Melina Murray

What should the response be to broken promises when starting a new job? I hear this question at times and find there is no easy answer.

Sample scenario: You are hired in a senior marketing role to launch a new product. During the interview period you are told (by all players in upper management) this is a critical position as the new product is redefining the company. The company is 110% committed to the goal and you will have whatever resources you need to get the job done. They want you because your greatest strength is in marketing new products, getting the information out to the masses, eliciting excited responses. Wow, cool.

Then you officially start. Two weeks in, you are told the product isn’t ready yet. Three weeks in, you realize no one even knows if the product will work. There are major technical issues that no one can solve. Still, you believe and start to gather your resources. Oops, the company is cutting back on spending. No tools, team members or other resources. They tell you to make it work with what you have. What you have is no product, no confidence that it will work and no tools to market it. Still, you gather what meager resources you have so you are ready when the time comes. You hope for a change, but all information and conversation point to the reality that there will be no new product. And this goes on for the next few months…

What do you do?

Do you leave, realizing the company isn’t going to launch the new product?

The reason you were hired does not exist anymore- should you stay anyway?

I know there are many variables and each situation is unique, but I would love to hear what you think. Have you been in a similar situation? What did you do and why?

I often get resumes from friends and past co-workers asking for editing/comments and most of the time, my changes are relatively significant, with the main comments being “make sure you tailor this to the job when you apply” and “what were your achievements, how did you make a difference?”.

Well, I had a wonderful surprise recently. A resume that was close to perfect! (the only change I made was switching 2 sentences) That was such a treat! What the person wanted was specific and concise, jobs included successes/achievements, highlights were noted, skills were not exaggerated, and it was 1 page. It was beautifully written, the writer obviously put thought and effort into it.

The resume doesn’t get you a job, but it can do 2 things. 1. get you through the first door when your network can’t, 2. highlight an introduction from your network (a good resume here is like a bonus).

Cheezhead posted about www.getthejob.com this morning. I am fascinated. Not sure what to think about the amount of personal information I saw on some profiles, but the idea is really interesting. And some of the features on the site are nifty, like a google map on your profile page with jobs matched to your location. Visually appealing.

Think I’ll spend some time exploring it further.

My first job in the corporate world was an interesting set up. I worked at the corporate headquarters of an international staffing agency, as a temp. Shortly after I began working, the manager of the branch office was also given the role of managing my department at the HQ office. Interesting situation.

The people I worked with were fantastic and surprisingly, the work was fun. I learned a lot about a variety of topics, which is always important to me. Also, as I worked hard and learned, by manager paid attention and gave me raises (made quicker and easier because of his dual role). As a low paid admin, the raises were significant for me, in addition to the fact someone was paying attention to my contributions. I was energized and worked even harder.

I often think about how to motivate employees and through the years have realized that each individual has to be looked at differently. Some employees are actually motivated by salary increases (although it is a short term motivation). Sometimes it is an extra day off in recognition of hard work or a great idea. For others, public recognition is the thing that fills them with pride, energy and productivity. In short, there is no one way to motivate every employee. Managers should get to know what drives their team members and find a way to reward accordingly. This, of course, entails talking to each person, paying attention to the small things, discussing goals and expectations. It is not hard to do, truly. And in my experience, the managers who do this have teams who are incredibly successful and more important- individuals who want to be there, who want to contribute every day.

This is a comment that makes me grind my teeth- especially since I only hear it when someone is feeling disgruntled, under appreciated or undervalued. (I am taking this scenario from the perspective of a friend who is an HR professional.) I want to say, “oh, yeah, how’s that?”. Instead, I usually ask “what do you mean?”. And the answer I get is something like this, “Well, I know that if I put in hard work, work overtime with no pay and don’t complain, I will benefit when the company is successful.”

And I think…

“Oh really?” Is the company taking care of you now? Have they taken care of you in the past? Have the promises that have been made to you come through? Have you set your expectations and goals with your manager?

Because if the answer to most of those questions is “no”, then the employee will go on feeling under appreciated and disgruntled. The most important one of the questions above is “Have you set your expectations and goals…?”. And the answer is usually “no”. Those who work in limbo, in the grey area where there is nothing to work towards, except some ambiguous “reach profit” goal are often the ones who feel this the most. They don’t know how they contribute to the overall goals of the company and often whatever motivation they had fades and dies out. These are the people who just go to work “for the paycheck”.

So- note to employees:  Talk to your manager.  Discuss your role and your goals.  Let your manager know how you want to grow.  Maybe your growth path isn’t possible now, but it may be down the road. Or maybe there is a role that you would enjoy and don’t know about- and you manager doesn’t know of your interest.  Not all openings are posted or talked about.

Note to managers:  Be aware of your employees.  Talk to them, reward hard work, help them grow.  But most of all - talk to them not at them.