Jason Monastra

My life and thoughts out on the web

I have the opportunity in my role to listen to a laundry list of reasons from employed professionals on their reasons for leaving their current employer.  Unfortunately most of them are not the level of conscious decision making that I would expect from folks.  However, I see some consistent themes throughout listening to people that cause me to be concerned.  Specific to this posting, the idea of company directional change.

As late as today, someone told me their prime motivator for change was the reorg of their company’s IT, and with that the separation from their respective business unit and assimilation into corporate IT.  With that, nothing changed from his job nor his career path, however the business unit provided insulation from enterprise wide projects and global responsibility - therefore allowing him to essentially fly under the radar.  Now this is of course not what he said directly, but when questioned - what was gleaned from his answers.  This as you might expect would cause concern, raise alarms, what have the.  What is more alarming, his response is not uncommon.

Companies change direction frequently.  With that, the impact across all areas of the business is inevitable.  The people within the company must adapt, be flexible with their jobs, and sometimes even shift their overall focus.  With major changes that effect job responsibility, I will understand the desire for someone to seek alternative employment.  However, when a company shifts its direction - and it does not effect your position responsibilities - there is little reason for a move.  Just because a company changes is not a viable reason for change.  A savvy interviewer pick up on this and it will be marked a red flag.

Leadership within a company can shift direction due to a variety of circumstances, most often financials and the ability for the company to grow and meet expectations.  Sound leadership will require change to some level throughout the history of a company.  The company is looking for solid team players, ones that allow for the flexibility of survival in an uncertain climate and can adapt seamlessly to change.  As a candidate, this can be a positive or negative.  People that display engagement to the prospect of change are viewed highly while resistance is seen as weakness or short sightedness.  The choice remains with you as change is inevitable.

Consider before making a move the following:

• Is the change directly effecting your job functions?
• If so, how?  If they are requiring additional skills, remember that brings better marketability.
• If not, what is the concern?
• Reorg is not always bad and can bring better visibility to your skill set if middle management is removed
• See if the core values have changed, evaluate the focus of the company and its overall direction and service to customer base.  If those are strong and leadership is good, stay still.  Sometimes you will not understand the direction till you see the positive outcome. 
• Patience.  Calm.  Stay still when everyone else is in panic mode.

This comes to me often as people are so quick to jump ship and look for the next best thing.  Most of the time, they realize too late that the best thing was the one they were in.  Make sure there is foundational reasons for change.  Speak to a mentor or close friend to ensure you are seeing the full picture before rendering a decision.