Getting your player ready...
Dear J.T. & DALE: It would be great if you could write about how to deal with bullying by management. Once the economy went down, the bullies came out in full force. – Nick
J.T.: The stressful economic times, combined with the additional pressure put on businesses to survive, have made a lot of managers tougher, in the worst sense of the word. I don’t support malicious management, but it is a tactic that gets increasingly common during tough times. Most of what goes on is not illegal, just unpleasant. Times will change, and we already are seeing signs of it. Soon, the talent (aka, you) will have more leverage. The good news is that there is a talent shortage looming. DALE: Oh, how I wish I could share your optimism about what’s looming. I see the jobs shortage lingering on and on. Some of the best brains in our economy are working to reduce or replace employees, and hoo-boy, are they good at what they do. Even if the pace of exporting jobs overseas should slow, even if “reshoring” catches on, there still is the relentless advance of technology. It isn’t just robots taking over jobs; it’s technology taking over parts of jobs – as with, say, ATMs reducing the number of bank tellers. Imagine how online medicine could reduce the number of doctors and nurses, or how new education models could reduce the number of teachers. There’s even a new automated system that replaces the barista at the coffeehouse – and the machines work 24 hours a day for a single job benefit: the occasional spritz of WD-40. J.T.: Still, even if you think the employment picture is bleak, you’d have to admit that it’s getting less bleak as the economy gradually strengthens. DALE: Yes, and I do agree that the percentage of difficult bosses rises in challenging economic times. But it’s important to remember that, in any economy, there is a continuum from great bosses to awful. Most people never will have a great boss. Let’s assume that 10 percent of managers are terrific at helping employees grow and develop. That means the odds of having such a great boss are very much against you. Then the odds are made even worse because great bosses rarely make use of the traditional job market. Because they are so good at what they do, the best employees seek them out, so you are unlikely to stumble upon one in the job market. J.T.: Said another way, it’s the bullies, the jerks and the inadequate managers who have the most turnover, so they are the ones with the most jobs to offer. If you choose jobs by looking only at the pay and title, you increase your odds of getting an awful boss. As the economy improves, with or without a talent shortage, let’s hope job searches likewise improve, moving away from “I’ll take anything” to searches that include networking for fulfillment, opportunity and professionalism. Dear J.T. & Dale: No one is going to put on a job application that they were fired. And if past employers don’t give references, no one would ever know if you were fired, right? – Brandon J.T.: What companies do is call previous employers’ HR departments and ask, “Is he/she eligible for rehire?” Employers are within their rights to answer “yes” or “no.” And a “no” would clearly indicate having been fired. So you need to be careful, and you need to be honest. Assume that they will find out.
