Blog Posts by Liz Ryan

I don't know if it's just me or if everyone feels the same way, but there are things that you hear that can feel exactly like a physical blow, like a shot to the solar plexus. One time I was at work, puttering away on some project or other (I'm an HR person) when one of my friends popped into my office. "I'm on the fence," she said. "What fence?" I asked. "I heard something and I can't decide whether to tell you about it, or not," she said. "That's the weeniest disclosure ever," I laughed. "Now you have to tell me."

Here's what she said. "At the sales meeting, I wasn't there on account of not being in sales, but two people told me the same story verbatim so I believe them," she started. "The VP of Sales was going on about something, and someone said 'That thing you just suggested, I don't think we can do that, it's against the HR policy' and the VP of Sales said 'No problem, I have Liz Ryan wrapped around my finger.' He said it in front of the whole sales department, like 100

The big myth among job-seekers is the one that goes "Employers are in the driver's seat. There are so many people chasing so few jobs." Oh, please! True: lots of people are out of work. But employers aren't high-fiving one another for their good fortune. It's still incredibly hard to find good people to fill the jobs employers have open.

If it matters which people we hire at any point in time, it matters most when economic conditions are tough. Competition is fierce. Employers can't afford to hire just anyone when they have a job opening. Switched-on candidates have a huge advantage, if they know their worth and their power in the talent equation. And if they do, they'll also be on high alert for these six red flags that signal "This employer will never value you. Run away, now!"

Here's our list of six very good reasons to run from an interview process and invest your time in finding an organization that 'gets' you, rather than taking a job with one that never, ever will:

Your Time

A lady wrote to me. "I've read some of your columns on job interviewing, where you give really unusual answers to the standard interview questions. I've read some other stuff of yours about resumes, where you tell people to use a human voice and avoid the black hole entirely."

"Yes, that is the sort of stuff I write for job-seekers," I replied. "Do you have a question about any of that?"

"As I was reading one of your articles, it hit me," she wrote, "that there must be an overarching principle tying all of your advice together. These aren't just isolated tips you're writing columns about; you've got a whole methodology for job-seekers."

"That's true," I wrote back. "I pretty much hate the standard job-search approach. It's grovel-ly, for one thing. It doesn't work - that's another problem. I don't endorse it. I advise job-seekers to forget almost everything they know about getting a new job."

"You mean, things like lobbing resumes into the black hole, and waiting forever to hear

If you're thinking about quitting your job next year, don't write to ask me whether you should --- because I'll tell you "Do it!" I don't think people wake up in the morning or go to bed at night wondering "Should I change jobs?" unless the universe is nudging them in that direction. People who shouldn't change jobs next year aren't laying in bed at night wondering whether a job change might be a good move. They're too busy with and excited about their projects and their teams to think about doing something else.

We tend to think "I'm underemployed" when we're working in a job that doesn't require (or make use of, or value) our experiences and education, but lots of people are underemployed and don't even know it. They're underemployed if their boss doesn't 'get' them, and if they're not using their full brains and creativity on the job. They're underemployed if their best ideas go untried and if their boss's answer to their suggestions is "I don't pay you to think." Unfortunately,