Avoid costly career u-turns

The risk of potentially hampering her long-term career prospects, by snubbing an initial job offer after a better one came along, gave sports administrator Nicola Prichard sleepless nights. But she hadn't consummated the verbal acceptance by signing a contract, so she felt no legal compulsion to stick with the first job offer when one closer to her passion unexpectedly surfaced.

While she admits her Mexican-standoff in the job-offer stakes did hurt the other (would-be) employer, Prichard says she had to follow what was right for her.

"New Zealand is a small place so you don't want to upset someone who could tarnish your job prospects in the future," says Prichard, who has returned to New Zealand after working in Britain. But when thinking about your career, you have to do what's best for you.

If more people followed their hearts, like Prichard, and knew why they were entering the job market, fewer people would risk making unfortunate career u-turns, says Fleur Board, chief executive with recruiter Adecco.

She says the act of applying for jobs and doing interviews can be so unsettling for many that they unwittingly take their eye off the ball at work. And with many New Zealand-based industry sectors being so small, it's relatively easy for an employer to see if staff are prowling the job market.

For example, six months ago she witnessed a sales rep's reputation damaged beyond repair when a potential employer approached his boss for an informal reference check.

Board believes dissatisfied employees owe it to themselves and their existing employer to fix what's wrong. She says while more mature employers would arrange a meeting to address these issues, in most cases that's not what happens.

Not surprisingly, she says satisfying job market curiosity can come at a price. That's when an employer finds out and temporarily sidelines you or writes you off.

It's flattering to be wanted by other employers. But too many candidates get so lost in the hype of multiple job offers they forget why they decided to put themselves on the job market, says Board.

Owing to the tight labour market, it's common for candidates to have two or more job offers in the pipeline these days. At face value this appears to be a nice position to be in. But it can backfire if candidates haven't bothered to assess what's important to them. Getting caught up in the whirlwind of offers means candidates who don't know what they want can easily make the wrong decisions, says Board.

As well as damaging their careers, they can jeopardise their workplace enjoyment and compromise their existing working relationship once the boss finds out.

In a survey of 20 candidates placed by Adecco over the last six months, 40 per cent regretted their job decision. With the wisdom of hindsight, they wished they'd given more thought to what was important.

The worst thing candidates can do, advises Board, is leap from one humdrum job to another. When recruiters give resumes the typical 90-second go-over, they're looking for reasons to include or exclude candidates from a short-list. And people who jump around too often don't look good on paper.

So, if you do make a wrong job move, try to stay there for a least a year to avoid your resume looking unsettled, advises Board.

So what's the key to assessing job offers? If you're dipping your toes in the job market, Board says you need to be absolutely clear about what's important to you. That means attaching weightings to key criteria such as potential for career development, remuneration, location, calibre of co-workers, and training provided.

Comparing the job market to buying a house, Board says it pays to make a list of all the things that bug you about your current and previous jobs.

She recommends attaching similar weightings to these factors then asking: "How much am I really prepared to compromise?" Before hitting the job market, evaluate what's important to you and how your existing job stacks up, Board says.

If, having performed this exercise, you still decide to enter the job market, she recommends discretion.

The more people you tell, warns Board, the greater the chances of the boss finding out. She's staggered by the number of people who naively use their company email address to tout their name into the job market.

Not only is it disrespectful to your existing employer, it creates doubt in the minds of prospective employers over your intellect and integrity.

Tipping your resume into the job market

* Identify what's important to you.
* Attach weighting to key criteria.
* Avoid the hype of multiple offers.
* Keep it confidential.
* Don't use company email.
* Look beyond the money.
* Don't wear out references.
* Avoid the mystery-shopping scenario.
* Try fixing your existing job first.
* Avoid job-hopping too frequently.