August 31, 2024 • 27 mins
Julie Bauke, Founder and Chief Career Strategist with The Bauke Group weighs in on how difficult this environment is for workers who want to find new jobs and how challenging it is for employers to recruit and retain quality employees.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome back to What's at Risk. I'm Mike Christian. Julie
Balki utilizes her thirty plus years of experience to empower
professionals to get even more out of successful careers and
create their best career lives. Julie understands the business imperatives
(00:25):
and the psychological factors that play into shifts in the
career landscape. She's worked with corporate executives, professional athletes, and
everyone in between. Julie is a sought out major media expert,
workshop host, and keynote speaker. Julia has been featured by
more than one hundred media outlets, including CNBC Money Magazine
(00:47):
and weekly segments with scripts. Hello everyone, great to have
(01:11):
you with us here tonight, and our special guest is
Julie Balki. She's the founder and chief career strategist with
the Balkis Group. Julie, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I'm great, always happy to talk about jobs and.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Careers, and you're the one to talk about it for sure.
Maybe just for our listeners, you can tell them a
little bit about your background in the Balkis Group.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, you know, the first sixteen years of my career,
I was in human resources and so I learned a
lot about that side of the desk, and then I
crossed over and started working with individuals in the early
two thousands, and I was really focused on how do
we figure out what's best for us work wise, and
what are the things we need to do to make
(01:51):
sure that we are always on track so they were
always best utilizing our skills. We're about career happiness really
at every stage of life.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You've been working over the last few years in a
pretty dynamic environment when it comes to employment, right, so much.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
You know, it's funny when I think about after a while,
you're like, wow, I remember, you know, you've been around
enough that you remember, like right after nine to eleven,
I remember what that did at the job mark, the
recession of two thousand and eight, and then COVID and
all the and then the different generational changes that happen
as well that really overlay for all the changes in
(02:30):
the economy. And so yeah, right now it's we're seeing
the sausage being made behind the scenes. That's for sure.
It's going to come out very different on the other side.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, for sure. And I'm looking forward to your views
on that. And just a little background and some statistical information.
Recently the unemployment rate tipped up to it was four
point one. But I think the US Labor Department just
came out with a four point three number, four point
three percent number, which is the first time it's crossed
above four percent since twenty twenty one. Yes, most economists
(03:00):
would say, well, we're at full employment. I'm not quite
sure what that that exactly means. But what do you
think the consequences are of now the unemployment rate starting
to tick back up when for a period of time
after COVID it was really in a very low point.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It was and when you think about so, the unemployment
rate measures the number of people who have applied for unemployment.
If you haven't applied for unemployment, you don't count in
those numbers. But when you look back at twenty then
twenty one, twenty one was when there was like the
Great Resignation, when people were hip hop and all over
the place, and there was almost like this frenzy in
(03:40):
terms of talent and companies looking to hire. They over
hired people jumped for in a lot of cases are
the wrong reasons. Companies were using money to entice people,
and it was like this, if you think of like
the pendulum is constantly swinging back and forth. It was
so far into the employees that everybody got I think
(04:03):
there was like a little bit of cockiness there, like
look at me wrong, and I can I can leave
and go someplace else, and employers were playing ball during
that time. Then as things start to settle down, we
had things like companies trying to get people back into
the office and the employee side saying yeah, no thanks,
and employers trying to deal with that. And then the generations,
(04:25):
the younger generations wait a minute, why do I have
to be They're all about flexibility, And then boomers older
generations start looking at the younger generations go on, wait
a minute, I like flexibility too. And so we have
this entirely confusing and different and evolving employee employer relationship
(04:49):
going on. And on top of that, then so we
have this big hiring friends. Then we start having big
lay a lot of layoffs. We start having companies say, okay,
well you know, we don't need all those people we
thought we did, so we're going to have these big layoffs.
And what's so interesting to me, Mike is despite there's
(05:09):
so many interesting things about that, but despite this truth
that companies feel like they're getting their leverage back. Generally,
if I look at my generation and even Gen xers
and think they would have said, all right, be there Monday,
but so much has changed that the younger generations are
(05:30):
saying no, thank you, and they're willing to change jobs
because they really have committed to the idea that I
can be really productive from anywhere, so really really explain
to me why I have to be back in the office.
And employers are really stuck because well, productivity, but they
(05:51):
don't necessarily have the data to back that up. And
so there's all these different pieces and factions. And then
when you talk about full and full employment, all right,
so right now there's one point two jobs for every
one person who's unemployed. It used to be two jobs
for every one person that's unemployed. The problem is, and
(06:12):
this again complicates everything even further. It'd be great if
we could just take those unemployed people and drop them
into those open jobs, but the skills gap. The people
who are unemployed don't necessarily have the skills to fill
the jobs that are going wanting, and so there's all
these different It's like this crazy Rubik's cube that everyone
(06:33):
keeps twisting.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I think you make a really good point there, because
the numbers don't The numbers are quantitative, but they don't
touch on the qualitative aspect of employees and jobs and
matching up the right candidate to the right job and
having the skill set to be able to do the job,
and employers finding those types of people. What are your
thoughts about that? Because the numbers will tell you one thing,
(06:57):
but then there is still a mismatch in terms of
experienced and quality and educated employees with the jobs that
are out there.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, so if you're an employer, you know, for certain jobs,
for certain roles, you are really hurting because your only
solution is to try to recruit is a couple try
to recruit people away from the jobs they're in, or
start training people who maybe don't have the skills, start
teaching them to do what needs to be done. And
(07:28):
in the past, if you think about it, how it's
always been this pipeline, this steady stream of twenty two
year olds going from high school to college straight to
the job market. And it was like employers just turn
the spigot on and they'd hire new grads. They'd show
up polished and ready to work, and then maybe they'd
(07:48):
stay for five years or forty years, and it was
this reliable chain. And now we've got a situation where
employers aren't necessary really happy with the product coming out
of universities anymore. They don't find these young people job ready,
(08:08):
and so they've had to start internal programs to teach
them how to show up like a professional, how to dress,
how to communicate, how to talk to people, how to
do all this stuff that a lot of the twenty
two year olds never learned because they were at home
going to college. They never got the opportunity to go
(08:29):
do these in person internships. Companies like Ernst and Young
they started developing their own internal training programs with colleges
so that they had a more reliable pipeline. All we
can do is deal with what we have and either
teach people what they need to know, replace the work
(08:51):
that's not getting done with AI, or simply steal people
from other companies. And so it's quite the it's quite
the handwringing going on and employers because they they're starving
for people that can come in and hit the ground running,
but the people just aren't there.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, and then another ironic part about it is that
remote work has become, as you mentioned before, really a
competitive aspect for employers to attract younger people. And yet
it goes completely against being able to be mentored and
learn on the job and have experience in person, experience
(09:27):
with senior people that allows them to set that foundation
for their career. How do you reconcile that.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, so when you look at let's look at the scales.
On one end, we have one hundred percent in the
office like the old days, eight to five, et cetera.
On the other end, we have we work from anywhere,
work from the beach in Hawaii, work anytime anywhere you
want to. The right answer for most organizations lies somewhere
in the middle. It's that finding that balance, and so
(09:54):
flexibility is the word. It's some sort of a hybrid work.
And so let's say that like a lot of companies
have said, all right, we want people in the office.
Here's an example within fifty miles of our office. We
want people in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But
then then then you have to be really focused about
how you're spending that time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Is
(10:15):
are you just going to come in and sit at
a desk and do the same stuff you'd be doing
at home, or is your organization proactively creating mentorship and
mentoring opportunities and you know, team building and all that
kind of stuff. Or are they simply asking you to
come in You're going to sit in a room and
(10:37):
do the same thing you should have done at home.
So there has to be more work on the part
of the employer. If you want people to come back,
you have to provide an experience that people see as valuable.
It's not a taco truck on Tuesdays. That's not getting
it done. And you have to know that there's still
these studies out there. If you're an employer you're trying
(10:58):
to push this, I'm still seeing studies as much it
is like a cat and mouse game. I'm still seeing
a lot of studies that say, you know, up to
forty fifty percent of people are saying if they tried
to take away my flexible work, I'd start looking for
another job immediately, or I would quit on the spot.
(11:18):
And so there's still this delicate dance. And what happens is, Mike,
is that your people who will do that are your
best people generally because they know they're marketable.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And it's interesting because employees, I assume, feel like they've
got the leverage over the employers to negotiate those those
types of things. But as the unemployment rate goes up,
that leverage seemingly should dissipate a little bit. What do
you think about that?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, really, it really depends on what your field is,
what your profession is, and what your industry is, because
there are certain fields. If you are having certain expertise,
you know, you could tell your company to stand on
their head and they probably would. And it also depends
on what your level of performance is. And so if
you are sitting in a company and that's having layoffs
(12:12):
and your department's been impacted and you are an average performer,
you don't have a lot of leverage. And so you
really have to look at You can't just say, well,
i'd like to work at home, so I'm going to
go in and tell them if they don't give me
what I want, I'm going to quit. Because in some
cases they're going to say there's the door. And so
you have to know how much leverage do you have?
(12:34):
And frankly, I hear people saying all the time, and
older people that I'm older. You know, they say, well,
I can't believe I've been here twenty five years. I've
been here thirty years and age discrimination. And I'll say,
now back up a little bit here. Let's say you
have been there thirty years. How many of those thirty
(12:55):
years are still relevant today? So if you are simply
count on your years of service to protect you, they won't.
It's about how productive are you right now? And for
older people, I always tell them, look, if anything about
you smacks of yeah, I'm not going to learn that
or back in my day, you are putting yourself on
(13:18):
the chopping block, and so you have to you have
to look around and consider what are all the factors
in your situation. And if you can't go without a job,
do not be threatening your employer because they might be
looking for an excuse to get.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Rid of you.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I think threatening your employers never.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Good to be honest, right, you.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Mentioned recent college graduates, and I think the job market
is a little tough for now. I'm and again always
contingent upon what the industry is and what your expertise
and education is in. But one thing you said, which
struck me is that they I'm assuming your meant that
they're lacking the so called soft skills that we've had
(14:02):
in the past. And why do you think that is
the colleges just don't teach it, or is it not
getting the influence from their family or you know, as
they're growing up. Where do you think that comes from.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I don't I think it's I think it's multi layered.
I think it is now. I don't want to put
it all on colleges because have you ever tried to
get an eighteen to twenty two year old to do something?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, a lot of college sometimes with my four kids.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, colleges have really good resources, but people don't use them.
And when I look at parents, I think, Okay, these
are the helicopter parents who very competitive with junior for
junior and probably did not have junior outworking at McDonald's,
probably had junior taking extra classes or you know, doing
(14:48):
something to get into the best college possible, which sometimes
becomes a part of parents bragging rights. So the kids
are not exposed to the general public, they're not exposed
to getting their hands dirty, they're not exposed to making mistakes,
and so they're a little bit like you know, a
delicate flower. Then they go off to college, and in
(15:10):
a lot of these cases, helicopter parents are still really involved.
They're the ones calling the university, calling professors, or trying
to trying to get the boulders out of the way
for junior. And so we are seeing part of the
consequences of the of the everybody gets a trophy generation
where my kids not allowed to be bad at something,
and so that's a piece of it. And then there's
(15:33):
the fact that the kids that are coming out now
they went through COVID and so they didn't get a
chance to practice and build those things. And then technology
also plays a huge part of it. Millennials like I
have my kids are millennials. They're thirteen thirty two. They
had a Game Boy, but they certainly were not raised
during the smartphone iPad generation, and so they they have
(15:56):
people skills because they had to. But when all you
know is an iPad and a smartphone and you are
never forced to make eye contact, to shake someone's hand,
to listen, to have empathy, then you don't just develop
those overnight. And so that's a piece of it too,
because it is generational. One survey. In particular, eight hundred
(16:18):
companies are surveyed, and twenty percent of these companies said
that they've had a gen Z applicant show up with
a parent to an interview. And the twenty percent of
employers said they have had a gen Z applicant refuse
to turn on the camera when they're doing a zoom interview.
And I'm hoping some time and maturity will take care
(16:40):
of this and some hard knocks because your parents can't
follow you around forever, but it's a real concern. Employers
are very frustrated. One of the status it's really harder
for new college grads to get entry level jobs right now.
Part of that has to do with all these layoffs
that have happened the last several years. So think about it,
(17:00):
last few years, say let's say two years, been a
lot of lasts. A lot of companies do the last
and first out when they do layoffs, and so that
means that there are a lot of people in the
job market who have maybe two years experience, and they
are going to be more attractive to employers than somebody
(17:22):
with zero experience, and they're probably not going to have
to pay much more for them.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
We will take a quick break from our interview with
Julie Bauki take a closer look at soft skills with
this and job scope. Soft skills, or interpersonal skills, are
critical in today's job market. Unlike hard skills, which are
typically technical and job specific, soft skills apply to every
(17:48):
job in every industry. Their personal attributes the guide how
we interact with others and approach work. They include things
like communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem solving, creativity, and leadership. These
skills help create a productive, collaborative, and healthy work environment,
making them crucial for individual and organizational success. Employers now
(18:14):
place high importance on soft skills. They recognize these are
what make their employees uniquely human and hence irreplaceable by technology.
Emotional intelligence, creativity, adaptability, leadership. These are some of the
skills sought after across industries today. Soft skills can be
the key to professional success. They influence how we interact
(18:37):
with colleagues, superiors, and clients. These interactions have a big
impact on one's career progression. Leadership, negotiation, and communication are
critical managerial and executive roles. Similarly, adaptability, resilience, and creativity
are important for problem solving, handling stress and dealing with uncertainty.
(19:00):
In essence, owning your soft skills can open doors to
hire job roles and opportunities. And now back to Julie Belt.
We talked about earlier in the interview the Great Resignation
and all the factors that were impacting that, any of
them just job seekers being opportunistic because they could be.
(19:23):
But what about employee burnout? We heard a lot about
employee burnout during that period of time. Do you think
that's still an issue? And are we still having attrition
because of that?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
It's a huge issue, huge So think it just take layoffs.
When a company lays people off, the work still has
to get done. And so what happens They pass it
on to the people who are left. And so the
people who are left take on extra work. They were
probably already overburdened, and they are generally going to do
(19:57):
it because in a lot of cases they don't have
time to go find something else, and so they take
on more. They take on more. What happens we give
the work, the most important work that needs to be
done to our best people, the people that we know
are going to get stuff done. And so people always
jokingly say yeah, your reward for doing a great job
is more work and having to do other people's work,
(20:20):
and so your best people are burnout, and so they
are the ones who are going to answer the call
when a recruiter finds them on LinkedIn. Additionally, the group
that's being squeeze the most is middle management because they've
got upper management pushing on them for results, pushing on
them to fill open jobs, but they're not giving them
(20:41):
off in the resources or the help they need to
do it. And then the people that report to them
are tired and burnout and can't do much more. And
so middle managers are actually the ones that we're seeing
in a lot of the studies are the most burnout
because they're really feeling like they're really feeling like they're
hamwiched between the two levels and they can't or they
(21:04):
can't get what they need to give their people. The
proper rewards are taking on more jobs, and the more
you are tied to your shareholders and delivering those financial
results every quarter, the worse it is for the people
that work for you.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Well, Julie, you work with both employers and employees. So
I'm going to end the interview with asking you two questions.
If you are an employer right now, what would be
What would the advice you'd give to an employer.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
One of the biggest problems with employers is they haven't
most of them haven't fully changed their mindset from this
is a top down organization. I'm the boss. I'm going
to tell you what to do. I know what's best.
I'll tell you when to jump and how high to
what it needs to be moving forward, which is more
(21:53):
of a collaborative environment. And that's very hard, especially for
boomers to get their mind around the younger generations. They
want you to ask them what they think. They want
to give input, and it's normal unfortunately for those of
us who a little bit older to say, well why
would I ask you what do you know? But that's
(22:13):
not going to fly. The first thing I would do
if I was an employer was to send out a
comprehensive and broad culture survey employee survey to find out
what your people really think about working there, and then
share those results even if they're bad. This is how
we show up authentically as leaders, is we're willing to say,
(22:35):
I know we need some improvement around here, tell me
what you think, then get your people involved in coming
up with recommendations. Leaders sometimes think I have to have
all the answers. So you have got to involve your
people just like an undercover boss. And you know, the
CEO goes and works with the people on the ground
level and they learn a ton about the company. So
(22:56):
your people that are doing the work have the best
solutions to extra culture. Two thirds or more people are
unhappy at work, and that number has not moved, and.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
That makes complete sense. Now let's flip it over to
the employees side. You're in a very dynamic market now,
especially if you're a recent college grad and you're you're
looking for a job or you're at a job and
you're looking to move up in the world. What would
your advice be to them?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
The most important and most overlooked part of the process
of job change career change is self awareness and self knowledge.
If you ask most people what is their greatest value
at work? What are they good at? Why does their
company value them? They can't answer it, and so the
(23:45):
courage the ability to say, here's what I'm good at,
Here's the kind of work I love to do, here's
the kind of work I want to do, versus do
you have any jobs for me, which is the entire
opposite of that. So really digging in and understanding who
you want are, what your greatest value is, and figuring
out how to leverage that moving forward. Instead of most
people when they go to the market are just happy
(24:07):
that someone's going to hire them. No, no, no, you
have to know your value. You have to know your
worth and your value. What if people said about you?
What if people told you about you? Dig out all
your performance of raisals, put together some statements about what
you're good at your I always say they call it
your career for a reason. Nobody else cares about it
as much as you do, and they shouldn't. This is yours,
(24:27):
this is this bus is yours to drive.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
That's great advice. We've been speaking with Julie Balki. Julia,
Chief Career Strategists is your title. You're the founder of
the Balky organization, and I appreciate you spending the time
with us. It's good, good advice for everyone out there.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Thanks for having me back. Mike. You know me, when
you're not.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
That ill me, you pray, oh them you care.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Well, that's all for this week. I'm Mike Christian, inviting
you to join us again next week on What's at Risk.
Also check out our podcast at Wbznewsradio dot iHeart dot
com What's on your mind? Send us your thoughts, comments
(25:39):
and questions to What's at Risk at gmail dot com.
That's one word, What's at Risk at gmail dot com.
Thank you. A big thank you to our producer, Ken
Carberry of Chart Productions, Name.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
It, Is It and Back About
Welcome back to What's at Risk. I'm Mike Christian. Julie
Balki utilizes her thirty plus years of experience to empower
professionals to get even more out of successful careers and
create their best career lives. Julie understands the business imperatives
(00:25):
and the psychological factors that play into shifts in the
career landscape. She's worked with corporate executives, professional athletes, and
everyone in between. Julie is a sought out major media expert,
workshop host, and keynote speaker. Julia has been featured by
more than one hundred media outlets, including CNBC Money Magazine
(00:47):
and weekly segments with scripts. Hello everyone, great to have
(01:11):
you with us here tonight, and our special guest is
Julie Balki. She's the founder and chief career strategist with
the Balkis Group. Julie, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I'm great, always happy to talk about jobs and.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Careers, and you're the one to talk about it for sure.
Maybe just for our listeners, you can tell them a
little bit about your background in the Balkis Group.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, you know, the first sixteen years of my career,
I was in human resources and so I learned a
lot about that side of the desk, and then I
crossed over and started working with individuals in the early
two thousands, and I was really focused on how do
we figure out what's best for us work wise, and
what are the things we need to do to make
(01:51):
sure that we are always on track so they were
always best utilizing our skills. We're about career happiness really
at every stage of life.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You've been working over the last few years in a
pretty dynamic environment when it comes to employment, right, so much.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
You know, it's funny when I think about after a while,
you're like, wow, I remember, you know, you've been around
enough that you remember, like right after nine to eleven,
I remember what that did at the job mark, the
recession of two thousand and eight, and then COVID and
all the and then the different generational changes that happen
as well that really overlay for all the changes in
(02:30):
the economy. And so yeah, right now it's we're seeing
the sausage being made behind the scenes. That's for sure.
It's going to come out very different on the other side.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, for sure. And I'm looking forward to your views
on that. And just a little background and some statistical information.
Recently the unemployment rate tipped up to it was four
point one. But I think the US Labor Department just
came out with a four point three number, four point
three percent number, which is the first time it's crossed
above four percent since twenty twenty one. Yes, most economists
(03:00):
would say, well, we're at full employment. I'm not quite
sure what that that exactly means. But what do you
think the consequences are of now the unemployment rate starting
to tick back up when for a period of time
after COVID it was really in a very low point.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It was and when you think about so, the unemployment
rate measures the number of people who have applied for unemployment.
If you haven't applied for unemployment, you don't count in
those numbers. But when you look back at twenty then
twenty one, twenty one was when there was like the
Great Resignation, when people were hip hop and all over
the place, and there was almost like this frenzy in
(03:40):
terms of talent and companies looking to hire. They over
hired people jumped for in a lot of cases are
the wrong reasons. Companies were using money to entice people,
and it was like this, if you think of like
the pendulum is constantly swinging back and forth. It was
so far into the employees that everybody got I think
(04:03):
there was like a little bit of cockiness there, like
look at me wrong, and I can I can leave
and go someplace else, and employers were playing ball during
that time. Then as things start to settle down, we
had things like companies trying to get people back into
the office and the employee side saying yeah, no thanks,
and employers trying to deal with that. And then the generations,
(04:25):
the younger generations wait a minute, why do I have
to be They're all about flexibility, And then boomers older
generations start looking at the younger generations go on, wait
a minute, I like flexibility too. And so we have
this entirely confusing and different and evolving employee employer relationship
(04:49):
going on. And on top of that, then so we
have this big hiring friends. Then we start having big
lay a lot of layoffs. We start having companies say, okay,
well you know, we don't need all those people we
thought we did, so we're going to have these big layoffs.
And what's so interesting to me, Mike is despite there's
(05:09):
so many interesting things about that, but despite this truth
that companies feel like they're getting their leverage back. Generally,
if I look at my generation and even Gen xers
and think they would have said, all right, be there Monday,
but so much has changed that the younger generations are
(05:30):
saying no, thank you, and they're willing to change jobs
because they really have committed to the idea that I
can be really productive from anywhere, so really really explain
to me why I have to be back in the office.
And employers are really stuck because well, productivity, but they
(05:51):
don't necessarily have the data to back that up. And
so there's all these different pieces and factions. And then
when you talk about full and full employment, all right,
so right now there's one point two jobs for every
one person who's unemployed. It used to be two jobs
for every one person that's unemployed. The problem is, and
(06:12):
this again complicates everything even further. It'd be great if
we could just take those unemployed people and drop them
into those open jobs, but the skills gap. The people
who are unemployed don't necessarily have the skills to fill
the jobs that are going wanting, and so there's all
these different It's like this crazy Rubik's cube that everyone
(06:33):
keeps twisting.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I think you make a really good point there, because
the numbers don't The numbers are quantitative, but they don't
touch on the qualitative aspect of employees and jobs and
matching up the right candidate to the right job and
having the skill set to be able to do the job,
and employers finding those types of people. What are your
thoughts about that? Because the numbers will tell you one thing,
(06:57):
but then there is still a mismatch in terms of
experienced and quality and educated employees with the jobs that
are out there.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, so if you're an employer, you know, for certain jobs,
for certain roles, you are really hurting because your only
solution is to try to recruit is a couple try
to recruit people away from the jobs they're in, or
start training people who maybe don't have the skills, start
teaching them to do what needs to be done. And
(07:28):
in the past, if you think about it, how it's
always been this pipeline, this steady stream of twenty two
year olds going from high school to college straight to
the job market. And it was like employers just turn
the spigot on and they'd hire new grads. They'd show
up polished and ready to work, and then maybe they'd
(07:48):
stay for five years or forty years, and it was
this reliable chain. And now we've got a situation where
employers aren't necessary really happy with the product coming out
of universities anymore. They don't find these young people job ready,
(08:08):
and so they've had to start internal programs to teach
them how to show up like a professional, how to dress,
how to communicate, how to talk to people, how to
do all this stuff that a lot of the twenty
two year olds never learned because they were at home
going to college. They never got the opportunity to go
(08:29):
do these in person internships. Companies like Ernst and Young
they started developing their own internal training programs with colleges
so that they had a more reliable pipeline. All we
can do is deal with what we have and either
teach people what they need to know, replace the work
(08:51):
that's not getting done with AI, or simply steal people
from other companies. And so it's quite the it's quite
the handwringing going on and employers because they they're starving
for people that can come in and hit the ground running,
but the people just aren't there.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, and then another ironic part about it is that
remote work has become, as you mentioned before, really a
competitive aspect for employers to attract younger people. And yet
it goes completely against being able to be mentored and
learn on the job and have experience in person, experience
(09:27):
with senior people that allows them to set that foundation
for their career. How do you reconcile that.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, so when you look at let's look at the scales.
On one end, we have one hundred percent in the
office like the old days, eight to five, et cetera.
On the other end, we have we work from anywhere,
work from the beach in Hawaii, work anytime anywhere you
want to. The right answer for most organizations lies somewhere
in the middle. It's that finding that balance, and so
(09:54):
flexibility is the word. It's some sort of a hybrid work.
And so let's say that like a lot of companies
have said, all right, we want people in the office.
Here's an example within fifty miles of our office. We
want people in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But
then then then you have to be really focused about
how you're spending that time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Is
(10:15):
are you just going to come in and sit at
a desk and do the same stuff you'd be doing
at home, or is your organization proactively creating mentorship and
mentoring opportunities and you know, team building and all that
kind of stuff. Or are they simply asking you to
come in You're going to sit in a room and
(10:37):
do the same thing you should have done at home.
So there has to be more work on the part
of the employer. If you want people to come back,
you have to provide an experience that people see as valuable.
It's not a taco truck on Tuesdays. That's not getting
it done. And you have to know that there's still
these studies out there. If you're an employer you're trying
(10:58):
to push this, I'm still seeing studies as much it
is like a cat and mouse game. I'm still seeing
a lot of studies that say, you know, up to
forty fifty percent of people are saying if they tried
to take away my flexible work, I'd start looking for
another job immediately, or I would quit on the spot.
(11:18):
And so there's still this delicate dance. And what happens is, Mike,
is that your people who will do that are your
best people generally because they know they're marketable.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
And it's interesting because employees, I assume, feel like they've
got the leverage over the employers to negotiate those those
types of things. But as the unemployment rate goes up,
that leverage seemingly should dissipate a little bit. What do
you think about that?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, really, it really depends on what your field is,
what your profession is, and what your industry is, because
there are certain fields. If you are having certain expertise,
you know, you could tell your company to stand on
their head and they probably would. And it also depends
on what your level of performance is. And so if
you are sitting in a company and that's having layoffs
(12:12):
and your department's been impacted and you are an average performer,
you don't have a lot of leverage. And so you
really have to look at You can't just say, well,
i'd like to work at home, so I'm going to
go in and tell them if they don't give me
what I want, I'm going to quit. Because in some
cases they're going to say there's the door. And so
you have to know how much leverage do you have?
(12:34):
And frankly, I hear people saying all the time, and
older people that I'm older. You know, they say, well,
I can't believe I've been here twenty five years. I've
been here thirty years and age discrimination. And I'll say,
now back up a little bit here. Let's say you
have been there thirty years. How many of those thirty
(12:55):
years are still relevant today? So if you are simply
count on your years of service to protect you, they won't.
It's about how productive are you right now? And for
older people, I always tell them, look, if anything about
you smacks of yeah, I'm not going to learn that
or back in my day, you are putting yourself on
(13:18):
the chopping block, and so you have to you have
to look around and consider what are all the factors
in your situation. And if you can't go without a job,
do not be threatening your employer because they might be
looking for an excuse to get.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Rid of you.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I think threatening your employers never.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Good to be honest, right, you.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Mentioned recent college graduates, and I think the job market
is a little tough for now. I'm and again always
contingent upon what the industry is and what your expertise
and education is in. But one thing you said, which
struck me is that they I'm assuming your meant that
they're lacking the so called soft skills that we've had
(14:02):
in the past. And why do you think that is
the colleges just don't teach it, or is it not
getting the influence from their family or you know, as
they're growing up. Where do you think that comes from.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I don't I think it's I think it's multi layered.
I think it is now. I don't want to put
it all on colleges because have you ever tried to
get an eighteen to twenty two year old to do something?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, a lot of college sometimes with my four kids.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, colleges have really good resources, but people don't use them.
And when I look at parents, I think, Okay, these
are the helicopter parents who very competitive with junior for
junior and probably did not have junior outworking at McDonald's,
probably had junior taking extra classes or you know, doing
(14:48):
something to get into the best college possible, which sometimes
becomes a part of parents bragging rights. So the kids
are not exposed to the general public, they're not exposed
to getting their hands dirty, they're not exposed to making mistakes,
and so they're a little bit like you know, a
delicate flower. Then they go off to college, and in
(15:10):
a lot of these cases, helicopter parents are still really involved.
They're the ones calling the university, calling professors, or trying
to trying to get the boulders out of the way
for junior. And so we are seeing part of the
consequences of the of the everybody gets a trophy generation
where my kids not allowed to be bad at something,
and so that's a piece of it. And then there's
(15:33):
the fact that the kids that are coming out now
they went through COVID and so they didn't get a
chance to practice and build those things. And then technology
also plays a huge part of it. Millennials like I
have my kids are millennials. They're thirteen thirty two. They
had a Game Boy, but they certainly were not raised
during the smartphone iPad generation, and so they they have
(15:56):
people skills because they had to. But when all you
know is an iPad and a smartphone and you are
never forced to make eye contact, to shake someone's hand,
to listen, to have empathy, then you don't just develop
those overnight. And so that's a piece of it too,
because it is generational. One survey. In particular, eight hundred
(16:18):
companies are surveyed, and twenty percent of these companies said
that they've had a gen Z applicant show up with
a parent to an interview. And the twenty percent of
employers said they have had a gen Z applicant refuse
to turn on the camera when they're doing a zoom interview.
And I'm hoping some time and maturity will take care
(16:40):
of this and some hard knocks because your parents can't
follow you around forever, but it's a real concern. Employers
are very frustrated. One of the status it's really harder
for new college grads to get entry level jobs right now.
Part of that has to do with all these layoffs
that have happened the last several years. So think about it,
(17:00):
last few years, say let's say two years, been a
lot of lasts. A lot of companies do the last
and first out when they do layoffs, and so that
means that there are a lot of people in the
job market who have maybe two years experience, and they
are going to be more attractive to employers than somebody
(17:22):
with zero experience, and they're probably not going to have
to pay much more for them.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
We will take a quick break from our interview with
Julie Bauki take a closer look at soft skills with
this and job scope. Soft skills, or interpersonal skills, are
critical in today's job market. Unlike hard skills, which are
typically technical and job specific, soft skills apply to every
(17:48):
job in every industry. Their personal attributes the guide how
we interact with others and approach work. They include things
like communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem solving, creativity, and leadership. These
skills help create a productive, collaborative, and healthy work environment,
making them crucial for individual and organizational success. Employers now
(18:14):
place high importance on soft skills. They recognize these are
what make their employees uniquely human and hence irreplaceable by technology.
Emotional intelligence, creativity, adaptability, leadership. These are some of the
skills sought after across industries today. Soft skills can be
the key to professional success. They influence how we interact
(18:37):
with colleagues, superiors, and clients. These interactions have a big
impact on one's career progression. Leadership, negotiation, and communication are
critical managerial and executive roles. Similarly, adaptability, resilience, and creativity
are important for problem solving, handling stress and dealing with uncertainty.
(19:00):
In essence, owning your soft skills can open doors to
hire job roles and opportunities. And now back to Julie Belt.
We talked about earlier in the interview the Great Resignation
and all the factors that were impacting that, any of
them just job seekers being opportunistic because they could be.
(19:23):
But what about employee burnout? We heard a lot about
employee burnout during that period of time. Do you think
that's still an issue? And are we still having attrition
because of that?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
It's a huge issue, huge So think it just take layoffs.
When a company lays people off, the work still has
to get done. And so what happens They pass it
on to the people who are left. And so the
people who are left take on extra work. They were
probably already overburdened, and they are generally going to do
(19:57):
it because in a lot of cases they don't have
time to go find something else, and so they take
on more. They take on more. What happens we give
the work, the most important work that needs to be
done to our best people, the people that we know
are going to get stuff done. And so people always
jokingly say yeah, your reward for doing a great job
is more work and having to do other people's work,
(20:20):
and so your best people are burnout, and so they
are the ones who are going to answer the call
when a recruiter finds them on LinkedIn. Additionally, the group
that's being squeeze the most is middle management because they've
got upper management pushing on them for results, pushing on
them to fill open jobs, but they're not giving them
(20:41):
off in the resources or the help they need to
do it. And then the people that report to them
are tired and burnout and can't do much more. And
so middle managers are actually the ones that we're seeing
in a lot of the studies are the most burnout
because they're really feeling like they're really feeling like they're
hamwiched between the two levels and they can't or they
(21:04):
can't get what they need to give their people. The
proper rewards are taking on more jobs, and the more
you are tied to your shareholders and delivering those financial
results every quarter, the worse it is for the people
that work for you.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Well, Julie, you work with both employers and employees. So
I'm going to end the interview with asking you two questions.
If you are an employer right now, what would be
What would the advice you'd give to an employer.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
One of the biggest problems with employers is they haven't
most of them haven't fully changed their mindset from this
is a top down organization. I'm the boss. I'm going
to tell you what to do. I know what's best.
I'll tell you when to jump and how high to
what it needs to be moving forward, which is more
(21:53):
of a collaborative environment. And that's very hard, especially for
boomers to get their mind around the younger generations. They
want you to ask them what they think. They want
to give input, and it's normal unfortunately for those of
us who a little bit older to say, well why
would I ask you what do you know? But that's
(22:13):
not going to fly. The first thing I would do
if I was an employer was to send out a
comprehensive and broad culture survey employee survey to find out
what your people really think about working there, and then
share those results even if they're bad. This is how
we show up authentically as leaders, is we're willing to say,
(22:35):
I know we need some improvement around here, tell me
what you think, then get your people involved in coming
up with recommendations. Leaders sometimes think I have to have
all the answers. So you have got to involve your
people just like an undercover boss. And you know, the
CEO goes and works with the people on the ground
level and they learn a ton about the company. So
(22:56):
your people that are doing the work have the best
solutions to extra culture. Two thirds or more people are
unhappy at work, and that number has not moved, and.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
That makes complete sense. Now let's flip it over to
the employees side. You're in a very dynamic market now,
especially if you're a recent college grad and you're you're
looking for a job or you're at a job and
you're looking to move up in the world. What would
your advice be to them?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
The most important and most overlooked part of the process
of job change career change is self awareness and self knowledge.
If you ask most people what is their greatest value
at work? What are they good at? Why does their
company value them? They can't answer it, and so the
(23:45):
courage the ability to say, here's what I'm good at,
Here's the kind of work I love to do, here's
the kind of work I want to do, versus do
you have any jobs for me, which is the entire
opposite of that. So really digging in and understanding who
you want are, what your greatest value is, and figuring
out how to leverage that moving forward. Instead of most
people when they go to the market are just happy
(24:07):
that someone's going to hire them. No, no, no, you
have to know your value. You have to know your
worth and your value. What if people said about you?
What if people told you about you? Dig out all
your performance of raisals, put together some statements about what
you're good at your I always say they call it
your career for a reason. Nobody else cares about it
as much as you do, and they shouldn't. This is yours,
(24:27):
this is this bus is yours to drive.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
That's great advice. We've been speaking with Julie Balki. Julia,
Chief Career Strategists is your title. You're the founder of
the Balky organization, and I appreciate you spending the time
with us. It's good, good advice for everyone out there.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Thanks for having me back. Mike. You know me, when
you're not.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
That ill me, you pray, oh them you care.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Well, that's all for this week. I'm Mike Christian, inviting
you to join us again next week on What's at Risk.
Also check out our podcast at Wbznewsradio dot iHeart dot
com What's on your mind? Send us your thoughts, comments
(25:39):
and questions to What's at Risk at gmail dot com.
That's one word, What's at Risk at gmail dot com.
Thank you. A big thank you to our producer, Ken
Carberry of Chart Productions, Name.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
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