"Think Your Employee Can’t Find a New Job? Think Again!"
10/29/24 Edition Stephen Says Column

​Dear Stephen,

I am an AVP on the west coast for a large manufacturing company that makes office furniture. I work my ass off because that is who I am, and I like the company and our product. I have a great team that I’ve hired that reports to me.

First, let me say, everyone can always improve in their current job, and I am the first to want to hear feedback on how to be a better manager. Recently, the senior VP of Sales, my boss, shared with me feedback about my management style. It was a “good” review, but by my high standards, it was mediocre.

I am livid, here’s what’s bothering me most. I worked for one of the majors in the past, so I am very much in touch with leadership standards in large organizations. I’ve tried to bring some of that knowledge to this company. When I challenged my boss on the review, I found him a bit flippant, and he didn’t say it directly, but I got the impression he felt perhaps I did not have many options when it came to other future career moves because I’m already so established in the industry. (And by the way I’m 52).

This is an all-too-common playbook of business owners and senior leadership when they think they have an executive who’s “been around the block” and can’t do any better than that current job. And so, they assume you have to stay there until retirement. My boss has said this to me about people that work for us now. There’s a certain irony to this because the company is telling you they’re unhappy and yet they don’t want to lose you, and they feel like they can’t lose me because nobody else wants to hire me. How nice of them! So, they want me on their terms, to manage from their point of view.

It's almost Q1 of 2025 and I know that, if not now, as the new year starts everyone will be hiring. It seems to me not a day goes by when I don’t receive a call from someone like you or a competitor about an opportunity. My bosses seem in the dark about this. My resume is set, I’m taking your advice from a previous column and turning on that confidential ‘green light’ on #LinkedIn to let recruiters and HR people know I’m open to work. My direct question to you is, how do I prove them wrong? Because after this review, I’m dead set on finding a new job.


Signed,
Taken For Granted

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Dear Taken For Granted,

My advice is to you is singular: definitely look for a new job. In today’s economy and timing in our industry, let me just say you will definitely find one.

Let me tell everyone reading this: the term “retread” has become obsolete in the contract furniture industry and all the allied industries. Manufacturer and dealer leadership and owners alike take for granted when they have employees that have job-hopped or are anywhere over 50 that they will not lose that employee. But, in today’s new job competitive job market, they are dead wrong. First, you could boomerang back to one of your previous employers, and I bet they would love to have you back. Especially since you’ve worked for one of the majors. This is very common in furniture -- if you have the credential of having worked for one of the major manufacturers, public or privately held, in the furniture industry it’s the equivalent of having an MBA.

I consult and coach many CEOs of privately owned companies as well as boards of publicly traded companies, and I warn them all that they would have a lot less turnover and save money on expensive recruiting fees from people like me simply by working with an existing employee that may need improvement; in other words, employers, do not assume your employee cannot find another job. Employers do this for the reasons of a) not giving someone a raise, b) not giving someone a promotion, and it just leads to demoralizing them as it sounds may be happening to you.

Let me circle back to two options on the answer to your question, and before that, let me say do not be “dead set” on leaving your job. First, take a deep breath and step back to try and communicate clearly to your boss how much you enjoy the job, the company, because it genuinely sounds like you do. List out in writing your accomplishments and performance highlights. Then, like you said, be open to criticism and change where needed. It sounds like if you have one fault it’s you’re a perfectionist. Secondly, the direction you’re already headed in, which is where you should be especially this time of year, is to ‘turn on the green light’ and confidentially network with the dealers that you work with. Believe it or not, dealers know where all the good jobs are because manufacturers contact them first for hiring leads since, well, it’s free!

Be pragmatic. Be introspective. Don’t jump. It sounds like you’re one of those executives who is thoughtful and open minded and once you start to interview you might see that your job is not so bad after all. For those of you that are business owners or leadership at a manufacturer or dealer reading this space, (wondering if this is your employee), chances are it is! And guess what, I could place them in a heartbeat. That might not be so bad, you’re thinking? Think again because when a sales leader leaves an organization, they tend to take many of the salespeople they recruited with them along with the customer and dealer relationships they may have brought to you from another company.

My advice to both sides on this issue (employee or employer) is don’t be short-sighted, think it through, and consider that our industry in general is gearing-up for hiring in 2025.


Signed,
Stephen

 

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