Employees; Career growth is built on trust, not job hopping.

Don't think that job changes are the only way to address pay and responsibility stagnation in your role.

Build the trust of your leaders and then ask for more responsibility and pay. Laziness expressed as job hopping is a shortcut to nowhere.

There is a lot of pandering, click-baiting, bad advice on LinkedIn for job seekers which discourages personal responsibility and discernment and instead suggests corporate discrimination (of many sorts) is the root of job-seeker woes. Oleg Vishnepolsky and Liz Ryan are notable viral examples. Their posts attract thousands of comments and likes.

The Ambassador Search Group team has grown by one this week with the onboarding of the talented Lauren Morrison.

Let me tell you a story about your perfect interview.

• You have reviewed all the material you can find on the company and position

• You arrive slightly before your interview feeling mentally sharp from your full night of rest

• You greet the receptionist with warmth

Sometimes pictures are worth far more than a thousand words. This one might be worth 100,000 words. There are so many lessons and points jam packed here. Contemplate it.

Consummate professionals always seek to leave employers on good terms, regardless of why they are leaving.

Here is a polite letter of resignation you can use/modify at your discretion.

If you demonstrate to a candidate that you can interview in a quick AND competent manner, you will have a significant advantage.

1. In your initial conversation explain your hiring process and intent of each step…

Few things in life are harder to resist than a large pile of money. The temptation is even greater when the only thing you have to do to get it is... Nothing! This exact situation is experienced by hundreds, perhaps thousands of people every day in the form of a counteroffer designed to keep them from leaving for a different company. Accepting such an offer is unwise and leads to all sorts of problems, the biggest of which I will explain.

The easiest and fastest way to put together a good resume is to use templates. The number one goal of your resume should be to communicate your unique skills, values, and accomplishments as they pertain to making your company and team successful.

How good are you at keeping valuable people?

When people leave are they working with the company to leave it in a good position?

Are their often hard feelings?

Thousands of people have told me it is not about the money for them. It’s about culture, fit, contribution, team, projects, etc. The list goes on and on. Often they will remark how they are not hung up on the offer amount if the company is right. This is the mature perspective.

While interviewing these people make some of the same remarks to interviewers and everyone nods their head sagely. Everyone knows implicitly that money alone is not the panacea to career growth.

Why is setting expectations so important to making employees successful?

How many times have you heard someone say that a job wasn’t what they expected. Who does that reflect on? Both them and the employer, no? They failed to ask enough questions to discover what the job really was and the employer failed to disclose enough about the role. Transparent information flow is necessary for understanding and mutual commitment.

An important element of our business philosophy is to be an “ally”. It’s a filter we work our decisions through. Is this something an ally would do? How can we best serve our alliances? How can we improve the condition of our client? How can we improve people’s lives? How can we add value, regardless of the reward. We have that attitude and seek fellow companies who share it.

Interviews are not all about getting the job. It is about building relationships to see if you want to work with this person/team for the long-run. You do not want to 'win' every single interview because your values may not be aligned. Working for a company with different values than you is not fun. You want great mutual understanding and trust, even if that means they screen you out or you screen them out. It's not personal. These are huge decisions for you and prospective employers. Be honest, vulnerable, concise, thoughtful, and get to know your interviewers well. These meetings should arm you to make a decisive decision should they make you an offer.