Job Hunting: Feelers or feelings?

“Putting the feelers out there"... A phrase that people often use when starting to think about finding a new job.  However, I feel that it doesn’t really do justice to the hard and emotionally intensive journey that you are about to embark on as you begin your job hunt.

So, before you start looking the question to ask yourself is...

"What can my current company do to make me happy?"

Too many people don't ask that question until they get to the point of being counter offered the world  (more on that later)  but that's completely the wrong time to ask it.  By then you will have completed your job hunt  - what a waste of effort and energy!

The time to ask this important question is before you start looking because if you can list some tangible and realistic answers then the chances are that your current business will listen to you and act accordingly to make you happier and mould your role around your key criteria. Learning to manage up in a growing business is a skill within itself. If a few months after promising to deliver on your wish list nothing changes, then is the time to begin the search for pastures new.

Counter offers are interesting in themselves.  They tend to occur only when there's a threat to your employer that you are going to jump ship.  I always ask myself the question why anyone would accept a panicked, manipulated attempt to tell you what you want to hear and think that everything is going to be ok.   The reason why is quite simple... you have asked yourself the question, "what can my current company do to make me happy?" way too late... so in a way, you're panicking too.  You're under pressure to make a decision on your job offer but at the same time you feel that you have unfinished business with your current employer.  Messy.

It's important to see counter offers for what they are but it can be tricky to when you're in the thick of it.  

A senior, experienced candidate of mine once gave me an analogy as I was going through a counter offer process with him that has stuck with me to this day.  Up until the point of a counter offer, all the reasons that somebody wants to leave their job are real..they are living the day to day, the hours, the real work, having to talk to that manager that they hate etc.  but as soon as they tell their boss "I'm leaving", it's as if a load of magic dust suddenly gets sprinkled on them and the company that they’re  working for and the reality quickly becomes a work of fiction.  Everything's perfect, and they question why they ever thought of leaving in the first place.  It's not long (statistically around 3 months) for the fiction to turn back into reality and they end up feeling a little duped and wish they’d taken that amazing job offer at that incredible company that they had on the table.

Which is why I say be certain before you start looking for a job.  There is nothing wrong in staying where you are. Make sure that your current company isn't the right place for you before you act and you will find that life will be a lot easier in the long run. Get your feelings out there before the feelers!