Feeling sorry for yourself from eating too much, drinking too much and really just letting loose from the year that was, regardless of all the good and bad experiences.

Let me share with you what happens in January of every year. The candidate market becomes flooded! Everyone creates a new year’s resolution to find a new job and create a new them. Most clients believe this is a positive thing and poor recruiters will tell you this is a positive thing but let’s look at it from a different perspective.

When a market becomes flooded with candidates who are just looking for a new job because their perception is the grass is greener on the other side, you could be taking a huge risk as a client or recruiter. You invest in training and onboarding, money off your bottom line to develop a new employee and give them the keys that will open Pandora’s Box of success. Only for them to leave 2 weeks in because they realised they made a horrible decision and the business they left is giving them an extra $5,000 to come back.

Take an extra 5 minutes in interviewing. Ask behavioural based questions and work out what the true motivations are for the candidate. A tip that few interviewers partake in, take an extra 5 minutes to actually get to know the person you’re interviewing. When you ask questions think, will the person fit in? Can I manage them to get the most out of them and in turn the highest productivity?

From a candidate prospective, I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing to have a new year’s resolution to find a new job. But instead of walking into your office on the 2nd and handing in your notice, spend the end of year hang over, thinking about what it is you want out of your job. Look back at 2018 and ask yourself, how much company time I spent on Facebook instead of pulling reports or creating PowerPoints. Did you put in 100%? Did you invest in your own development to get the most out of 2018 and most importantly did you have those difficult conversations with your manager about what it is that you want for the future?

2019 could be everyone’s year, but we all need to goal set, aim for the 101% and invest in our own future before we can expect someone else to invest in it for us.