A question that almost every candidate has asked me recently. And I completely understand why.
COVID has undoubtedly ricocheted the job market. As a headhunter and owner of an executive search firm (which I decided to start 6 months before a global pandemic!), I have been at the coal face of it all and never seen so many peaks and troughs in one single year throughout my whole career.
From the beginning when so many businesses had to make heart-breaking decisions of letting people go; and those who were fortunate enough to still have a job would not consider for a second letting go of it.
Throughout the middle ‘weird bit’ when we came out of lockdown (although now it seems so long ago, we are all starting to wonder if it was just a figment of our imagination). There was optimism, positivity and confidence in the air. We all spent the past 3 months – and additional 10 hours gained a week from no commuting – reflecting on how much we hate our current job and why the hell have we put up with it for so long (amongst other lockdown revelations, including: selling up and moving to a land far, far away as we've realised we never really liked other people that much anyway; getting our partner to cut our hair and why have we paid a barber to do it for so long; or trying to convince ourselves that a 5000 piece jigsaw and bottle of wine is an adequate replacement for a Saturday night out - depends if you open a second bottle, I suppose).
And before we knew it, we were plunged into our most recent (and hopefully final) lockdown and none of us were really sure what the hell was going on with life, let alone the job market.
But over the past couple of months, I have seen an incredible shift. Things are looking up. A lot of businesses are truly booming.
I’ll start off by saying that no one can tell you how to feel and whether it is the right time for you to change jobs. There is no right or wrong answer.
You have to go with your gut.
However, as a specialist within the FinTech space, a headhunter for the past 10 years and owner of an executive search firm, who has been in the midst of it all, what I can do is share my observations.
Within the tech industry especially, the beginning of the pandemic was crisis-management: dealing with the immediate effects of COVID, freezing spending/hiring and reducing/furloughing employees if necessary.
The second phase was all about restructuring and pivoting: for a lot of FinTechs, their current business model and/or target market was no longer relevant and they extraordinarily adapted seemingly overnight to ride the wave/tsunami that was COVID.
Now we are onto the next chapter. A new year. A fresh start.
Sadly a lot of businesses who were struggling are no longer running, which is absolutely devastating, but this means that the majority of the companies still surviving are thriving. They have a razor-sharp focus; they are more resilient and tenacious than ever before; their goals and ambitions have never been clearer. And now a lot of them are hiring – hiring the Executives who will take their business to the next level.
However, don’t just assume that because they are ‘still open for business’, it’s a wise move. Do your due diligence:
- How are they funded? Who are their investors? What is their runway on their current funding/when are they due to get their next round? If they do not achieve the funding, what is their contingency plan?
- How did they survive the pandemic? What organisational changes did they make – and what has been the impact of that on the business/culture/remaining staff? What product/market changes did they make – do you see longevity and success in it?
- Why are they hiring for this role? Is it a crucial business hire that makes business sense and do you see future progression opportunities in the business?
- Who is the CEO/Founder and the C-Suite/leadership team? There is no doubt every business has a huge 2021 ahead with big ambitions and you will be expected to work hard to achieve those goals. Do you believe in the CEO/Founder’s mission? Do you have strong leaders by your side who will bring as much to the table as you will?
I do not want to encourage you to leave a secure job for the sake of it. Speaking as a business owner, who was only 6 months into starting her new business when the pandemic hit, and a human being, I have experienced first-hand the stress, anxiety and fear that the past year has brought us.
However, my sense is that there is still a huge amount of unnecessary fear still present that we are buying into.
Do not discard fantastic opportunities without serious consideration. Listen. Explore. Research.
A lot of businesses are doing really damn well right now and the door is open for somebody exceptional.
The pandemic has held us back enough already. Don’t let it anymore.
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