eFinancialCareers.com recently released their Financial Careers Global Survey 2009 (you can download the PDF form of it here), providing data and statistics worldwide regarding the confidence of financial professionals and students in their job sector. Being project management people, we wanted to find cues to the PM sector within this data.
The survey’s graphs are broken down geographically, with a wide range of disparities across the world on matters like ‘% of finance professionals “who less proud than before”‘ and ‘% “more concerned about being made redundant”‘ (For those of you wondering about that last question, respondents from the UK & Ireland were among those with more concerns – 67% in all, trailing only Australia).
In one result that should leave many project management professionals nodding their heads, 51% of UK/Irish respondents felt that job security was more important to them than salary, while 20% favoured salary over security. The figures correspond very closely to the worldwide totals (53% to 20%), but to the project manager caught up in the economic downturn, the figures point to the flexibility of the UK/Irish professional. We’re seeing something similar in project management. But what accounts for this sudden increased need for stability?
In a word (well, two): the market.
Briefly, let’s break this down with three simple equations…
Recessions = Drop in Market Rates.
Candidate Expectations 2009 < Candidate Expectations 2008.
Therefore: Flexibility in Expectations = Better Shot at Long Term Job Stability
It has a bit of an old-school feel to it, to the point that I am reminded of the scene in Goodfellas, where a young Henry Hill remains silent at his court hearing and is exhorted for displaying the virtues of ‘never ratting on his friends and keeping his mouth shut’. A little morbid, I admit, but it ties into the notion of sacrificing for a greater good: ”You were used to getting 35 thousand a year, but you took less when we were down. You cut back for us to survive. And now we’re thriving, and it’s thanks to people like you. Here’s your raise – you’ve earned it.” And as we all remember, Henry Hill would go on to make a name for himself as a gangster.
Some might (ok, will) laugh at the comparison, let alone the mindset. But consider the worldwide fear about the economic calamity: cut this back, eliminate that, terminate him, ask that guy to do a four-day week from now on. People may simply be willing to drop that £35k request because they simply aren’t going to get that much for awhile, so their expectations have to change accordingly.
There is no proof of a corollary in this way of thinking that taking less = long term stability, but the thinking remains anyway. Here’s proof of it from an American gentleman I spoke with earlier this year (this is re-published from the May 2009 issue of Project Management Tipoffs:
“Several firms…love my skill set and want to bring me on board as soon as an appropriate project is signed,” he told me. “I have discussed joining one of the large firms as an independent contractor when a project hits, but not one has hit yet. (All the consulting firms are doing their best to keep from laying off existing consultants. They have no need for additional consultants in this market.)”
“I may have to follow my friend’s lead and settle for something significantly lower than what I have been used to and what I know I could still do very well.”
That seems to be the writing on the wall – the fear of what might be if you don’t adapt. Be flexible = Be Employed.
But there is an exception that disproves this ‘rule’: specific knowledge, or ‘niche expertise’. Speaking with one of our consultants earlier today, I learned that if a person has an area of expertise that an employer demands, the rates CAN stay the same, if not improve. It adds up for both hirer and hiree: why reduce yourself to a flexible outlook if you bring something to the table that no one else can bring?
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