The Inbetweener: How to tell someone she's just too expensive for the job
I recently caught up with an old friend (actually she isn't much of an old friend, rather an old roommate, but I digress) who had been grizzling about being out of work for six months.
I asked her why she left her contract role and what she was looking to go into. She responded that she wanted to break into project management, despite having a pure IT background. Knowing this girl's character, I decided to keep pressing her as to why she left her contract to embark on such a risky journey when the job market has only recently started to improve.
As it turns out, she did want to stay with her old employer when her contract came up for renewal. But when the negotiations began, she advised the HR manager that she wanted a 40 per cent pay increase and a career change from IT into project management. Needless to say, the manager told her, rather impolitely, where to go.
The problem for me is that I can't tell her that the arrogance of her demands is the most likely cause of her current unemployment. She still truly believes that she was well within her rights to make these demands and that the "system" is to blame for her not getting any other contracts.
However, when I probed a little further, I discovered that she knew very little about project management roles and pay levels. As result, she priced herself out of the contract market, given her existing skills and experience.
So how do you tell a friend that his or her employment demands are just too excessive?
My friend lacked project management experience, but she tried to get a job at the top end of the price range. To me it seems bleedingly obvious that she is taking the wrong path. But is she really? Have the markets turned so quickly that candidates can now start placing such demands on potential employers?
I'm a little confused because on the one hand I keep hearing from these prominent commentators that the market is just "so hot right now", but then I hear about more job losses in the pipeline. So which is it?
In my humble opinion, I still think we need to be cautious and avoid making arrogant decisions which may turn into mistakes. But perhaps I have just reverted to conservative ways, given what has happened in the last few years.
Have you ever had to advise someone with unacceptable employment demands? Perhaps you were a recruiter coaching a candidate, or like me, a friend talking to a friend. What did you say?
