George Konik Associates, a technical recruiting and staffing company in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area since 1974, asked readers of last month’s Look Who’s Hiring Newsletter about their most recent job search and reasons for entering the job market. Some of the results may not be surprising, including wanting better pay and a better leader. The common saying “People don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses”, still rings true. However, when asked “What best describes your motivation to start your most recent job search?”, Minneapolis technology employees from our survey selected “I wanted more challenging work” (21%) over “I wanted a better leader” (15%) and “I wanted more money” (9.5%). Other less popular responses included wanting more flexibility, wanting to work with new technologies, relocation, working closer to home, etc., but none were as popular as wanting more challenging work.
What does this say about the motivations of technical career seekers? Yes, leadership and competitive compensation is important, but what really drives them is their passion for working on challenging projects, developing advanced technologies and solving very complex problems. Technical candidates want a deep understanding of what they’ll actually be creating, designing or inventing once they start a new opportunity. Will they make a big impact on a new product, building or software? The harder the technical challenge, to more appealing a new opportunity may be for them. It may be a surprise to some that compensation isn’t as important as challenging work and leadership. Of course these are important reasons for seeking a change in employers, but it doesn’t appear to be the most important. Companies looking to keep and attract the brightest and most engaged employees should seek to understand what “challenging work” means to each technical employee and work to align them with appropriate projects and responsibilities. Employees who find themselves plateauing within their organizations should approach their company’s leadership for more difficult responsibilities. If this option isn’t possible, there are sure to be other companies ready to listen to their career goals and motivations.
By: Tom Goettl, Vice President at George Konik Associates, Inc.