One Job + One Job = One Job

Did you see today's Career Journal section of the Wall Street Journal? I don't know about you, but "Help Wanted: Senior-Level Job, Junior Title, Pay" caught my attention. The piece discussed a trend that's apparently becoming more and more common at companies adjusting to a weakened economy: combining what were two or even three jobs into ONE job, then giving it a lower-level title and offering a lower-level salary to match. Employers are doing this to cut costs any way they can and stretching assets -- in this case, people -- is something now on the table.

Yikes!

As professionals in career services, we all know that Gen Y candidates are graduating and entering the workforce at a breakneck pace. Some recruiters are capitalizing on young grads and in some cases are offering entry-level salaries but dishing out more responsibility than what you'd expect for a first job out of school. According to the article, these recruiters are figuring younger workers might not notice or might even be grateful to take on a job with more responsibility than the typical lower-level position.

But is it worth it? Near term, maybe. Long term? No.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the 'ol "churn and burn" factor. I'm all for multitasking and getting my hands dirty when it comes down to the work at hand, but at the same time a person can only do so much before quality of work vanishes in favor of quantity. Other major considerations, which the article notes, are everything from morale issues to retention concerns. In the end, savings will not be fully realized if employers need to continually run ads, post jobs, engage in on-boarding, etc. Their company brand can also get tarnished from an employment perspective. Who would want to work for a company that has a reputation for being a revolving door?

In the article, Amy Armitage, a partner at Capital H Group, a human-resources consulting firm based in Chicago, offers a quote that's definitely worth pondering. "You've got to look very closely at what jobs are being cut and ensure you don't cut into the bone, into the things that are really adding value to your customers and to what's really creating the growth engine of your company."

Have you seen this trend as your young grads search for and start their first jobs? Or, if you're a recruiter, what are your thoughts on this strategy?

Photo by xdjio

A Refreshing Two Days in July

Every year in July we get together with our university board of advisors. This year, like prior years that I can remember, was another hot and humid couple of days in Boston.

This year, unlike all prior years, we had employers from our employer advisory board join the meeting and advance the conversation.

Some of the most interesting trends and questions posed and discussed by the group were:

How do employers select target schools - employers seem to do this very differently. Schools and employers both believe some aggregation of school profile information would make it easier for employers to figure out which schools to target.

Lower on-campus recruiting turnout - reasons included career fairs becoming the primary point of employer interaction, internships as a pre-recruitment tool, and some students going direct to employers.

Parental involvement - the "CEO parent" (previously known as the "helicopter parent") was mentioned as a phenomenon that both groups are seeing that doesn’t seem to be going away...

Fall recruitment is happening earlier – push for certain talent – business, engineering - is happening even earlier in October. Companies want their interview schedules earlier each year. Career centers are trying to accommodate but it's hard when everyone wants the same timeframe. Some career centers are working with employers in the same industry to align offer and notification dates when they can.

Getting involved with faculty, student groups and athletic organizations on campus – employers want to “fish where the fish are” so are engaging different parts of campus. Some career centers offer to be the coordination point for this activity; others prefer that employers manage on their own.

So yes it was hot, but the dialogue, idea-sharing, collaboration and camaraderie was refreshing and invigorating for all of us at Experience.

Photo (left to right): Stan Jackson (Experience), Cindy Henderson (Northern Illinois University), and Mike Sciola (Wesleyan University).