Here are insights into some of the challenges of the world of work:
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The challenge of age: Andrew Rafalski of Chicago says he has “an excellent background in information technology, but I’ve often had trouble finding a job,” said the 54-year-old software consultant. “No company will admit it, but it’s a dirty little secret that job applicants often are rejected simply because of their age.”
Employers who do so not only are breaking the law but also are missing out on skilled, experienced workers.
The challenge of layoffs: Layoffs are very hard on workers, but management can do a lot to make them easier. “Layoffs need to be done quickly–like ripping a Band-Aid off,” said Ellen Whitener, senior associate dean of faculty at the University of Virginia’s school of commerce in Charlottesville. “Layoff survivors wonder, will it be me this week? So try to make it a one-time event. Don’t drag it out.”
That’s good advice for the lucky survivors, but what about the unlucky ones who lost their jobs? Well, more employers, faced with potential layoffs, are paying attention to the actual way in which the firing is done.
“The manner in which employers lay off employees directly impacts their reputation and ultimately their future recruitment and retention efforts,” said Carlo Martellotti, regional vice president for Drake Beam Morin, a professional and corporate development firm.
Martellotti, based in Downers Grove, asserts that companies will place “further emphasis on establishing sound employee separation practices.”
My advice to those wielding the hatchet: Give plenty of notice. Provide job counseling. Extend health insurance for as long as you can. Be kind.
The challenge of salary negotiations: Information is the key to successful salary negotiations. And the word from William M. Mercer Inc., New York-based human resource consultants, is that “employers now plan to grant slightly higher pay raises in 2001” than they projected last year.
In a recent Mercer survey of 645 firms nationwide, pay increases this year are pegged at from 4.2 percent to 4.6 percent. Its July survey of 2,439 firms projected increases of only 3.9 percent to 4.4 percent. “The labor market still is so tight that employers are reluctant to take steps that would make it more difficult to attract and retain good talent,” said Jeff Fuller, a senior consultant in the Chicago office.
Keep that information in mind when salary review time comes.
When you hate your job: Even if you feel it would be oh, so gratifying to tell everyone how awful your present job is, don’t. That’s the advice of Stephen Viscusi, president and founder of the Viscusi Group, an international search firm based in New York.
Viscusi, who hosts a nationally syndicated radio show called “On The Job,” is the author of “On the Job: How to Make It in the Real World of Work” (Three Rivers Press, $14). In his book, Viscusi urges employees “to treat everyone whose path you cross well. You never know when your lives may intersect. Be especially careful never to exhibit a dismissive attitude about an employer by having your sights set elsewhere. It’s the kiss of death for earning the trust and respect of co-workers.
“Long after you leave the workplace you so loudly loathed, you may need those co-worker contacts.”
Challenge of job fairs: “Career fairs are in full swing on college campuses and in convention halls across the country,” said Jan Ford, associate director of career services at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, an undergraduate engineering school in Terre Haute, Ind. (the name of the city as published has been corrected in this text). “Make yourself stand out from the crowd.”
One way to do it, according to Ford: “Do your research. Learn as much about your favorite companies as possible.”
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Watch Carol Kleiman’s Career Coach segments Sunday and Tuesday mornings on [email protected]