Career development: Ask the expert

Every year we register 
hundreds of candidates and interview them extensively as to the reasons why they are seeking a career move. Obviously, at the most basic level, the desire for stronger career progression and more money tends to be the greatest driving force and this hasn’t changed too much pre versus post-recession.

Having said that, at the height of the credit crunch there was a noticeable increase in the number of job seekers asking about the financial stability of the organisation they were joining.

What is particularly surprising is the difference between employee and employer perceptions of what motivates people to consider moving on and what attracts them to a prospective employer. We’ve been conducting some research among our candidates and clients as part of our annual World of Work research report. And the results effectively demonstrate that employers don’t always have a grip on what makes them attractive to workers.

The first priority for employees is actually the 
opportunity to perform meaningful work, closely followed by competitive levels of remuneration. But organisations rank these only fifth and fourth respectively, believing their employer brand and business values are their most attractive attributes.

Meaningful work is an often overlooked facet of the unique selling points that an organisation can showcase to attract new hires. It’s also often misunderstood. Among job seekers in the insurance and financial services sector, the most popular definition of ‘meaningful work’ is: ‘The work I perform allows me to feel that I am part of a collective effort to improve the outcomes of our service. In other words we achieve a group outcome.’

Organisations that can highlight strong team work and industry-leading projects as part of their recruitment pitch will, therefore, find themselves in a strong position.

When looking at the reasons people choose to leave, employers and employees are a little more in tune with both stating that career development opportunities are a priority. There is a slight subtlety in context however.

Employees leave because of the lack of substantive career paths and opportunities with their existing employer. Employers, on the other hand, feel they are lured away by something more substantive elsewhere.

Beneath this, there is a clear understanding among employers of the influence of personal and lifestyle choices and that remuneration plays a major part — 
despite disagreement about the importance that benefits play in retention. However, what employers have not clearly identified is the impact of an inability to perform meaningful work — even in today’s tough climate.

Lucy Bousfield
Manager of the insurance division at Randstad Financial & Professional