Two recent surveys found that a majority of full-time workers continue searching out job opportunities, usually online and often through social media. What are the pluses and potential pitfalls of being on the search continually.
There are often many reasons for job-window-shopping:
1) If workers are not satisfied with their current work environment, they will continually look elsewhere.
The advantage to this is that many people can handle a ‘bad working environment’ as long as they see a light at the end of the tunnel (a potential new position in the horizon).
2) People are always curious. We window-shop. We want to see what is out there. Like window-shopping, people like to compare their current wardrobe to see if anything is missing, etc. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are wanting to ‘jump ship’. This is an advantage to everyone if you take this new desire and new knowledge to your manager to see if there are appropriate jobs opportunities in your current company that fits what is attracting you out there. Management would be prudent to hold frequent career development one-on-one meetings, so that they understand what their talented employees are looking forward to doing. It the employee sees that there is no ‘next step’ within their current company, they should feel allowed to look more seriously at their next step outside of their current company.
3) People need to feel valued and want to be continually challenged in their area of passion. At a certain professional level, it is not ‘money’ that satisfies. It is more likely to be a combination of money, autonomy and mastery opportunities that are more aligned with the individual’s passion and talent. If management isn’t listening, they are likely to loose their most valuable employees — because it is the talented that walk and the weak that stay.
4) If management uses this opportunity to negatively affect the employee’s advancement opportunities, then management is short-sighted. The employee is doing what they need to do to create the most effective and efficient match between what they want to do with their careers and what they are actually doing with their careers. The employee is acting responsibly. Management would be acting responsibly by listening and reviewing current company opportunities that better match their employee’s talents and passion.
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