The Barrett Group News

Knowing how to read clients and colleagues, and understanding what underlying thoughts and emotions are influencing their actions and decisions, have long been useful skills in business.

You wrap up an engaging interview at a company and come away feeling that this position would be a great fit for you. You have the impression that the hiring manager feels the same way about you. He walks you to the door, you shake hands, say goodbye…and you never hear from him again. Ever.

Employee benefits and perks have come a long way since the advent of company cars and casual Fridays. A review of emerging benefits and perks in today’s business world yields such novelties as “pet leave” for new pet owners, nap pods for sleeping breaks, and beer on tap. These kinds of offerings are certainly a testament to what appeals to millennial workers, who comprise an increasingly large share of the labor force. But it’s not just millennials who are driving this demand.

Why is it that so many of us become dissatisfied in mid-career and begin to question why it is that we are doing the job that what we are doing? Sure, maybe it’s because you have been on the wrong career path all along. It’s more likely, however, that the original reasons you had for choosing your career are simply no longer valid.

Many factors affect hiring and recruitment. Some are internal to an organization, such as organizational culture, or company product releases. Some are external to an organization, like economic trends. Seasonality is definitely important. Naturally, industry fluctuations play a big role, too.

Most people focus on their career in a reactionary instead of a strategic way. That means that if things go south, it is hard to understand what went wrong.

Did you know that 85% of all jobs are landed through networking?

Being a lawyer can be a life of extremes. After all, what other profession simultaneously ranks on lists of the most respected professions and the most hated professions?

It’s Monday morning. How do you feel about getting out of bed to go to work?

The most important strategy when preparing for interviews is to focus on qualifying yourself for the opportunity. Any concerns about the company, opportunity, compensation and the team should always be deferred until you receive an offer.

“The unemployment rate is at a 50-year low, the country has seen eight years of job growth and the market is a job seeker’s dream. So, why is it so challenging to find a job?” Whatever the reason, don’t despair! And take some comfort in knowing that you’re not alone.

The most important strategy when preparing for interviews is to focus on qualifying yourself for the opportunity. Any concerns about the company, opportunity, compensation and the team should always be deferred until you receive an offer.

The job market is conducive to finding a job. The unemployment rate is down, there are more jobs open than potential candidates available to fill those roles. If you have been job searching for a while and with limited success, it is reasonable to ask yourself why that is, and what you can do to succeed in finding a job in 2019.

The U.S. workforce isn’t expected to age particularly well over the next decade. Though much ado has been made over the millennial generation sweeping into the labor market and supplanting both those in Generation X and baby boomers as the largest active age demographic in the domestic workforce, the average U.S. employee is still getting older, and what that means for the future of American employment is complicated.

If you’re a spectator on the sidelines of the of the job market waiting for a good time to jump into the game, now is the time. Conditions couldn’t be better for job seekers at the moment. If you wait, however, some indicators suggest that the economy may not look so rosy by this time next year.

Diversity is a hot topic in the news these days. The mid-term elections just ushered in a rainbow of newcomers to the House of Representatives, including a record number of women. Events of the past year have galvanized women and their supporters in historic ways, forcing us all to reflect on the fairness of the treatment and representation of women in the business world.

When considering changing careers, keep these tips from The Barrett Group Legal’s career management professionals in mind to prevent some of the most common mistakes legal professionals make.

Between the #MeToo movement and the Kavanaugh confirmation process, the national news has been focused on women a lot recently. It seems fitting in this forum, then, to consider employment from the perspective of women. It’s no secret that they have a tougher road to travel than men. Their disadvantages begin right out of the gate and have no end in sight. So, what should women know to get ahead in the employment market?

The Digital Age Is Transforming Work: Here Is How to Get Out in Front of the Changes

The vast majority (around 80%) of our clients each year are unhappily employed, the rest are out of work for one reason or another.

The modern day interview has evolved tremendously from what it used to be. Gone are the days of sitting on the other side of an imposing interviewer sitting behind a huge desk with a significantly-raised chair. Nowadays, candidates are interviewing the companies just as much as they themselves are being interviewed. And why not?

To be a great leader, you must first master the art of Personal Leadership. This is the first of four topics on how to increase, develop and demonstrate your Personal Leadership so you and your business skyrockets to the heights you deserve!

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “Those who are unemployed are feeling anxious and stressed as they search for work in a struggling market. The pressure to find and keep a job, in addition to everyday work-related stress, can take a toll on mental health.”

Respondents to our on-going job satisfaction survey come from many different industries. About 90% of the respondents are currently employed. Their titles range from C-level officer to SVP, VP, GM, and on down the organizational hierarchy with a fair amount involved in sales, finance, and legal professions.

Career changers face many barriers and constraints along the way. Helping you to manage these challenges is what we at the Barrett Group do. Consider the information below, and then contact us to evaluate your own specific situation. We’ve helped more than 2,000 executives change careers over 28 years… why not you?

If you are familiar with the theory of the sigmoid curve, you know that whenever you start a new job or activity you need to put in more energy then you get back. At some point your competence and the energy you have put in begin to earn a reward and the job or activity gets easier.

In December 2017 Congress passed legislation known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Much has been reported in the media about the impact of this event on people up and down the income scale. Notably, there were specific changes included in the new tax law on the treatment of executive compensation. With tax season upon us, you may wonder: Is the Tax Act good news or bad news for high-earning professionals?

The job market is hot! Job openings are at a record high. If ever there was a time to consider changing jobs, now is it. But if you haven’t switched jobs in a few years, make sure you understand what is new, because job searching in the digital age is different from just a few years ago.

To the casual observer, the modern job search appears more convenient than ever. Three clicks of a mouse, a flurry of typing, and a potential applicant is whisked away into the magical world of online job postings. And it appears to be the land of plenty; there are bushels of job postings. They submit resumes and wait. And wait. And wait. And never hear back.

There are various laws in the workplace both nationally and globally that come into play from a patchwork of jurisdictions, as well as company policies and rules of ethics that may or may not come into play as you enter the hiring process.

If may be too early to write the obituary, but the future of The Elevator Speech, at least as we refer to it in the Career Management industry, is in grave doubt.

Executive Recruiters, headhunters and placement agencies work on the other side of the fence from career management specialists like The Barrett Group. The difference lies in how they are each paid for their services, which dictates where the loyalty and effort lies in the servicing of their respective clients’ needs.

As Chief Operating Officer of The Barrett Group, my business day starts each morning with the onerous task of reviewing each and every resume submitted to our website, www.careerchange.com. The number is a reasonably consistent range of 40-60 submissions daily.

So we continue to have over 14 million ready-to-work Americans walking the streets, a number equal to the entire populations of Guatemala or Mali. With the prospect of economic doldrums continuing until further notice, maybe they should just get together and start their own country. Actually, it’s starting to look like they are moving in that direction, and who can blame them?

C-level executives in the New World Order of Business are really long range temps. When Return on Investment trumps company loyalty every time, when large corporations can be evaporated, absorbed or taken over on any given day, you need to travel light and hedge your bets along with your funds.

Your job search sometimes appears to be a highly technical series of complex activities and programs, having a life of its own that is somehow out of your sphere of influence. You might feel you live in a world of reaction, where each day blindsides you with a new, unexpected frustration.

Let’s take a look at what it takes to achieve business success in general, and how you can apply these attributes to both your overall career and your current search.

Professional resume writers will all tell you that perfecting your resume presentation is absolutely crucial to your success.