What are your "Greatest Hits" for 2022?

At this time of year, we can’t escape the “Year in Review” that shows us all that’s happened during the year. What are the songs that you played the most, the biggest news stories, or most watched videos? It’s a fascinating look at our true life experience and sometimes surprising to see all of the ups and downs of a single year. So how do we take our past experience and connect it with our future? When it comes to your career, there are many parallels.

For example, at this time of year, I recommend updating your career documents in preparation for the New Year. To do this, you will need to analyze your specific situation, but let’s first start with higher level trends and transition to what that means to you and give you some guidance along the way.

Higher Level Trends

The macro environmental conditions may appear to be trending negative, with concerns of a potential recession, a tightening employment market, high profile layoffs, and CEO pessimism in the news. Despite the headlines, there are still pockets of strong growth and overall unemployment rates remain low.

Evolution of Office Work

The way we work has also evolved with some version of “return to office” and continuation of remote work. We have learned that our working environment greatly impacts what we value and the importance of leadership and organizational culture. Whether you have the opportunity to work remotely or work with others that are remote, we still need to find that connection and many times it’s through asynchronous work, when we work at separate times. It’s similar to trying to have a telephone conversation through texts. The conversation still continues, but it’s at the convenience of each party to read and respond. How can you have real connection with that person on the other end if you can’t interpret non-verbal cues or emotional responses to your messages?

Cultural Fit

Finding a company and role with the right fit for your needs is critical. In 2023, I suspect that the hidden job market will be the true target, especially at the leadership level. Building relationships to access these hidden roles will be the key to successfully navigating this market. There has been a tremendous amount of movement over the past year due to pent up demand for change, which creates gaps that may not be posted or temporarily covered across multiple employees or filled with a less-than-ideal candidate. Many employees didn’t make a jump during the pandemic due to uncertainty and have lost career progression as a result. However, even for those who did make a change, there is much discussion of having regret about the career changes made. This reinforces the need to do your due diligence to optimize the match between you, your role, and the company and their employees, but there are other factors to consider.

Hidden Job Search

Even before the pandemic, in 2019 a Glassdoor survey found that 77% of 5,000+ workers would “consider a company’s culture” before seeking a job there. It also reported that a good workplace culture was “more important than salary” for job satisfaction. It has become critical to job seekers to align with a company’s values. One of the strategies to conducting a hidden job search is to extensively research the organizations you are targeting. If you’re not sure where to start, you could consider you current company’s competitors, vendors, and strategic partners. Of course, keep in mind any non-disclosures or non-compete agreements.

Company Due Diligence

Search the company’s website for their growth plans, PR articles, leadership bios, company mission, and obviously their career opportunities. Consider what experiences this past year that might be applicable to the organization. Do you have friends, colleagues, association contacts, acquaintances, or neighbors who work there? What is their feedback on the organization?

LinkedIn Research

You can also find these connections via LinkedIn. Search the company and under “People,” you will see employees who have connections with individuals within your LinkedIn “1st degree” network. You will also be able to view the company’s page, read their posts, and see what “Life at” the company is like. If you have a Premium account, you can see their “Insights” including employee growth / median tenure, new hires, leadership new hires, notable company alumni, and total job openings. You can watch company videos, read their posts, and search available jobs. Due to pay transparency requirements, you will be able to see the salary and benefits for positions of interest under the job postings. You can quickly assess the organization’s position on DEI and ESG as well as other important topics that would impact your alignment with the company’s mission.

Diving Deeper with LinkedIn

Another tool to identify potential organizations is to take a look at the right column while looking at the company page on LinkedIn. You will find “Pages people also viewed,” “People also follow,” “School alumni that work here,” and “Affiliated pages.” Each of the paths could lead to connections and hidden opportunities. These affiliated connections are a great way to have the relational data logic work for you to discover opportunities hiding in plain sight.

Other Company Resources and Tools

Outside of LinkedIn, you can research “Best Places to Work” sites with reviews from people within the organizations. They will provide information regarding salaries, individual reviews, and culture insights.

Five of the top sites to research:

1. Comparably (https://www.comparably.com/)

2. Glassdoor (https://www.glassdoor.com)

3. Great Place to Work (https://www.greatplacetowork.com/)

4. Indeed (https://www.indeed.com/)

5. Fortune (https://fortune.com/worlds-best-workplaces/)

Use your research to create your list of target companies and review your list of connections to identify roles within those organizations. You can utilize the same process as above to find other companies and roles that might be of interest.

Recap and Recommendations

So again, this year I recommend updating your documents to be prepared for an unexpected opportunity in 2023. You might be ready to make a change or currently satisfied within your position, with the level of movement and change in our current employment market, it is wise to be ready to submit. As always, identify and update your career highlights and job descriptions in your resume and career profiles. Analyze your transferable skills in alignment with your target position. Don’t miss the opportunity and be ready to put yourself in the #1 ranking for your dream role at the company of your choice.