See the woman in the next cubicle, crunching hard on a spreadsheet? Don’t be fooled. She’s working the job search sites like a machine.
Yahoo’s HotJobs site said she isn’t alone in her quest, not this year. Out of over 5,000 people the job board surveyed in October 2006, nearly half intended to peruse the field for better opportunities.
That’s right. If you are a valuable or nigh-irreplaceable employee, you will probably find yourself attracted to the glowing graphics and suave copywriting at a job site like HotJobs or others. After all, it’s just text, right? You still love your job.
Or maybe you don’t feel like you’re fully appreciated. Lots of other people think that way. Just look at some results from the survey:
• Seventy-five percent of respondents said they did not receive the bonus or the raise they expected for their performance in 2005.
• More than half of the people said they have to work on their days off at least once per month, and more than one-third said they do some aspect of work every single day.
• Twenty-seven percent think they can get better salaries elsewhere.
• Nineteen percent don’t feel there is any potential for career growth in their current jobs.
• Nineteen percent want a better benefits package.
Unemployment has been running at lower rates, which means that for certain industries and professionals, that could be the equivalent of handing someone a crowbar and a 2 pm appointment with the compensation director to try and pry out a better reward.
But for a lot of people, the job search will be the route they try first. Go ahead. No one’s watching you. Except the guys in the IT department and their web browser monitoring software. Maybe you should wait until you get home.
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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
