A remarkable consequence of the global pandemic has been its triggering of the 'great resignation.' For many months now, people have been voluntarily leaving jobs at a never-before-seen rate. Some of these departures are sooner than expected retirements; early in the pandemic, rising housing prices and positive stock market performance created a sense of financial security among many who had planned to work a few more years. The wealthy feeling and the misery of sorting out work life during the pandemic made it attractive for many to accelerate their plan to exit the workforce.
What challenges will great resigners face when they decide it is time to return to work?
For others, walking away from work necessary because the pandemic had ignited and nurtured a sense that life was too short to suffer the indignities thrust upon them by their employer . Finally, some saw resignation as an opportunity to take time to understand what a reprioritization of life goals might accomplish. Quitting an employer was simply the first step toward an undefined future that would ideally provide a chance for greater personal meaning. At some point, that undefined future will need to come into focus around the securing of a next job.
The great resignation may persist for some time. That said, few who resigned did so while planning to return to work. Even some of those who had felt financially secure are now re-evaluating their decision. This raises a question that has not yet received much attention. What challenges will great resigners face when they decide it is time to return to work?
Three challenges come to mind when envisioning job searching after a pandemic-inspired break. The first concerns the narrative a job seeker offers potential employers about their decision to join in the great resignation. It is always true that the better the story told about a move from one position to another or from one employer to the next, the greater confidence a hiring manager can have about the candidate. The decision to quit during a global health emergency is a unique one – explanations will be carefully parsed for what they could reveal about an applicant's work ethic.
What sort of explanation most favorably recounts the decision to leave during the pandemic? Hiring managers likely hold a range of preconceived notions about what quitting demonstrated. As one executive shared, "I admit I need to fight back the feeling people who quit during the pandemic were being selfish. I didn't quit; I hung in there. I remind myself it isn't fair to label others, but the thought is there." Alternatively, other hiring managers shared a perspective that applicants returning to work now are doing so after taking the time to find an opportunity where their values, career aspirations, and company needs are aligned. As one said, "I think now, particularly with talent so scarce and it being more of a seller's market, applicants who demonstrate a real interest in your position do have a real interest and will be a stable hire."
A second issue those returning to work should consider is could pandemic-induced workplace changes mean different employee skills and attributes have become associated with success. The pandemic isn't done with us yet; employers are still experimenting with what employment looks like now and what it might look like in the future. Indeed, the nature and content of many jobs have already changed - and we should anticipate more change. What new tools, skills, and disciplines will you need to demonstrate to a potential employer?
For example, the increasingly desired remote work assignment requires a deeper level of trust. How does an outsider unfamiliar with the hiring manager adequately support a claim of being trustworthy? How do you demonstrate you will require little supervision after stepping out on a previous employer?
Third, geography matters much less since the pandemic sent many employees home to learn to be a virtual contributor. Now an applicant's commute to work may be as simple as closing the door to their home office. In this new world, the places someone could be employed far outreach the extent of the professional network they cultivated before the pandemic. Those who plan to step back in and compete for a job need to be cognizant of the fact that their competition is far flung; those returning to work must invest time now in growing the geographic reach of their professional network. Being well-connected in your hometown is unlikely to be enough anymore.
Great resigners have some work to do before they re-enter the fray of job seeking. At a minimum, resigners should be prepared to offer a great story about recent career moves – that is, the decision to join the great resignation, how time was spent during the time off, and why this is time to come back to the specific position being sought. Even better, resigners should be considering how to demonstrate to hiring managers the thoughtfulness they applied in order to prepare to enter a new sort of workplace. These two pieces address the first half of the rather hackneyed phrase – 'what you know.' There is an essential third piece; resigners planning to return should first invest in making sure 'who you know' reflects the new geography of their career boundaries.
