Resigning your way to the top

By SELWYN PARKER

The quitter is the winner in the modern job market. At least, so says American career coach Gordon Miller, who more or less advises in his book, Quit Your Job Often and Get Big Raises!, that loyalty sucks.

Miller believes the employee who has stayed with one company for 15 years will have a tougher time getting a new job than the fly-by-night who has moved around half a dozen firms in that time.

But quitting is an art, and you should quit only when you're on top, says Miller. A good time is just after you've closed a deal as that's a bargaining tool for the next employer.

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French trade unions now represent just one-tenth of private-sector workers, compared with a third in the early 1980s.

That's perhaps why the Labour Minister's law to force a 35-hour week has got off to a slow start. To date, only 14 per cent of eligible firms have signed up to the legislation, which provides for "work inspectors" to audit companies and make sure that staff earn the same in 35 hours as they did in 39 hours.

Many employers say the law is too bureaucratic. Among its provisions, managers are exempted from the 35-hour limit but must take longer holidays to compensate.

* Selwyn Parker is available at wordz@xtra.co.nz