Recruitment and jobs blog

by Sam Scarfo, Senior Client Relationship Manager, Ignite, Adelaide   Feel trapped at work? No realistic career path visible? Looking for a better job while still at the same-old grindstone? It could be time to reassess your work situation and wring every possible opportunity out of your current position. There are always ways you can “make your own luck” at your dead-end role while you search for pastures new. Know Before You Go Before throwing in the towel, have a conversation with your manager, express your interest to develop and grow with the company. You never know what could come out of it. They might suggest outsourcing some of your more repetitive tasks to a junior or suggest a sabbatical. You could agree on further training.  At the very least open the discussion so they can understand your point of view and possibly act on it. Don’t resign without truly knowing you or your work is not regarded and the situation is terminal. If this is not possible then you really know you should do something a little more creative. Manage a Mentoring Program Introduce a mentoring program to your organisation. (See our story Mentoring Matters) Mentoring Matters explains the benefits of mentoring to the company and individuals involved: both mentors and mentees.  It spells out how to kick off a partnership and how to avoid any pitfalls. Mentoring can also help you connect with your organisation and having someone within the group to talk to may help you feel less isolated. Alternatively become a mentor yourself. Working and growing a mentee with passion can spark your enthusiasm for your work. Passion can be contagious and it can help you and re-adjust your view of your industry, your role and your future. Also remember, mentoring can be done privately and it doesn’t have to be conducted within your organisation or even in your industry. Be the One with the Ideas Identify a broader company issue not necessarily within your department and have a stab at alleviating it or solving it completely. Be respectful here not to take over anyone’s particular turf but do try to show you’re thinking like an owner and are also capable of more than your current scope of work. Brainstorm with your peers from all departments. You might find there are more problems or the problems need breaking down into smaller challenges. Either way, you are flexing your creative problem solving muscles and maybe even solving a long-standing challenge. Document it, make the presentation, get a group together and see what can happen. Make Work Interesting for You Start a beneficial initiative in the organisation. It could be introducing an easier way to recycle paper, plastic and coffee pods and cups in the office.  Or organise a “lunch and learn” program where a colleague talks about their role in the company and what they are currently working on. Find out how the group can do some volunteer work, organise a sports team or organise to go out to a sports event after work. Find out about a TED Talk to watch at lunch or an industry event you can all go to or watch together over lunch. Become the most active part of the office.  At least you won’t be bored. The Side Gig Get busy doing your favourite thing and monetise it. As we all know the side gig is just that, a smaller service or product made on the side. So, it shouldn’t take over your primary role. But one of the fascinating side effects of the side-gig is the beneficial impact it can have on your normal job. It can help you feel not so trapped as your passion is fed and nurtured and maybe a trickle of income can be felt as a reward. Having a side-gig can also help problem solve, unleash creativity and give you feelings of hope beyond a draining 9-5pm. You can check out our article on the Side Gig hustle here.  

Some of the world’s most successful organisations implement mentoring programs because it works on so many levels; from training new employees, building brand culture, retaining and developing talent and increasing loyalty and morale. So, if your organisation doesn’t have a mentoring program in place, you should start one. Whether you are the CEO or an entry level worker, mentoring is open to all. If you are CEO implement a mentoring program and if you are just starting out nothing is stopping you from seeking out a mentor and making it work. Eighty percent of CEOs claim they’ve had a mentor that helped them avoid costly mistakes and become proficient in their roles faster. It’s nearly always been described by participating individuals as beneficial. Ignite CEO Julian Sallabank has been involved in mentoring programs his entire career, as a mentee on an informal basis and as a mentor for University Masters’ students and for the Foundation for Young Australians. “Being a mentee and a mentor is extremely rewarding,” he says. “Whether I’m learning from the perspective of former bosses who are older and more experienced and can offer the value of hindsight or from younger people who challenge my perspective and propose that social value sets may have changed, I gain tremendous insight.”   Here are some of the more rewarding elements of mentoring for both parties: Knowledge is Power At the basis of mentoring is the sharing of knowledge. Knowledge sharing has been part of the success of the startup business landscape, but it applies to all businesses and industries. Mentors impart their knowledge but also share insights into their industry and expose a different, more experienced point of view. Building Contacts Mentoring can introduce a whole new world of contacts and connections. Mentoring attracts like-minded people, in a non-judgemental space, to talk through fresh new ideas. It can also connect your friends and work colleagues to each other with new ideas to talk about and projects to join and influence. Paying it Forward Many mentors feel obligated to, or appreciative of, a former company or boss that helped them along the way. Mentoring within their chosen organisation is a common way of “paying it back” and paying it forward. An old school or college alumni could benefit from your experience and knowledge of an industry or management skill. Passion is Contagious Fostering talent is a rewarding process and passion is contagious. Mentoring interested individuals can renew an interest in work and industry and might see something differently. Right Wrongs Mentoring can be a chance for mentors to ensure their own business mistakes are not repeated. Instead they can be examined to be used as an example of what not to do and why. For some mentors this can be extremely cathartic and a rewarding way of empowering the mentee. Getting Started Types of Mentoring Mentoring can be highly structured or informal, long term or project based. There are three basic types of mentoring; One on One, Group or Team Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring, a type of mentoring where senior executives get to tap into the pool of millennial talent or general subordinates, bringing to the table the wealth of knowledge from all levels of people in the company. Reach out to complete strangers and business people you admire. Put your fear of rejection behind you. The best mentors are the ones you’ve always admired Approach them and see what happens. Most approached mentors will be flattered and if your proposal is promising, you have enthusiasm and show signs of not being a time waster you’ll most likely be pleasantly surprised. You can have more than one. Depending on what you need to learn there should be mentors for different times of life and different issues. Not all mentors will know everything. Some mentors can help you devise a larger financial strategy or some can offer advice for career progression or problem solving. It’s a two-way street. Mentors will walk away if you don’t listen and don’t activate the agreed ideas. Be prepared to change and don’t expect them to the do the hard yards. There’s no room for hand holding in this relationship. Make it clear on how you want to see it work so addressing these issues will help: Frequency, timing and location Confidentiality and privacy Establish an agenda Length of relationship Goals and aims Honesty how to receive honest opinions and feedback Warning! Mentoring is not Favouring If you’re thinking of becoming a mentor within an organisation’s mentoring program beware not to favour instead of mentor. One case is when men mentor other men they can act as sponsors or lobbyist for their mentee to be fast tracked to a great job or a promotion. While this is usually orchestrated innocently, it further entrenches ‘boys club’ factions within otherwise great companies. Direct reports can be mentored, but in larger companies it’s worth noting that mentoring works best when partnerships are allocated with different verticals in the company and with different genders.    

One in three Australian professionals are currently working remotely and that number is growing. In the meantime, the average job, if there is such a thing, lasts around three years. So when and why would you relocate for work these days? Peter Cappelli, Director of the Centre for Human Resources at The Wharton School, believes there is a general decline in mobility for work given the remote working trend* and also what companies are willing to offer. “If you were offered a new job in another city where you have no ties or networks, and you suspected that the job would probably not last more than three years (which is a good guess), how much of a pay rise would they have to give you to get you to move?” he asks. Quite a bit. As a general rule of thumb you should earn 10- 20% more than your current salary* when changing jobs in the same city. But when you are relocating you should and can be a little more aggressive. But as anyone who’s been in the workforce for a substantial amount of time knows it’s not always about the money. There are many other factors that need to be examined carefully before making the leap to uproot your life for your job on the promise of career advancement and a bigger pay-check.   Think About What You Will Miss. “We hate losing and we are hard wired to care more about what we lose. So think about what you’ll miss because that is what you will think about the most,” says Penelope Trunk, co-founder of several startups and business commentator for the BBC and CNN. Trunk suggests to truly question what you are prepared to give up, saying each relocation is not only about getting new stuff which is fun and exciting, but also making decisions that will put limits on other possibilities. ***   Visit the New Location More Than Once Visiting the new location many times will help you evaluate its true positives and negatives. Visit the new location with a partner and a friend and get their opinions. Go when it’s summer and winter, if possible. See if you can work there for a week or two before making the final move. You’d be surprised what you may uncover that is both good and bad about the place.   You Will be the New Kid on the Block For a while you will be the foreigner, the newbie and you may not “fit in” for a long time. For seasoned “expats” that nearly extinct sector of the workforce, this is nothing new and they actually thrive in this environment. For others it can be tough going. Be mentally and personally prepared to be the odd one out and miss your friends and family. You will eventually fit in but that can be a slow process depending where and who you are.   Take an Overview on the Cost of Living For example, don’t be misled by cheap rent if you have to instead buy a car just to get around. Look at all expenditure realistically. Estimate how often you will want to “go home.” Does “going home” mean an airfare and expensive accommodation and how will this affect your budgets, holiday plans and annual leave?   Do You Really Know about the Job, the Culture and our Manager? This is a particularly pertinent question. What if things fall apart? Is your job in sufficient demand in the new city and could you work there beyond your current role? Because if your job turns out be constricting to your career, your manager is inept or the culture is toxic, you need to think of exit plans. Thinking about these issues and investigating all unknowns about your work and environment will give you some peace of mind before you sign on the dotted line.   What Does Your Gut Tell You? Jacquelyn Smith of Business Insider advises to listen to yourself and be honest.  “If you’re doing a lot of second-guessing, you probably have your answer: You’re not comfortable with forging ahead. On the other hand, if you can’t stop thinking about the prospects of this potential move and have an unstoppable feeling of elation, you also have your answer: Take a leap of faith. You could catapult your career.”   *Peter Cappelli – Human Resource Executive Online May 19 2014 Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. www.hreonline.com **Jacquelyn Smith – Business Insider July 2 2015 15 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Relocate for a Job www.businessinsider.com.au ***Penelope Trunk February 11 2012 Seven Big Relocation Mistakes blog.penelopetrunk.com

Working from home or remotely is one of the most valued work perks for Australian employees and many organisations are jumping on the bandwagon and fostering remote teams. In fact, remote working teams are no longer the anomaly. Over half of Australian professionals are now working away from their main office for at least half of the working week and that number is growing. So why, when remote working appears to be approaching its zenith and becoming the norm, are some high profile companies reverting back to the “old ways”? Recently IBM, a pioneer of remote working, announced that it is requiring thousands of employees to “co-locate” to one of six cities. Over the past three years Reddit, Best Buy and famously, Yahoo have also abandoned remote working options. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer cited communication and collaboration as the major push factor for her to release a memo to staff removing one of their most valued privileges. Certain employees “who were working really hard on some key products” had complained to her they were being hamstrung by absenteeism by co-workers, she told Business Insider’s Julie Bort. She went on to say that serendipitous meetings and anecdotal collaboration could not take place to fuel creativity and innovation. “Things don’t come together unless someone from Flickr runs into someone from Weather in the hallway or cafeteria and has a conversation,” she said. Yishan Wong, CEO of Reddit went a step further and closed the online community’s New York and Salt Lake City offices, giving staff three weeks to decide if they want to relocate to its San Francisco headquarters or leave. In a statement he made on Quora where he is an advisor he said, “As it turns out, our teams (within each office) and remote workers did good work, but the separation has kept us from effectively being able to coordinate as well as we needed to on a full-company level. Big efforts that require quick action, deep understanding, and efficient coordination between people at multiple offices just don't go as well as we (and our users) needed.” For Best Buy, the decision came within a do or die situation. Facing a corporate restructure, including the sacking of 440 staff, the company banned all remote working and required all corporate staff to put in the traditional 40-hour work week, with the requisite 9am to 5pm hours. Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly said it was an “all hands on deck situation” and that they needed “all employees in the office as much as possible to collaborate and connect on ways to improve the business.” Across the three organisations, communication, group agility and access to expertise were the catalysts to termination of remote working practices. The 8 Biggest Challenges Facing Remote Teams Today  According to a survey conducted by Projects At Work, an independent publisher covering project management, the eight biggest challenges facing remote teams today are: Poor communication: 33% of respondents cited communication as their greatest challenge. Access to expertise: 14% report a difficulty in accessing the knowledge they need to succeed. Technical management: 14% say technical management is their biggest hurdle. Planning overhead: 12% have a difficult time planning. Lack of training: 10% claim their team is not adequately trained. Cultural differences: 9% say overcoming cultural diversity is their team’s biggest challenge. Team morale: 4% have trouble keeping their spirits high. Lack of support: 4% don’t feel encouraged in their work.   Getting The Right Technology and Training Michelle Campbell is a manager with Ignite’s Outsourced People Services group. She advises that companies considering offering remote working arrangements – or those who are not seeing great results from current remote arrangements – ensure they have the right management training and online frameworks. “Staff won’t be successful working remotely if their manager doesn’t know how to manage remotely. In addition to providing leadership training to enhance collaboration and results for remote teams, we recommend performance management tools that encourage ongoing communication, coaching and development,” she says. “We launched Ignite CCF (continuous conversations framework), an easy-to-implement SaaS (software as a service) performance management tool that is ideal for remote working arrangements.”   Should Your Organisation Go Remote? Words from the Wise Marc Andreessen tech entrepreneur and engineer says that if transitioning to remote working creates roadblocks to growth and agility it’s not worth it. He said, “A company can choose to open themselves up for remote work. It can bring a wealth of new talent and skills and ideas. They can train themselves up to manage the performance management aspects and ensure they have good development processes in place. But if doing all that introduces drag, particularly for the first few years while they get good at it, particularly if they’re a startup on a limited runway: the math just doesn’t add up.” If your organisation is looking for guidance, tools and technology such as Ignite CCF that can help create a successful remote working program, Ignite’s Outsourced People Services can help. Contact Sharon Costigan, senior solutions consultant with Ignite, to find out more please email [email protected].

At a hotel in San Francisco a robot delivers room service, in Singapore a driverless taxi picks up a passenger and at Dusseldorf airport a machine parks your car for you. The robots have arrived. In some cases, replacing humans, changing the way we do business and live our lives. The one thing they aren’t doing is destroying the human workforce, but they are transforming it. In fact, several studies suggest that while technology and robots do indeed wipe out whole sectors of the workforce they also create new ones. One UK study from 2011 found that the addition of one million industrial robots created nearly three million jobs* and of the countries examined in the study, five saw their unemployment rates go down as the number of robots went up. Of course there will always be job losses during periods of industrial adjustment. Automation of any kind will impact jobs and tasks. We don’t have to look too far back historically to see examples; software, computers, mobile phones and robotics have eliminated many roles including receptionist, telephone operators, street cleaners, video store owner, cashiers and bus conductors to name a few. However, a large number more have been created; App Developer, Social Media Manager, front and back end developers, UX designers, any job title starting with on-line and digital. The growing trend for new and in-demand jobs is resoundingly in tech itself. Technology Analyst and Vice President of Forrester Research, J.P Gownder predicts that new automation will cause a net loss of only 9.1 million U.S. jobs by 2025, well under the 70 million jobs that famed Oxford professors Frey and Osbourne predicted in 2013**. One way robots and increased technology will change our workforce is by creating a huge demand for robot and systems maintenance. Machines break down, need updates and require new parts. Computers are glitchy and need to communicate with each other.  As we rely more and more on machines we’ll need more and more people to update and maintain them. This is where we see the rise in job titles such as field service technician, systems analyst and network administrator. In fact, whole IT departments have been created thanks to the rise in automation, tech and yes robots. But who is benefitting from this new jobs bonanza? Truck drivers being replaced by driverless trucks aren’t simply switching up to Transport Planner and Switchboard Operators aren’t immediately filling roles as Telecommunications Managers. So how can you ride the wave of increased tech-job prosperity? “The automation of the workforce is nothing new and it affects both entry level or lower tier workers, as well as medium to senior management and professionals,” said Ivan Maloney, National Account Director at Ignite. “There will always need to be a person as a conduit among all the technology and all the human applications,” he added. To future proof a career and make the most of this shifting technology-landscape Ivan suggests three main tactics:   1. Focus on your passion Always keep your passion at the forefront of your working goals to keep razor sharp focus and drive. And also create a critical road-map to achieving your personal idea of success.   2. Examine key trends in the market Keep a close eye on the market or markets where you’d like to add value. Research current trends and acquire a deep understanding of your market and predictions for it. From online research to attending meet ups and workshops, stay informed and connected.   3. Align your work and education plus keep learning and evolving Integrate on-going education, up-skilling or re-skilling into your work-life schedule. Side projects, online courses and workshops can ensure future career relevance and usefulness. Technology has disrupted education and plethora of part time or modular online courses offered mean incremental learning is accessible and inexpensive and invaluable to future-proofing your career.   Ignite is the unification of Clarius, Alliance, Candle, JavIT, Lloyd Morgan, SouthTech & The One Umbrella reimagining talent services and igniting greater potential. Go to Ignite and discover your potential.   * "www.ifr.org" ** "www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk"  

With technology changing everything we do, it’s no wonder the job market is not what it used to be. New roles and job titles are being created and new skills and proficiencies are needed. So what jobs and skills will be in demand now, for the rest of the year and the foreseeable future? Ivan Maloney, Business Leader, Victoria, and National Account Director at Ignite has been working in IT and Technology Recruitment in Australia and the UK for over 15 years. He has seen some jobs and whole departments become obsolete, while other positions have grown and transformed the workforce, due to the ever-changing march of technology. However, Ivan believes in the human in the big machine, even though technology seems to be calling the shots. “There’s always a need for a person to be the conduit among all technology,” he says, “And with that comes specialised demand.” Data Science “Interpreting the sea of data produced by more machines and smarter machines is becoming more and more important. Those whose job it is to interpret and translate relevant information to business leaders to help them make decisions are extremely useful,” he says. Ivan says job titles such as Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Big Data Engineer, Business Analyst, Analytics Team Lead and Business Intelligence Analyst will see continued growth throughout the year and beyond. Security More machines mean more humans with powerful machines trying to hack them. Information security is a growing requirement for nearly all companies operating online and roles for this essential activity are growing. Roles in demand include; Cyber Security Officer, Data Security Technician, Security Network Engineer, Security Systems Technician and Procurement Analyst I.T Security. The Cloud What has also experienced huge demand are Digital Transformation Lead roles. This is not specific to the cloud but across all businesses migrating applications of different technologies in preparation for the Internet of Things revolution. Many of these roles are project and contract based; Technology Consultant, Change Analyst, Lead Program Architect. Yet specialist execs are in demand, such as Chief Digital Officer and Chief Technical Officer.  Software and Website Development  Unsurprisingly there is still strong demand for software and web developers and so User Experience and User Interface roles are becoming more relevant. Ivan advises that the current trend in winning these positions is to offer more than the job description demands. Emerging Industries Nearly all business is being redefined or disrupted by technology but here are some industries led by technology that weren’t really around 10 years ago and are showing very strong growth signals here in Australia: Internet of Things The Internet of Things is the connection of the Internet or data to everyday objects like home appliances. Virtual Reality Applications for this are not limited to gaming. It now applies to live streaming of events, drone control, healthcare and technical training, from the military to medical professions. Renewable Energy This has been a growing industry for well over 40 years but has reached a tipping point recently and is disrupting energy suppliers globally.   Ignite is the unification of Clarius, Alliance, Candle, JavIT, Lloyd Morgan, SouthTech & The One Umbrella to reimagine talent services & ignite greater potential.