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Colleagues, here is the “AI Software Engineer: ChatGPT, Bard & Beyond” new audio and ebook article Week #4 on Amazon in the “Transformative Innovation” series for your reading-listening pleasure: “Three Macro Hiring Factors”.
Every recruiter is searching for something in the very potential employee they interview. But what are the key things they want to see? What qualities should you possess to be considered the right candidate? Beyond being a specialist in JavaScript and possessing all the extra qualifications to get hired, you need to understand what a recruiter truly wants before you can nail that job you seek.
Do you often wonder what happens in the recruiter’s mind when deciding who to hire for a top job? Well, we will answer that question for you in this chapter. There are three significant factors recruiters consider before deciding who to hire or not hire. We will look at each of them and provide a little background on why and what you can do differently from other candidates that will help you stand out in each category.
In a survey conducted by JobVite RECRUITER Nation in 2017, 97% of recruiters reported that prior work experience is the most significant factor in hiring. This did not surprise many because it is usually the first item recruiters screen for when seeking candidates to continue the interview process. Experience is vital, but not just any kind of experience. The experience must be relevant to the hiring process and is the first and most important factor.
Resume tips:
How you communicate your previous work experience on your resume will determine whether you will move forward with the interview or get screened out. Therefore, every content you write on your resume should target the position. You must properly articulate how you intend to add value to the organization. In addition, ensure that you address any key requirements and how you meet or exceed those requirements. Also, include how you can solve any major problems that may arise in the company or that already exist in the company or a specific department within the organization.
In 2016, this particular factor jumped by almost 15% — Culture Fit (83%). This tells us that our workforce and hiring are taking a certain direction. You have to fit the culture. Being a great culture fit to the organization’s culture is nearly as vital as having the needed background. Both are beginning to go hand in hand because finding the most suitable candidate is becoming more competitive for recruiters.
But why is this so? Why is culture fit so vital to recruiters? Cultural fit determines whether an employee will be satisfied with the job long-term. It simply determines long-term career satisfaction and lower turnover rates. In addition, it affects employee productivity. In short, culture fit is crucial for companies because it impacts their bottom line. We will discuss culture fit more broadly later in this chapter. But let’s look at the following tips to guide you.
Recruiters determine culture fit based on conversational skills (69%), knowledge of the industry (65%), and enthusiasm (62%). Conversational skills and enthusiasm are more difficult to convey in your resume than industry knowledge. Still, you can communicate all three via your cover letter and LinkedIn profile. Your cover letter is where you can emphasize how enthusiastic you are to work in the company and take the position you are applying for. It is also an opportunity to show your great communication skills. Therefore, your cover letter is the first major opportunity to prove that you fit well into the organization’s culture.
Referrals from other employees or people also weigh the hiring decisions heavily. Roughly 52% of recruiters rated employee referrals as a vital factor in their hiring decision. When someone the employee knows vouches for the prospective employee’s character, experience, and fitness, it provides an extra layer of trust in the hiring decision. Another interesting fact is that 35% of recruiters surveyed stated that mutual connections via social media were also a positive influence. So it goes beyond knowing someone within the organization to have a good network. Who can significantly boost your chances of progressing through hiring and nailing that IT job?
Pro tip: Do not be afraid of highlighting any common connections when contacting recruiters. This also applies to situations where the person is within the organization you are applying to or has a connection via LinkedIn or other social media sites. Recruiters will be happy to see those common connections because they increase their trust and confidence in prospective employees. You can mention this to your employer when sending your resume, in your email, cover letter, or via LinkedIn. Also, you can bring it up during the interview process.
More than 80% of recruiters believe that culture has become a major criterion in the recruitment process. Unfortunately, many potential employees do not understand its role in boosting their employment chances. Some organizations go as far as conducting culture fit assessments during their recruitment process. The aim is to assess a candidate’s culture fit adequately to see how well they can easily settle into an organization. We scratched the surface of culture fit earlier, but let’s dive deeper.
Also known as a cultural fit assessment, culture fit assessment combines different methods designed to ascertain whether a candidate fits a company’s culture during the recruitment and selection process. This is done by collecting and analyzing a series of information from you. So, you will not only be analyzed for your knowledge, experience, and expertise on JavaScript or any related qualifications but on factors such as this, which will determine how well you function in the organization.
Culture fit assessments may include pre-employment questions about your personality and interviews specific to your culture. The organization you might be applying to will use a cultural fit assessment to measure and evaluate you objectively. Therefore, to help them determine whether you are the right cultural fit for their organization, they’ll collect and ask you the right questions about your cultural disposition. Also, this helps the company hire people who will fit in with the organization, decrease their staff turnover rate, and drive their business forward.
In addition, organizations do this because it positively affects their employees’ morale and happiness once they have a group of people with the right organizational culture. In addition, it boosts the quality of the people being hired. Therefore, consider whether you fit into a company’s culture before applying for a job. Are you willing to buy into and adopt the culture if you do not? This may require you to conduct long research on what the company’s culture is. You are making too many sacrifices if you can adopt it without feeling.
Let me explain this further. Culture fit refers to how aligned you are as an employee with an organization’s culture. This means that your goals, values, and beliefs connect with the organization’s goals, values, and beliefs. When seeking a company’s culture, you should look for certain things and compare them with yours. The following factors form a company’s culture:
- Values
- Work ethic
- Communication and language
- Belief systems
- Worldviews
- Habits
- Acceptable or preferred behaviors
Even though you might have the required skills and experience to do a great job in your role as an employee, the organization may not be confident that you can perform at the highest level if you do not fit into the culture of their team, department, or the overall company way of life. This is one of the major reasons to consider cultural fit in preparing yourself for interviews. And this is important not only for the interview process but for you as an individual.
For example, suppose you eventually get a job in a company whose values do not align with yours. In that case, you may not be as productive as you had worked in a more culturally aligned environment. In the long run, it might affect the kind of assessment, reviews, and feedback you get from your bosses regarding your work.
As for organizations, they are ideally looking for someone who can fit seamlessly from the first day, creates positive impressions with clients and customers, and is valued, loved, and appreciated by every team member. Most importantly, they excel because they fit perfectly with the organization’s culture. For example, a company requires its team members to collaborate to succeed. As an employee who is a good cultural fit with that company, you will likely have collaborative skills and approaches and work efficiently within a team. On the other hand, if you would rather work alone most or all the time, you will probably not be a good cultural fit.
Imagine you are applying to an organization highly focused on sales and therefore encouraged competition among employees. It, therefore, means that you have to be confident, naturally competitive, and able to work under intense pressure to fit into the organization’s culture. But someone who is not assertive and easily intimidated would not fit into the organization’s culture. Therefore, even though just a few yardsticks cannot measure cultural fit, it can be understood differently, especially about what the organization wants or expects from its workers.
Also, culture fit is not focused on your ability as a candidate. As I stated earlier, you could have the best qualifications and not fit into the organization’s culture because culture fit is about values inherent in that organization. Sometimes, these values may not be clear, so it is not easy to know who your ideal employer is or what they expect from you.
Culture fit also helps your employer predict how well you might integrate into the company before working there. So, it would be best to give your prospective employers the impression that you have the qualifications and are a strong cultural fit for the organization. Therefore, some organizations will give you a culture fit assessment.
Based on a psychological study, employees who manage to fit well with their organizations are:
- Perform their roles while being happy and satisfied
- Easily identify with the company
- Are more likely to remain with the organization
- Often show commitment to their roles and responsibilities
- Perform better in their jobs
Suppose you do not fit into the company’s culture. In that case, there is a greater likelihood that you will quit your job even if what you are doing is your passion. Also, employees who do not fit into the organization’s culture may become disruptive, affect team morale, negatively affect ongoing projects, and harm the relationships between the company and its clients or customers.
But it is not easy to measure or quantify culture. For example, your current employee may be happy with the current culture in the organization. And after a series of assessments, they might want to tweak or change the culture. So it is also important you can adapt to any organizational culture. This is why portraying a sense of open-mindedness will do you much good during the interview process. So, should the organization deem it necessary to undergo a cultural transformation, you can still function effectively.
You must understand the culture of the company you are applying for. For example, what is their perspective on diversity? What is their work ethic like? How do they approach client or customer relationships? What is their policy on dressing and communication/language, etc.? These are important findings you should make, not just for the employer’s sake but to help you decide, should you get the job, if you want to work in the organization with its existing culture.
Next, this chapter will look at other key factors employers consider when recruiting front-end developers.
The factors employers consider when recruiting front-end web developers can be broken down into several categories.
1. Your skills
Skills in this context refer to your know-how, portfolio, and ability to solve different problems. For example, depending on the job’s complexity, you might be expected to be a programmer, while others might be engineers.
In addition, your ability to slice a PSD may come in handy depending on whether the agency is small. However, there are other skills you might need for larger projects. For example, you might need to work for various Libraries and grids or comply with accessibility requirements.
Even after you have given yourself a high rating in PHP, Rails, and Angular, I recommend you take more tests and see where you stand. You might be a pro, but in my experience interviewing people, many applicants tend to overestimate their abilities.
2. Company/community awareness
Sitting for an interview without prior knowledge of the main product or service a company is offering is not a good sign. For this reason, most companies will ask for motivation letters because they seek people who are a good fit for the company and understand their goals and motivations.
When applying for a job as a front-end developer, it would benefit you more if you involved yourself in a relevant community. For example, there are JavaScript, CSS, and WordPress meet-ups in which you could be involved, particularly in New York. In addition, you will find thousands of open-source products to contribute to or become a member of that community online. Many agencies seek people who are passionate about their job and spend additional time attending meet-ups in the evening or responding to weekend questions in online support groups.
3. Salary requirements
This factor is consistent with every company except the large ones. Therefore, you should not underestimate this important detail. Like in every other factor, you must do enough research in your field and reach out to colleagues in similar roles. If you have reasonable expectations, you might not have a problem with this.
After an interview, you can also ask your interviewer about the standard salary ranges. Of course, everyone may not respond to your question, but you will always find those who will certainly follow through with your request. In addition, you can look on job boards, as they often list job offers with salary ranges. You should also be aware of the median in your area.
4. Soft skills
Soft skills are very crucial. First, you must be able to communicate clearly. Working in a team will require soft skills; whoever is interviewing you will also assess your communication skills. You must research the organization ahead of time and browse some of the profiles of their employees on different social networks. You will find that while some companies are more conservative, others might be friendlier. Therefore, you should be able to convey the same attitude during the interview, as it can be a plus for you. Companies will be interested in candidates that reflect the mood or culture of the organization.
5. Ability to learn
In the IT industry, teachability is a valuable thing to possess. Considering the industry is constantly developing, it will require constant learning. Each company has its unique process and internal policies, so you must adapt to its workflow. Your ability to learn new technologies, libraries, languages, and tools is crucial. Most technical interviews will focus on test assignments that demand research or analytical thinking to find the answer.
6. Availability
Although this factor may not be as common as the others, it is vital. Some companies have specific requirements when it comes to your availability. For example, students in the university may ask for flexible hours because of their lectures. In contrast, others may prefer to leave work earlier to spend more time with their family.
Having a health record explaining why you often get sick leave might be a blocker for you. Most organizations seek dedicated and enthusiastic staff who are also eager to learn on the job while helping to solve problems.
There are also specific requirements for front-end developers who will be working remotely. A former superior once told me of mine that he would only hire former freelancers or owners of agencies with at least 2 years of independent experience. But there was a rationale behind that. The business needed a certain amount of proactiveness, communication skills, understanding of the job, and adherence to deadlines with impressive job efficiency. From the point of view of an individual who has been hiring developers, there are several criteria we often consider when considering remote developers.
1. Communication skills
Being around the office is not as demanding as remote communication. But first, you must be available and approachable. Also, you should be able to report regularly and stick to the expected delivery timelines. It is also essential to use team collaboration platforms such as Slack or HipChat as a remote worker considering that is the only way the team can reach out to you and discuss assignments with you.
Assuming you are unaware of business specifics, you may miss discussions around the coffee place and all kinds of calls, meetings, and office discussions about the client’s needs and other high-end priorities. This, of course, depends on the company culture and the number of documentation for remote employees. However, often, this is a problem. Even typing speed can be another blocker, except communication happens through video calls.
2. Technical setup and connectivity
The right equipment and internet plan are great for remote jobs. In most organizations, you might find the right hardware setup requirements that use human intellectual resources without you having to drag the project down due to technicalities. Also, many remote workers try to work from coffee shops or other places that do not have reliable connectivity. But this is only acceptable with the right bandwidth and environment where work duties will not be easily interrupted. Another major concern may be security because you may be blocked from various internal systems or be completely rejected because of some security policies.
3. Professional skills
You need to have the required technical background. No one should join a company remotely without understanding most of their day-to-day assignments to implement the organization’s high standards without supervision.
You should have had 4–5 years of professional experience in the front end, as this is highly preferable. You may need more years of experience to deliver good results without causing any form of overhead for the company, which could come in the form of back and forth, communications delays, and additional management, among others.
4. Business/Management skills
You will encounter some form of management and adjustments in the office, usually related to deadlines or existing urgencies. Suppose you have previous experience with a complete project from the beginning to the end. In that case, it can help you allot your time properly, plan your assignments depending on their due date, and promptly communicate with your team members.
5. Portfolio/Former experience
Your portfolio and former experience are other prerequisites for you to be hired. Most organizations usually look for actual deliverables, references from previous clients, and front-facing production projects you have built entirely as a front-end developer. Some startups and companies have a common practice: putting you on a trial period at the office or even a test assignment developed with the team a new employee should join. The aim is to ensure you can collaborate and understand the tasks well. Therefore, you are being evaluated for your ability to maintain a solid track record of successfully implementing projects following best practices.
6. Cost
Companies lookout for two types of remote employees:
- Very low-cost employees who can help the company with testing, small bug fixes, or internal projects that are non-crucial.
- Professionals who are highly skilled and have expertise in different frameworks, tools, and platforms, unlike the rest of the competitors.
There are factors to be considered when it comes to paying a salary. First, the local economic environment and the salary competitors offer. Then there are other factors such as commuting, eating at a restaurant or eatery or anywhere else that isn’t your home, and finally, often recurring drawbacks of being away from your family because of an 8 to 5 job.
Many companies have received several applications from people who charge $80-$100 per hour as freelancers even when they do not yet have a great background and still expect a similar rate as full-time remote employees. Employers may consider this unreasonable and see it as a show that the person does not understand the added cost for an agency or how payrolls are formed. Therefore, it is important to research some of these things while making payment demands. It will help you make a more informed demand regarding salary demands.
Therefore, the smarter thing to do is to assess the salary requirements carefully, gauge it with your expertise and know-how and compare it with what is tenable for a company to hire someone on-site.
When it comes to adding value to your company, it is wise to expand into those that are palpable to front-end development and can strengthen your skill set to the bottom line. So let’s look at some areas to consider.
1. Design. This is very common. If your responsibility is to slice PSDs and perform craft markup, find out the latest design trends and study them, the semantics of typography, and how to design layouts yourself.
2. User Experience. This usually comes in handy more than we expect. Any creative produced by graphic designers without a UX background may not convert well when put into practice. For example, a mobile-first layout may not have the needed depth for a desktop user, or a responsive mobile design may become too complicated and cumbersome for a general smartphone user.
3. Consider studying marketing. If you work closely with a marketing team, you should study marketing. For example, conversion rate optimization is essential to increasing your customer’s revenue or brand. Another important thing is designing marketing funnels.
4. On-Site SEO. This could be another invaluable addition as well. Again, you may use the latest and greatest HTML5; however, creating semantic pages, using microdata, marking down canonical pages, and avoiding duplicate archive lists may prevent common ranking mistakes.
Programming is still very important. Therefore, improving your HTML/CSS skills will always be crucial to increasing efficiency and generating higher ROI for the organization or business. And studying Vue/React/Angular can help you collaborate with the back-end team to build resilient and robust web-based applications that scale.
Section #2
As a prospective employee in the IT industry, your goal should be to obtain a high-quality job offer. This will require you to position yourself as a “solution” to your employer’s greatest needs. Therefore, before we address the technical nuts and bolts questions you are likely to be asked, let’s first examine the three fundamental questions employers use in making hiring decisions:
- 1st — “Skills”: Can you do the job?
- 2nd — “Motivation”: Will you do the job?
- 3rd — “Fit”: Will you “fit in” with the team and company environment?
These three are the essential macro-hiring factors employees look out for. But let’s discuss them more elaborately. First, it would help if you positioned yourself as someone who can do the job given any circumstances around them. Also, you shouldn’t just position yourself as a hard worker but as a smart worker. Let me explain. It is usually tempting for people to assume that it is much better to do more work. But this isn’t always true. There are times when doing less work can lead to better results. Therefore, it isn’t necessarily about working more or less. It is about ensuring that you can deliver high-quality work. To prepare you, let’s look at quality work in this context.
Quality work is any task, job, or service you complete at high standards to meet or exceed a set expectation. Another way to see it is that the work outcome has to satisfy all stakeholders; in this case, it could be your superiors, employer, client, or other top management connected to the work. Every employer looks forward to having employees who can always deliver quality work and not necessarily quantity work.
As an employee, quality work helps you achieve the goals of those with a vested interest in your career. Also, it helps your clients, or those affected directly or indirectly by your work, trust you. Delivering quality work helps us to increase trust in your abilities and work. Also, it gives you a lot of credibility. You are also more likely to receive positive responses from an end-user and stakeholders who consider your work high-quality.
Therefore, it will benefit you if you present yourself as someone who prioritizes quality in every situation. As a result, it will increase your scorecard and employability while providing you with more opportunities.
It would be best if you were asked to share your thoughts on how you can deliver high-quality work. Here are different ways you can do so. First, how we deliver quality work may vary depending on the circumstances and type of work. But let’s look at 15 examples of high-quality work.
1. Accountability
Accepting responsibility for your work will help you be more accountable for your quality. It will help you understand more details, which will help you take the steps needed to produce work above the required standard. In addition, you will be less likely to heap blames on others or shift responsibility for a poor outcome to others. This will inadvertently foster a more positive and healthy work environment. Also, by taking responsibility for your actions, you will be.
2. Commitment to consistent improvement
When you “try,” it means you are putting effort into achieving an objective without expecting a magnificent outcome. On the other hand, committing means that you are also doing everything to achieve success. So, when it comes to quality work, you must be willing to commit to continuous improvements. Employees who seek to improve continuously are simply looking for ways to enhance their job, no matter how good their track records are.
3. Consistency in execution
Achieving quality work also means that every aspect of the process is consistent. It would be best to always show consistency, from using a given set of tools to following a given routing to deliver more than a good outcome. It might appear like a good idea to mix things up. However, it doesn’t mean that you will achieve quality work by doing that. To add to that, it might lead to unnecessary mistakes.
4. Adapt a client/customer-focused approach
Before delivering quality work to your clients, you must understand their needs and requirements. You must be very proactive in learning about their expectations and seek ways to exceed them. Meeting and exceeding your client or customer’s expectations is important for the success of any business. Therefore, rather than assuming what a client wants or needs, understand what they want to accomplish and what you can do to assist them reach their goals.
5. Set high expectations
You will be more encouraged to reach high focus and be more productive when you set high expectations for yourself. But if you set low expectations for yourself, you may not get the desired returns. And you may fail to achieve anything of high value. However, should you set high expectations for yourself, you will be more challenged to meet or exceed your goals and be more productive. Therefore, setting high expectations encourages us to meet and exceed our objectives.
6. Ensuring outstanding communication
To provide outstanding communication means that you can communicate effectively with everyone. Understanding people’s needs and articulating your thoughts and ideas so everyone can understand is a form of effective communication. Also, ensure that you constantly update everyone who may need to know your progress or what may be happening. Providing good feedback is an essential part of effective communication. This way, you are responding to concerns regarding your work and putting the minds of involved people at ease.
7. Focus on the detail
This means you pay adequate attention to every aspect of the job, including the easiest tasks. Doing this will ensure that you take every part of a given job seriously, not minding whether it is big or small. Providing quality work means paying attention to all aspects of the job to ensure you do your best. It requires checking for errors, but it doesn’t end there. It also demands looking out for mistakes made by others. When you do this, you will be helping to avoid any errors that may be quite costly to the overall job.
8. Striving for excellence
People who strive to improve continuously are never satisfied. Instead, they consistently and always strive to get more out of themselves. You must show that you are committed to excellence, which means you want to be better tomorrow than you are today. You also aim to do your best daily to remain an invaluable asset to your organization or business. Therefore, be committed to being better than you were before.
9. Outstanding follow-through
This shows that you consider the bigger picture and are not limited to a mental space. People are often more likely to focus on their actions while ignoring the big picture. A person who usually follows through does not have tunnel vision, and they do not let their vision drift what is more important. In addition, they know what they are doing and understand that it can help them achieve the bigger goal.
10. Personal integrity
Personal integrity is one of the essential ingredients to bringing the best out of anything you do. It also helps you stand out and sets you up as someone clients and colleagues can trust. Personal integrity involves doing the right thing even when no one is watching you. It means you are honest with yourself first because you cannot be honest with others if you aren’t honest with yourself.
Also, you must live up to your words, not cutting corners or taking the easier route. As I stated earlier, your integrity is part of what makes you a quality employee. It means that you can always be counted on to do what is right under any circumstances.
11. Problem-solving capacity
As long as you are interacting with humans, there will always be issues from time to time. But when problems arise, this is when you shine as a quality employee. An employee with problem-solving capabilities will take a step back, examine the situation, and devise a plan promptly and effectively tackle the issue. They aim to solve problems and identify newer issues from that experience to stop them from happening again.
12. Focus on outcome goals
Most of us would rather focus on process goals as soon as we see a deadline fast approaching. However, the quality of any job you do isn’t always about the result. The process matters as well. In addition, if you want to do high-quality work, your focus should be more on the outcome goals. If you rush your work, you will miss something important that might haunt you.
Focusing on the end goal will make it likelier for you to produce high-quality work. In contrast, if you focus only on meeting a particular process requirement, you may be tempted to rely on shortcuts, which can affect the quality of your work.
13. Encouraging conscious thought
While it is also good to follow existing standards, guidelines, and tools, it can be detrimental if you do not consider your work. What do I mean? You must bring conscious thought into your job. It would be best to reflect on your job and why you are doing it. Ask yourself questions that will help you improve your job. Asking questions can help you identify issues with the process itself. And remember that this is essentially a step to creating improved standards.
14. Being proactive
Being proactive is one of the most sought-after traits any employee should have. Being proactive means that you are in control and the driver of your work. It means that you do not wait passively for instructions or for someone to tell you to act before you do. An ineffective employee would rather wait to be told before they do something that will improve their work or help the business. And their passivity includes jobs that are their responsibility. However, they ignore it because the deadline is still far or they haven’t been told to get on with their work.
In contrast, good employees find mistakes before anyone points them out. Each time you face daunting situations, it is important that you are proactive and not reactive. This means that you must act before the problem becomes worse. In addition, being proactive also saves you time and energy. A proactive employee is constantly thinking ahead and making plans for himself. If you always try to catch up, doing your best work won’t be easy.
15. Managing your time efficiently
A high-quality employee is usually strategic with their time and efforts. Also, quality work does not happen at once. Instead, it requires a process that may take time to produce good work for you. One way to measure your work’s effectiveness is to look at your efficiency. You can do this in two ways: through time and resources (inputs) or results and value (outputs). If your time is spent doing something more than is necessary, your efficiency will be lower. However, if you spend less time, you will have higher efficiency. What shows that you are highly efficient is that you can produce enough high-quality work within the shortest time.
Finally, creating quality work isn’t necessarily about working through a rigid process. Instead, it is about process flexibility, adapting the process to changes that may be needed, and ensuring that you focus on delivering high-quality results. Furthermore, quality work requires you to commit to the idea that whatever is worth doing is worth doing. It needs the individual to constantly seek self-improvement and be willing to support others in their pursuit of self-improvement and excellence. Finally, it is essential to hold yourself to a high-quality standard and ensure that your decision and work choices reflect your belief in quality and efficiency, even if it means spending more time.
In recent years, news outlets have been reporting on many companies struggling to hire workers despite a record number of job openings. Many blame the government for issuing financial assistance to incentivize people to remain unemployed during the pandemic. But as I have stated earlier, the jobs employers usually do not match the changing needs of different workers. Many workers, especially minority racial groups, seek higher-quality jobs after experiencing poor job security, low pay, and high COVID-19 risk.
Employers who want to succeed in their hiring efforts, especially in areas where diversity and inclusion are crucial, are also trying to understand how workers like you and other workforce-oriented organizations define a high-quality job. As a prospective employee in the tech industry, you must also find ways to learn what high-quality jobs are to the components below.
If you ask most people, their idea of a high-quality job is restricted to good or very high pay. But your salary is only a part of the pie. It would help if you felt that your employers value you and that your loyalty to a company will be returned. Also, your employers shouldn’t be those who will see you as a commodity they can easily dispose of. Instead, they should see you as an asset they must invest in to make your work more rewarding holistically.
Organizations like this achieve this by considering how their staff members experience work and their essential needs. To find out if your prospective employers have this on their agenda, look out for if they are implementing the following:
A living wage. This pay provides a stable income, covers essential living expenses, and allows you to build wealth.
Stable and predictable work hours. Having a regular schedule will empower you to plan and commit to activities and important events in your personal life. Also, it gives you dignity and control, reduces stress, and promotes an excellent balance between work and life.
Working conditions that are physically and psychologically safe so that undue hazards, discrimination, and harassment do not exist and workers get encouraged for their input.
Workers get benefits that enable them to live healthy and secure lives. These benefits may include health insurance, paid vacation and sick leave, family or medical leave, retirement savings plans, disability insurance, and life insurance.
Some companies offer their employees the opportunity to enroll in professional development workshops and be part of their on-the-job training. These professional learning experiences help to add value to whatever role you play as an employee. And they are even more beneficial for entry-level positions. In addition, employers offering these programs let their staff know they care about them and their futures.
Delivering quality work and finding a quality job offer is another. Finding the right job or workplace can be frustrating, stressful, and energy-draining. You aren’t far from being right if you called this process a job with unpredictable outcomes. However, as you seek the right job offer, you must prioritize quality because that is what you would be expected to give.
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, many job seekers are starting to feel they could settle for any opportunity as long as there is a paycheck at the end of the day. Even though job openings in the US are hitting new record highs, most Americans (88%) are still concerned about the lack of jobs in their field.
Many reports and employers have expressed concern that job seekers are no longer interested in work and would rather rely on unemployment benefits. In some situations, this could be true, but jobs are still down by 22% for low-wage workers. This was according to a CNBC report in 2021. Additionally, job seekers often face high expectations and preferences because of the ongoing inequality in the post-COVID era.
For example, even though only 24% of college graduates will graduate with a STEM degree, more than half of recruiters are interested in just this category of candidates. Therefore, it is unsurprising that up to 50% of companies get job applications with a master’s degree for entry-level positions. As a result, many job seekers are forced to take low-paying jobs or undervalue their abilities to return to the labor market.
Does this sound familiar to you? If it does, you might be prepared to offer your time, effort, and skill for something that wouldn’t benefit you in the long run. So, even though you and most people may think it is a short-term solution to accept a job offer that doesn’t align with your goals, your choice may affect your goals more than you think.
Once in our lifetime, each of us has had to accept a job that didn’t align with our objectives or values. In addition, we are often driven by circumstances, prioritizing money and safe opportunities even when they may not bring us happiness, fulfillment, and goals. But all decisions have consequences, and so does this. Therefore, you should consider how this, too, may affect your career.
1. Developing skills that may not be related to your goals
You can put every skill you acquire into use and turn it into an asset, but not every ability will make it to your cover letter or resume. If you go for jobs that will prevent you from improving the skills and capabilities essential for your profession, whatever knowledge you gain there will be irrelevant. Remember that resumes only include skills and experiences specific to the job you seek and can help you perform some activities and tasks more efficiently. Therefore, you may not have the necessary capabilities and background if you spend most of your time working in positions that do not provide value for your desired job.
2. Moving away from your ideal job
Sometimes our choices are quite limited, so we have to accept jobs that may serve as a head start for our careers and provide a paycheck. If you are in this situation, consider the timeline and when you may be ready to leave your temporary employment. The longer you spend doing a job or taking a position that does not align with your career goals, the further away you’ll be from what you want.
Also, remember that many changes are currently happening in industries. Along with these changes are new trends, requirements, and expectations. As a result, you might find it more difficult to keep up with any swift transformation in your field. Ultimately, this may render you out of touch with the latest standards.
3. The stress of juggling work-related identities
Jobs far from your values and career goals can cause you emotional stress. More so, it can make it difficult for you to adjust to any transition you decide to make rightly. A study was conducted in 2017 titled Dealing with various incompatible work-related identities. The case of artists examined how artists cope with having many potentially conflicting job roles or positions.
This study analyzed the transition from making a living as an artist to taking additional work outside the creative industry that affects these professionals. Based on the findings, most artists struggle with their psychological stress and regret of failing in their preferred field. But, they must create a feasible story to sell their transition to other people. Although the professional path is becoming non-linear, employers have had to alternate between multiple jobs, affecting the likelihood of being established in one. As a result, you should always strive for opportunities that get you closer to your objectives and career goals.
Most people today have found themselves torn between multiple job offers. Even you have been in this situation where each of them may offer something beneficial, making it hard to decide. However, you have to choose between different job offers. In that case, there are several things you should consider to determine which of the proposals may be closer to your career goals.
1. Asking the necessary questions
Remember that things are still in motion after receiving an official job offer. Do not be shy; ask the right questions to make deciding whether to accept a job easier. Remember that seeking a job takes a long process, so you may not have enough time to research each company and its employers thoroughly. But when something possible turns into reality, you still have the option and right to examine the best or best choice among several alternatives presented to you.
Your skills and experience may seem a good fit for an organization, but you may not share the same values. Also, the company culture may not suit you or work for you. Consider what happens there and see if you would be happy going to work there every day. Also, analyze their performance in the last five or seven years and how they approach difficulties. This could reveal what their future may look like and whether their goals and yours align.
Recall what the interview looked like, the atmosphere, and how the recruiter treated you. Did you experience mutual respect? Did you feel comfortable while in that environment? Also, consider your future responsibilities and whether you see yourself there five years from now. But you cannot answer most of these questions without examining company reviews or contacting HR.
2. Examine the contract on offer and scour the letter offered to you
Starting with the contract and letter you were offered, analyzing every valuable piece of information you see. Look for details about the minimum time the company will expect you to stay with them. Read about their notice period policy and how much in advance you are expected to notify them should you want to quit the job. Ensure you have all the information about vacation, sick leave, and additional free days. This should help you determine whether the company offers reasonable and fair conditions and if they treat their staff with utmost respect and dignity. If you notice red flags that may make your time working with them unbearable or hinder your goals, you could discuss this with the company. Make sure that you take every issue seriously.
3. Speak to employees in the company
Many organizations encourage prospective employees to contact current employees to learn more about the workplace culture, atmosphere, career opportunities, and attractive benefits. In doing this, the company’s workers serve as brand ambassadors, hoping to compel high-quality job applicants to favor the organization.
Using this opportunity to understand their values, culture, and working conditions. Additionally, this should help you determine if what you have been reading about the job aligns with what exists in reality. For example, the company’s employees can tell you if the job is a 40-hour workweek or if you must stay longer. Find out what you can expect from team meetings and performance reviews. If the company isn’t open to reaching out to its employees, look for reviews from clients who have worked with the company or customers who have one or two things to say about the company. This can help you address any doubts you may have had about the company initially.
4. Look out for learning and development opportunities
Professional growth and learning new skills are important if you want to grow in your chosen career. Think of what you want to achieve in the years following your employment. And what could help you achieve your objectives? Compare what each company offers so that you can decide based on the most compatible opportunity. Find out what employee learning and development programs exist there. Is there training? These factors help you determine which organization prioritizes their employees’ development and progress and where you would likely progress professionally.
5. Look out for perks and Benefits
Of course, the salary is among the most important things to consider. However, the company’s benefits and perks can make even a low package acceptable. For this reason, you should find out what else is included in their package and if it aligns with your personal and financial needs. It might look like a job offer isn’t close to ensuring that you are materially secure or can reach your goals. However, the benefits often not included in the official letter may compensate for a low salary.
Consider your objectives and career, then compare them to the organization’s perks. For example, you might be provided annual access to IT training and libraries worldwide, which can be tailored to meet your needs. So, you must pay attention to every benefit and consider what ways they can be used to secure and improve your future. When choosing between multiple job offers, take your time and ask the right questions that will provide you with the needed insights for a reasonable decision. Then, peruse the contract to see if the job description aligns with your reality.
Also, it would help if you determine the non-negotiable and move more toward the offer that meets your personal and professional needs. Avoid making decisions based on paycheck only, especially when it may mean that you have to move further away from your ideal career and intended milestones.
- Quality work is any task, job, or service you complete at high standards to meet or exceed a set expectation. Another way to see it is that the work outcome has to satisfy all stakeholders; in this case, it could be your superiors, employer, client, or other top management connected to the work. Every employer looks forward to having employees who can always deliver quality work and not necessarily quantity work.
- Some companies offer their employees the opportunity to enroll in professional development workshops and be part of their on-the-job training. These professional learning experiences help to add value to whatever role you play as an employee. And they are even more beneficial for entry-level positions. In addition, employers offering these programs let their staff know they care about them and their futures.
- Culture fit refers to how aligned you are as an employee with an organization’s culture. This means that your goals, values, and beliefs connect with the organization’s goals, values, and beliefs. When seeking a company’s culture, you should look for certain things and compare them with yours.
Resources Tips:
How to Hire Software Engineers with Ease — Most Useful Tips
How To Become an AI Engineer (Plus Job Duties and Skills)
“The Interview Prodigy” book series:
1 — AI Software Engineer: ChatGPT, Bard & Beyond (Audible) (Kindle)
2 — JavaScript Full Stack Developer: Capture the Job Offer and Advance Your Career (Audible) (Kindle)
Much career success, Lawrence E. Wilson — Artificial Intelligence Academy (share with your team)