ALUMRISE

For those on the outside looking in – either seeking non-traditional positions or seeking a full time return, what are the implications?

I think there’s a few:

1. Stop hunting so aggressively where others are hunting – it simply may not be the best use of your limited energy and time
2. Start using services targeted specifically at you and your unique lifestage – the wonderful silver lining in the noisy online and offline job market today is that there’s a host of interesting companies focusing on niche segments – like moms, retirees, returning workers, career changers, etc. They are simply more likely to focus on your unique challenges and needs – and connect you to other solutions that can help. At ALUMRISE, we are building a series of partnerships with niche solution providers to bring you services we believe can help you, whatever your work life stage – stay tuned to see those come to life
3. Job “hunting” feels good, because it’s active. It’s hard to put yourself out there passively and wait – but if you target the right services and communities online, that profile you to the right employer audiences, passivity in online hunting and profiling will leave time for the most important way to target your energies – actively connecting with real people who can point you to opportunities that you may not have considered, not searching ad-nauseum online

We aren’t the only ones that have been saying for a long time that the job market isn’t just in a down “bit” – HR guru and ALUMRISE advisor Libby Sartain shared in a recent post that there is a big and important shift in employment patters and contracts. (ps: She’s been known to call our business an ebay of employment). She notes that as a new “consumer of work,” as a professional you should get yourself ready for a new way of working, whether you’re mid-career, early-career or a late bloomer returning to work after a retirement or lifestyle hiatus.

By looking at work differently than your job-seeking peers, you actually may open yourself up to the true opportunities that fit and fulfill. After all, even when a job is found, that’s just the beginning of the road to satisfaction and success.

The new reality is that full time employment is quickly being replaced by a marketplace model where jobs of all shapes and sizes will connect you to employers of all shapes and sizes. At ALUMRISE, small a team as we are, we’re passionate about finding those outside the workforce the right solutions, and the right work life fit.

That’s because we believe that when jobs fit better, life works better – for both employers and professionals outside the workforce. 

Tell us what YOU think.

 

Libby Sartain, Author of Brand for Talent

ALUMRISE is proud to count among its advisors HR guru and author Libby Sartain. Libby’s distinguished career includes serving as head of people for Southwest Airlines and as head of human resources for Yahoo! Inc. She recently entered a new lifestage as an author, speaker and advisor. Her most recent book, Brand for Talent, is making waves. In the related post below, she shares a perspective on the changing employee — a “consumer of work.”

Libby’s Guest Blog

In just the past couple of years the marketplace for talent has churned like never before. Organizations need for talent has intensified while the supply and demand of essential workers ebbs and flows.  The need to engage workers is strong, but the very environment in which we operate makes engagement more difficult.

The speed at which change occurs in today’s business environment has produced an era of volatility making it difficult to for any organization to craft a practical strategic workforce plan with a view much beyond the current budget cycle. At the same time, the market for talent has tightened, even in a down economy. There are segments of work where supply of workers cannot keep up with demand.

In the past, the solution for business has been to hire workers on the open market versus growing them from within.  And, when faced with business setbacks, the reaction is to reduce the workforce of workers who may be needed later when conditions improve.  Yet, as the need to control costs while maintaining optimum talent resources has escalated, this approach has proven to be unsustainable over the long term. Hiring from the outside is expensive and the workers with the right skill sets are rarely readily available.  Reductions in force nullify all investments made in the workers who are let go.

At the same, workers themselves have changed.  While the baby boomers may have switched organizations 4 or five times during their career, as compared to their parents who worked for 1 or 2 companies; the next generation is expected to change organizations every two years and may change careers several times during their work-lives.

Baby boomers will continue to work during past traditional retirement age, some on a part-time or contract basis, while working parents will also look for more flexible arrangements. And, technology allows many “creative class” workers to disengage from the traditional work environment in favor of work on their own terms.

Workers of all demographics look for more than just a “job”.  They look for a meaningful work experience that allows them to contribute what they do best, feel part of something significant, and enhances their career from a development and personal point of view.

Today’s worker views their professional skill set as a product for sale and is at the same time they are a consumer. The worker has expectations of what that skill set will bring in today’s talent marketplace. All the while, the worker is shopping for the right experience, or relationship with a place to work. 

Organizations need talent, but the need fluctuates. It is foreseeable that the same workers will come and go from the same organizations multiple times as both the workers and the organization’s needs evolve.

All of this is enabled by technology.  In the past, employers posted job descriptions and compliant candidates applied for open “jobs”.  Evolving now is an online community enhanced by Web 2.0 technology where the workers post their profiles and terms and conditions for working to be found by talent scouts scouring blogs, websites and social networks. 

The relationship between employers and potential workers could one day look more like eBay versus Monster.  Workers will be in the drivers seat and might post their requirements while employers will hire workers for time periods where they need the work.

All of this change will pose many challenges for employers. How will organizations keep core workers engaged and on board for the long term? What kind of systems and management infrastructure will be required to manage a new kind of workforce? How can an employer brand itself as an employer of choice for this new kind of worker? How can an employer stay relevant to all the segments of talent it needs to keep and to attract?

Strategic workforce management will involve a sourcing strategy that will look more like a consumer marketing strategy. Employers will need a targeted branded marking campaign aimed at each critical talent segment through multi-channel marketing.

Now is the time for employers to get ready for this new consumer of work by establishing a branding strategy for critical talent segments. Now is the time for workers to establish their own brands as they look for the experience that meets their needs.