Four Jobs in Six Years? Death by A Thousand Cuts

Posted on April 17, 2013 by John G. Self

There are more than a few candidates whose job/employment history is less than stellar.

In everyone’s career stuff happens and in most cases these situations can be managed effectively without inflicting major damage to future employment opportunities.

However, when you see a resume with four to five jobs in a six or seven-year period of time, that spells trouble. The candidate with a regrettable history may be an unsung star skills-wise, but has encountered a bad workplace environment, a terrible choice in a bounce-back job or a couple of unforeseen layoffs.

For some recruiters, this type of job history merits red-flag status, meaning that the candidate will not be considered under any circumstance. Why take a risk with their client relationship, these recruiters reason. For well-qualified candidates, other recruiters will at least take the time to sort through the career carnage in an initial screening interview. The bad news for these candidates, they are unlikely to change the employer’s mind about their ability to end this career thread unless they get on top of the problem early in the screening process.

So what to do?

What not to do is suffer death by a thousand cuts, waiting for the recruiter to ask about each job change individually. The number of times a candidate is asked, so why did you leave, what happened there, or did you quit or were you asked to leave can be demoralizing, and usually the kiss of death.

What candidates rarely do is to take a direct approach. Getting out in front of these employment issues with a true but favorably worded disclosure of the various transitions which emphasize lessons learned and framing the recruiters’ inevitable follow-up questions, is the best course of action. This is not something candidates can do on the fly. It takes carefully thought out preparation, including the selection of references that can help add factual context to each transition. What the references will say should be incorporated into the candidate’s “get out in front” explanation.

Drafting a summary answer with a brief reference to each job change that opens the door for a more positive discussion and questions with the recruiter is the best way to go.

When I entered healthcare, an executive who moved every four or five years was a job hopper, someone to be viewed with enormous skepticism. Today, staying too long in one job can hurt an up and coming executive build a broad-based portfolio of experience that will lead to their dream job.

Times have changed, and four jobs in six or seven years is problematic but not career ending if the candidate takes the initiative and prepares for each interview, not sitting back and waiting for the grand inquisition to begin.

When People Think Of You, What Is Their First Thought?

Posted on March 15, 2013 by John G. Self

When people think of you, is it good or bad?

Do they think successful? Smart? Accomplished? Insightful? Abusive jerk?

These first thoughts, like first impressions, are part and parcel of a career brand.

It is amazing how many leaders are what they are without thinking about their personal brand. They can come up with a hundred reasons for their good or bad habits, how they treat people, or for their failures. They become incredibly dismissive when you try to connect these behaviors and their brand.

Bad mistake.

There are three important elements of effective career management:

Awareness
Outreach
Performance

At the outset, you must be aware, or become aware, of how your colleagues, your customers, your friends and even your family perceive who you are and why you are they way you are. Without self-awareness you have no ability to change and grow.

Outreach involves everything from your personal interactions to your social media presence. Unless you are at the apex of your career, and your retirement is funded beyond your wildest expectations, you must focus on advancing your brand — as a cutting edge thought leader, superb operations leader or values-oriented staff support person. When you start assuming everyone sees you through the same lens as you see yourself, you are in trouble. You must take the initiative in defining who you are, how people see you and how they evaluate your value.

In the end, it is all about performance. Whether you work in a staff support function, or on the hard edge of nailing aggressive budget targets, you have to achieve results, deliver value.

That will define your brand as much as how you treat people.

Hiring “Gamers”

Posted on March 4, 2013 by John G. Self

Who we hire makes a difference.

A grumpy housekeeper or cafeteria cashier whose work is mediocre can help drive down patient satisfaction scores.

A physician who is more focused on the money he or she makes than the needs of the patient will impact quality of care and patient safety.

A healthcare executive who is more interested in checking another box in their career advancement plan – focusing more on title and scope of responsibility than the overall success of the organization – is a threat to morale, patient quality, safety and the financial performance of the enterprise.

With a swell of structural change building in the healthcare industry, who we hire will make a big difference. I find it helpful to look outside healthcare, to learn what other industry segments are thinking and doing. There is so much information on this subject that research becomes akin to taking a drink from the proverbial fire hose.

Ryan Smith, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Qualtrics, a Provo, Utah provider of on-line survey research platforms, shares something in common with hospital CEOs. He is in a fast-change industry. Hospitals are about to be.

“When everyone is rowing together toward the same objective, it is going to be very powerful …high execution at a high level is very important. The organization is going to change quickly – we are not perfect and we are going to make mistakes. We want to find people who align with that, who will add value to the company in whatever role they are in,” said Mr. Smith in the New York Times Corner Office column on Sunday.

“I am looking for someone (job applicants) who is a ‘gamer’… I want to know the hardest thing they’ve ever done. So, if you were in Korea traveling by yourself, did you go home when things got rough? That’s what I am trying to figure out, because when the ship’s going well, everyone’s good. But when obstacles come up, we’ve got to sit back and rethink, how are we going to navigate these?

Will some people want to jump off the ship? Or will they come in, roll up their sleeves and say, ‘Hey, this is part of it’.”

As the challenges for health systems, hospitals and other providers change, we are re-evaluating our –in-depth face-to-face screening interview to ensure we are finding the people who can roll up their sleeves and take on new challenges that are outside the comfort box, because that is going to be what it takes.

Health system CEOs and their senior leaders need to take a long, in-depth look at their talent pool at every level of the organization to determine their “gamer” census. By the way, Mr. Smith believes you must be truly transparent with your employees. If the challenges are tough and much is expected, and “if we are going to execute at a very high level, everyone has to know where we are going.”

It is not too early to make changes.