Five Signs You Need to Begin Looking for a New Job

This month's newsletter focuses upon common situations that often signal it's time to update your resume and begin networking with your market research colleagues and recruiters.

While we sincerely hope you never find yourself in any of these situations, it's our job to make you aware.

To help in any preparation or to explore any career opportunities, you can always view our current jobs from the comfort of your home, the office, or your smartphone.

If you ever have any questions, please contact us.

Sign #1: Your Manager Will Not Meet with You
Managers are trained to avoid unnecessary conflicts. And it's human nature not to engage those about to be ostracized (which is why a jury tends to avoid eye contact prior to reading an unfavorable verdict).

If you find your manager has an endless set of "unreasonable" excuses why they are never available to meet with you and yet they meet with your colleagues, maybe there is a reason. Perhaps you should take this subtle cue to candidly, yet quietly, assess your performance to your colleagues. If you determine you are not in the "top half of the class," it may be time to update your resume and consider career alternatives.

If you think you're being overly sensitive, consider confiding with family members or colleagues outside of work. An external perspective can be tremendously helpful in providing an unbiased opinion about your situation.

The market research world is small, so this might be the spark you need to begin networking. It’s better to be prepared for a storm that never comes than to be surprised by a hurricane.

Sign #2: Your Colleagues are Interviewing Candidates--And You're Not
Adding a new researcher to the team is not a simple task. The qualifications, experience, personality, and potential fit of a candidate need to be assessed. If you're typically involved in the interviewing process and you're told you're too important, too busy, or too senior to participate, you may want to cautiously inquire.

Not participating in the selection process could indicate others are better interviewers, have more appropriate skills that provide a stronger basis for questioning candidates, or worse.

Importantly, if the job description sounds eerily like your current position (or if no one will provide a job description to you), you may also need to take notice.

Sign #3: You're Given Fewer Responsibilities
If your workload is being redistributed to your colleagues, or your colleagues are receiving additional tasks while you still have available capacity, you may want to take notice.

Companies tend to defend themselves by reallocating critical tasks in anticipation of reorganizations--ensuring they can meet their obligations before any action is taken.

If your workload is cut dramatically, you may want to conduct the personal assessment identified in Sign #1 above. You may consider approaching your manager seeking additional tasks, or suggesting a new idea that [only] you can perform to generate sales, provide a service, or help retain a client.

Sign #4: Your Clients Are Dwindling or Purchasing Less
Clients and the work they demand are the lifeblood of any market research organization--be it supplier or corporate research department. If you find your clients are dwindling in number or the amount of work they are requesting is decreasing, this should be concerning to everyone in the group.

As a quick rule of thumb, the annual revenue from your clients should be at least $150,000 (includes salary, bonus, benefits, taxes, travel, etc.) times the number of supporting employees, plus:

• The direct costs for any conducted research (i.e., external field work, etc.)
• An estimated allocation of overhead (i.e., rent, etc.)
• Expected profit

If the numbers don't add up or if revenue is trending down, it may be time to dust off your resume and begin networking.

In a difficult economy, time can be your friend and enemy. It's best to consider acting sooner rather than later.

Sign #5: Management Begins Meeting Behind Closed Doors
If your company's executive team (or your managers) rarely have closed door meetings, and you notice seemingly frequent "closed door sessions," you may want to assess the business and competitive landscape.

Closed door meetings can be positive (i.e., discussions of acquisitions or rapid growth, etc.) or concerning (i.e., discussions of cash management, downsizing, etc.). It's your job to determine the general direction. But care must be taken not to alarm colleagues or spend undue time reviewing the topic at the expense of completing your work.

Should you determine the situation is unclear or trending in an undesirable direction, you may want to initiate casual networking with your market research colleagues in other companies or with your recruiter.

It's better to be prepared as decisions from "closed door sessions"--either good or bad--are often rolled out quickly.

 

Don't forget to view our current jobs.

 

Mike Carroll
800-872-5401
mcarroll@marketresearchcareers.com
www.marketresearchcareers.com