At the time, I remember thinking that constantly looking for your next gig sounded like an exhausting way to make a living.  What about benefits?  Career Development?  Was this really a good thing?

What happened?  Well, in A/E, the closest we’ve come to the scenario above is outsourcing, and that happens pretty rarely in our market space.  I’d say that other industries are better suited to utilizing outsourcing for their benefit.

This doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a change in the A/E consultant’s employment paradigm; The change has certainly occurred.   But unlike the scenario painted above, this change has been employee-driven.

Our industry generally hires talent for specific types of projects, with the inherent promise that we have a machine in place to continue to “feed” the employees as key projects pass.  While an individual performs a functional (technical) role, they are simultaneously gleaning skills in maneuvering the team, office, organization and market as a whole.   Functional skills and organizational skills represent two different axes on the career development chart.

As organizations have become flatter, and “corporate ladders” have shed rungs, employees have adapted the way that we perceive our careers.  Employment tenures are shorter, as in the contract-for-hire scenario, but professionals’ demand for diversified experiences is what is driving it.  We now look at each axis to find potential growth opportunity.

For example, Mike can bring his function skills – Highway-centric NEPA Planning — to a new employer where he will apply his expertise to passenger rail corridors.  The resulting experience serves to grow Mike’s functional domain.  Karen can move on to hold the same function in another organization – that of Manager of Traffic Engineering – yet fulfill an additional organization role of business development lead, an organizational role which was very competently covered within her last employer’s operation by someone else.

Career paths are now plotted in this fashion:  Employees set long term goals and look for a mix of experiences which add to the figurative toolbox necessary to achieve the goal(s).  Often, this means making the choice to change employers at each juncture, rather than wait out the inertia of a functioning organization which has no need to shake things up.

The fact is, companies don’t have the infrastructure they used to…the ladder is often very short (and broad), and you can’t ascend it in a direct fashion.  So, professionals have adapted.  No longer is your career defined by a ladder of increasing responsibility as you “climb” the corporate hierarchy, with an ever increasing technical or organizational domain in your purview.

Your value today, and your ability to contribute to any organization, is better defined by the parts in your greater body of work.   If we’ve ever spoken, you know I call this your professional toolbox, and in it you hold skills developed while fulfilling a number of different — often lateral — roles that are technical, organizational, and sales related.   Your objective in this modern-day game of life is to collect the right tools to provide you the foundation to reach your professional goal.

Often, the acquisition of these tools will require you to change companies and jobs.   From my view, this is the extent of “contract work” in the A/E consulting marketplace…where YOU, the employee, is in the driver seat.

“If it’s too easy to get, it’s not worth getting.”

The context in which I utter this phrase has changed over the years.  Five plus years ago, it was typically in the context of counseling a candidate not to buckle under pressure of an offer that came out fast and furious, before my client had the chance to fully qualify and get to know them.

As a recruiter, I am supposed to like firms which offer jobs to candidates at the speed of light (such as at the end of an interview – it happened!).  However, this modus operandi always made me feel uncomfortable and distrusting.   There are so many angles to making the right hire, it’s impossible for each party to evaluate each other in a single interaction.   “A careful employer should understand that thoughtful candidates know this intrinsically,” I would say to myself.  With a tag line such as “candidate + culture” I consider evaluating the “fit” to be an art form.  I therefore counseled employers to be swift, yet prudent, in their pursuit of talent.

Today, I really don’t have to worry about shotgun offers so much.  (Those of you who know what a supreme understatement this is are chuckling at this moment.)  I do, however, continue to counsel EMPLOYERS that nothing worth getting is had easily.

It is easy to blow off the nuances and niceties of the recruiting process when our perception is that we are offering a “primo” job in a soft market.  The flip side of this scenario is that “primo” candidates aren’t going to leave their comfy employment situations to accept just any offer.  They are raising the bar on New Opportunity because it now means having to leave the security of established relationships, selling a home, or some other circle of hell as defined by the Great Recession.

In response to healthy candidate skepticism, the right thing to do is to continue to roll out the red carpet because getting the best talent is still hard work (“If it’s too easy to get, it’s not worth getting”), BUT this is not a one-way street.  This adage still very much applies to the CANDIDATES as well.

The meaning this phrase conveys in today’s context is to empower your candidates in the interview process.  Give them the basic tools they might need to prepare, and see what they do with them.  Advise them in advance of the agenda, who they will meet, and a line or two about each person, and generally what to expect in the meeting.  Throw in a thoughtful topic if you dare.  Do you have some talking points you want them to prepare on a certain topic?  Perhaps you’d like to see a short presentation on their crowning achievements, technically or professionally?

Some of you might think this is prepping the candidate too much, but you’re not telling them what you’re looking for from them; you’re just allowing them to put more thought into how they’ll use the basic information you’ve shared.

Give slightly worried or reticent candidates enough information so that they can “own” the meeting, and see what they do with it.  It is my observation that the more a candidate has invested in preparation for a meeting, the more likely it is that s/he will accept an offer should it be forthcoming.  This is because they actually did something to earn it.

Which reminds me of another adage….The more things change, the more they stay the same.

First, I am proud of you.  Life is very busy.  Taking the time to get involved is a big step; After all, it’s not easy to stay focused on external commitments when you have more work than you have hours to execute it. Then add the demands of your personal life, and well, there isn’t much room left.  This makes it all the more important to choose wisely.

When counseling others on how to position their careers toward their long term goals, I break these types of groups into two flavors:  Professional Associations, and Industry Associations.

Professional Associations are excellent resources for YOU, the professional, to hone your skills and knowledge within your specialization, including continuing education, and keeping abreast of new technologies which may affect you and your clients.

Industry Associations, where clients, peers, competitors, and vendors gather are useful for other reasons.  They are focused on your Client’s business, and allow you an opportunity to learn more about your customer.  Meetings can be an outstanding source of early intelligence regarding future bid opportunities, as well as where potential teaming partners are sized up.

I think participation in both is important in planning your career, with an emphasis in the latter for those who wish to distinguish themselves in business development.  If your objective is technical luminary status, perhaps your emphasis should be on the former.  Regardless, they’re all worthy outlets for your time, and participation will set you apart from the rest.

This third tipping point, in my experience, is at least 90% accurate. I have been reticent to mention it because it is gender-specific to men, but upon reflection, it is too important not to bring to your attention.

Without a doubt, within AE consulting space, the pending or new arrival of a child into the family is a major contributor to job search behavior. I say this is gender-specific, because we gals are not dummies….we are inclined to “stay put” for the FMLA benefits. **

I am neither a psychologist nor a scientist, but if I had to boil it down to biology, I’d guess that this is some type of latent “provider gene” in action, the modern-day equivalent to stepping up the hunt for food to feed a growing family. It might be the first child, it might be a successive child, but when I find a candidate with a bun-in-the-family-oven, I know he has anxiety about advancing his career.

It’s not overt; he doesn’t recognize it as a factor at all. What is he thinking? If the family is considering becoming a traditional one-income household, his motivations are fairly obvious. However, this behavior occurs equally in families with two income earners. Is he thinking about braces, summer camp and college tuition so early?

I tell these blokes it’s a lousy time to be looking for a career move. So much of the world as they know it is about to change, why shake things up even more? But they don’t listen to me.

Male readers, look back on your own careers. What lifetime events were in play when you made certain job changes? I guarantee you will be able to correlate a job change, seeking a promotion or other career milestone with the pending or recent arrival of at least one child.

The feedback is the same whenever I share this tidbit of information with managers: they were not even aware of it when it was happening to THEM, and they quickly begin to catalog the life events of those recently hired and recently departed.  I smugly enjoy their epiphanies.

** Why the gents are not equally motivated by this perk is a whole other discussion that we can cover over a few glasses of wine, ladies.

“Job Seeker” is a difficult role to play involuntarily, but it is a job, and it needs to be treated like one.  My advice to all job seekers, regardless of industry, is the same:  Get out from behind the computer.

There was a time when looking for a job online was the “new wave” of the job search.   That was in the mid-90s for those who missed it.  I know, because I was a greenback, un-networked, recruiter at the time and I used online resources to help me identify candidates I had no other way of sourcing.   In the infancy of the Internet, places like CareerMosaic and Monster.com were cutting-edge, early adopter territory which allowed companies and search consultants like me to reach way beyond the limits of the traditional tools of the time.   Likewise, it was the savvy job seeker who hit these portals and found themselves plucked like cherries into rewarding career baskets.  Quality was high, volume was (relatively) low.

As the ‘Net has matured, job boards have proliferated.  There are TENS of THOUSANDS of them.   This level of maturity in the market makes it hard for companies to decide where to spend their dollars and even harder for prospective employees to determine where they can best be “found.”

But, I am not here to bash job boards, because they should play an important role in every firm’s recruiting efforts.  It’s in this particular market, in today’s context, where I must tell candidates to avoid job-board dependency.

I know it feels good at the end of the day to say you have “sent out ten resumes and cover letters.”   Only the magic of the Internet can allow you that level of productivity.  However, despite auto-responders and other types of electronic communication that some companies try to put in place acknowledging an applicant’s efforts (most don’t even bother), the anonymity of the internet is killing your morale in so many other ways.

As a Job Seeker, you have zero control after you hit “Submit” … You don’t know the timeline, you don’t know much about the job and you don’t know if anyone has even looked at your inquiry.  Of ten resumes – was even ONE seen by a decision making body?  The chances are slim.

So here are three things you should do to exercise real control in your job search:

1. Get Involved: If you haven’t yet, start your commitment to your profession by signing up to participate in your industry associations.  Don’t just go to meetings, join committees, and volunteer your (currently ample) time.  Be active and involved in your profession even when you’re not drawing a paycheck.
2. Professional Development: Sign up for as much professional development as you can possibly afford.  Since you’re not “learning from experience” during this period, learn from a teacher.  Demonstrate that you’re taking responsibility for your own professional advancement.
3. Become Active in Your Larger Community, in business and at home: Take an active role in issues which speak to your passions, whether they are focused at a community or regional level.

This is not rocket science; you know this is what you should be doing.  However, it’s not WHAT you do; it’s HOW you do it.

Here’s the real key: Don’t make the mistake of getting out from behind the computer and doing the same things you do when you’re sitting in that chair….searching for jobs.  If you attend all of these events and pass out resumes and introduce yourself as Jerry or Jane Job Seeker, the conversation will automatically focus on what you don’t bring to the table:  a paying job, or status as a collaborator.

Instead, get involved with the whole purpose of giving what you have to offer to others.  Make Social Deposits, Not Withdrawals. Find out with every contact, what someone else is trying to achieve, and how you can help them in their pursuits.  Some examples somewhat specific to my industries….

• Perhaps you know someone at the agency who can help get that permit out of review purgatory?
• Perhaps you know of a DBE/WBE which might make an excellent teaming partner in pursuit of a competitive bid?
• Perhaps you, during your networking at other events/meetings, will meet someone who is a perfect fit for a job which you yourself may not be qualified?
• Perhaps you have the time to research the answer to that question your busy contact is contemplating.

Your mantra should be to keep your eyes and mind open and be **ridiculously** generous with your time and connections.

This may not land you an immediate job; you can still go home and hit the job boards.  However, circulating in the flesh and blood with a genuine mission to create value (as opposed to simply serving your own needs) is an activity which will emblazon you upon the minds of people who will be anxious to return the favor one day.

What you will gain from following a plan based on these principles is a solid network of relationships…and you’ll all have each others’ backs for years to come.   Hitting the “Enter” key twenty-two times a day will never come close.