then you haven't even taken the appropriate steps to figure out do I even want that? Am I just covetous of it? Because I think it's going to be impressive. And I'm gonna get to play the big shot or what am I actually doing here? So does a great surprise of no one. John is hired in pretty quickly after Amanda resigns to take Amanda's job. And not long into his tenure at Sid company, John realized in very crystal clear terms why Amanda left in the first place. And to make an even longer part of the story short, John was either let go, or he resigned on his own or he was fired, I don't know. And Amanda doesn't know either. She had some contacts and friends within the company that shared with her, hey, guess who got your job, it was a little drawn, and that he was not happy and that things were not going well. And so we can certainly shrug our shoulders and say, yeah, well Karma is a biatch you know, you wanted it. You were fiending for it hard and heavy. And so you got it and then you realize that you didn't really look before you decided to leap you just got really thirsty without knowing the whole story. So the moral to this is Don't be like, John, look, before you leap. Do your research, whether it's poking around on indeed or Glassdoor, or if you know, people who work within the company that are willing to be honest with you, I mean, if you're just kind of cold calling random strangers, and they don't know anything about you, they're probably going to be reluctant to just completely spill the tea. I mean, I guess unless it's a really horrendous environment. I mean, if if the environment is really, really awful, and really toxic, then they might be they might be so like, willing to be transparent with you about oh, my god, don't come here. It sucks. It's awful. Everybody wants to leave. We're like rats on a sinking ship. But for the most part, if you are a random stranger, and someone is trying to keep their job until they can find another one, or they've essentially just like acquiesced, and they've decided to quiet quit, which is a topic I will talk about in another podcast episode, because I think it's interesting. They're not going to just completely lay their guts out and say, Okay, hello, random stranger, let me go ahead and tell you all about the nightmare that is this company. Most of the time, that's not realistic. But you want to try to do some research and not just put on rose colored glasses and say, Well, I mean, they're gonna give me like a 10k a year increase. I mean, I want everything to be okay, I want to come in with confirmation bias, I want to make this work, no matter what you want to be able to look at information on both sides of the spectrum. So that before you dive in to what could be a really nice, luxurious swimming pool that's been cared for and maintained very well, or a cesspool of toxic waste, you want to have some idea of what you're getting yourself into. Because even though as I said, right now, as of this recording, the market is still favoring job hoppers over job stairs, I do think that will change, it certainly will change if we go full tilt into a recession, and the unemployment rate goes up. What tends to happen is that when employment goes up, it goes up fast, but then the recovery at the end of it is slow. So it happens rapidly, but the recovery from it is slow in nature. So I would advise you, again, to at least think about getting in plugging in somewhere where you're happy, you're treated well, you're not in a corporate cold, you're not in a toxic cesspool, you're treated well and things are going well for you and you see some kind of future for yourself there. And just be prepared to hunker down and weather the storm that I think is coming. Always do your research on your own. Always get your own advice. I am not a professional economist or a financial planner. I'm just reading the tea leaves and looking at past experience and saying, Yep, I think we might have a winter of discontent. I think that things could get a little bit rough before they get better again. In any case, if you're planning to make a job change, do some good research and look before you leap. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you haven't already, please take a quick second to subscribe to this podcast and share it with your friends. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time.