4  "THE DEVIL YOU KNOW IS BETTER THAN THE ONE YOU DON’T"
SOME INSIGHTS INTO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A JOB CHANGE

By Ms. Diana Shen,Senior Researcher/Associate Consultant, Onpress Shanghai

Ms. Shen is a psychologist and has taught in a well-known girls’ high school in Shanghai.  She wrote a book on the psychology of girl students while she was teaching there.  She is very interested in people, and has become an effective recruiter for Onpress.

A job change, to any candidate, is an extremely important event; it is a significant consideration and choice of one’s career path.  During this process, inevitably, an anxious state of mind will prevail.

This article explores the psychological impacts facing the candidate.

1.Taking control first!

When a career opportunity appears, and the possibility of this becoming a reality, the candidate may chase this opportunity, and wants it to become a reality.  This may happen quite irrationally.  Once this opportunity becomes a reality, the candidate tends to calm down, analyses the situation fully and begins to weigh the pros and cons.

This phenomenon happens more often to the candidate who tends to be cautious, and who is hesitant in making a decision.  This category of candidates is a headache for the recruiter.

2. “The grass is greener next door” !

It is a common psychological effect that “ the grass next door is always greener”  i.e. we tend to long for things that we cannot possess.  However, once we do possess these things, they tend to become worthless, and we tend not to pay attention to them!
As professional recruiters, we should help the candidate evaluate the opportunity in a correct and objective manner.

3. The “bottleneck” syndrome!

Many people have been working in the same organization for a lengthy period of time.  These people may feel that there is not enough room in the organization for them to move about, and thence have developed this “bottleneck” effect.  They tend to “take the plunge” to join another organization in order to reduce this “bottleneck” effect.

We should advise these candidates candidly on their motivation for changing jobs.

4.“An Offer At Hand”

A candidate has a job offer on hand, and uses this offer to bargain with his current boss!  Essentially, this type of candidates have no desire to leave their current employer; he wants to use this offer to gain what he wants from the boss, and use the recruiter’s career opportunity as a bargaining chip!

An experienced recruiter would be aware of this type of “exploiters”.

5.  “Status” or “Money”?

Changing a job often brings along an increase in pay as well as status or responsibilities.  Therefore, the more one changes a job, the more money and status he gets!  However, many candidates do see this fallacy, and considers genuinely that the job itself and the sense of job satisfaction and/or achievement is more important than money; and they would sincerely pursue career opportunities which might not be more than what the candidate is earning currently.

This is the type of candidate that most recruiters prefer.  Once appointed, they tend to perform well, achieve their targets and are generally happy and comfortable with the new organization.

6.  “You cannot have the cake and eat it too!”

“You gain some, you lose some”.  When we gain something, at the same time, we tend to lose something! In most things, one tends to win and lose at the same time; it is then a matter of balance!

We do ask the question: What exactly do you want?  Unless one knows the candidate’s objectives, it is difficult to place him at the right job and at the right level.