#careergrowth

1️⃣ Lack of Leadership
Employee: “I stopped looking up because there was no one to look to.”

Great leaders set direction, model integrity, and earn respect every day.

2️⃣ Lack of Trust
Employee: “Every time I spoke up, it cost me something.”

Great leaders reward honesty, defend their people, and prove every voice matters.

3️⃣ Feeling Undervalued
Employee: “My work spoke loudly. No one was listening.”

Great leaders notice effort, name impact, and show appreciation often.

4️⃣ No Growth Path
Employee: “I wanted to grow. They wanted me to stay the same.”

Great leaders build clear paths and invest in growth early.

5️⃣ Lack of Challenge
Employee: “I used to feel alive solving problems. Now it’s just tasks.”

Great leaders reignite curiosity by giving purpose, not just projects.

6️⃣ Burnout
Employee: “The more great work I do, the more they expect.”

Great leaders protect energy, balance ambition, and stop rewarding exhaustion.

7️⃣ Lack of Inclusion
Employee: “I was in the room, but never really part of it.”

Great leaders create environments where every voice is heard and valued.

8️⃣ Unfair Pay
Employee: “They said they valued me, but not enough to show it.”

Great leaders match reward to impact and make fairness non-negotiable.

https://www.stephanieshills.com/weeklynewsletteroptin

Most companies say they value their people. Yet fail to create cultures where people actually feel valued.

But here's what actually makes people stay:

✅ Paid Well – Compensation reflects their worth
✅ Heard – Their voice actually matters
✅ Respected – Not just for what they do, but who they are
✅ Challenged – Growth is encouraged, not stifled
✅ Trusted – Micromanagement doesn’t exist
✅ Supported – Through wins and setbacks
✅ Recognized – Effort is seen, not overlooked
✅ Included – A real part of the bigger picture
✅ Developed – Opportunities to learn and grow
✅ Appreciated – Beyond performance metrics
✅ Empowered – Given autonomy, not just tasks
✅ Promoted – Hard work leads somewhere

Retention isn't a strategy. It's an outcome of how you treat people every day.

Ask your team: “What’s one thing we could do better to show we value you?” Then listen.

What’s one thing you’ve done (or seen) that made people choose to stay longer?

New title? New level?

Just got a 5% raise, 4th one since covid. Don't let the doomers get ya down. If you adapt to the new way of doing things, Cisco is still a great place to work.

I stopped waiting around after the last round of cuts, and I've been sending out resumes for weeks now. Got a call yesterday from a recruiter at a smaller firm. First interview is Thursday. I'm nervous but it feels good to be doing something instead of just waiting for my turn on the list.

My son graduated last year with good grades and two internships. He can't get a single interview for entry level roles. Every job he applies for has hundreds of applicants. My guess is half of them are people who were laid off from senior roles including from here and are just trying to get anything. It's just very, very bleak right now.

While the culture is terrible, one thing the bank does offer is the Skills Academy. This is a huge opportunity to gather and learn new skills for your next opportunity. Not many companies offer this type or level of learning. Take advantage of this while you are here. It’s a huge advantage to add these skills to your resume. Especially any AI courses you can take advantage of. Times are tough, jobs are scarce. Take advantage of what you can. Skills you learn here are transferable. Take advantage!!!

One of my coworkers on my direct team has applied to a new position within dell, which is a grade level above his current level. So it'd be a step up. i7 to i8.

We both do the same job and same exact work but he's just a grade above me. Now, they would be leaving my team on corporate to go into the Federal department, which would open up the i7 position. I am an i6 and nobody else on my team is an i6 so...

Simple reasoning would be that I step into that i7 role... with a promotion of course, right?? RIGHT?!

I mean, the leadership is terrible, the ability to grow professionally is nonexistent, and fear of layoffs are a constant thought. But the people are awesome, I love the culture of inclusivity, and I like browsing the Slack channels. This is my favorite company I’ve worked for in terms of colleagues.

I’ve still got one foot out the door but the people here have always been awesome. Just wanting to bring some positive vibes.

No paths to advance. No real rewards for performing well.
Constantly waiting to get laid off isn’t exactly motivating.

Corporate IT Comrades:

I have been in my role for less than a year so I’m not eligible for a true “promotion.” Plus, we all know getting a promotion right when you’re eligible is never going to happen. However, I have been doing well above my job description for that entire time and that has even been acknowledged by many people leaders in and adjacent my team.
Due to the fake “we are broke” story when bonuses came out, I barely got anything from it despite meeting the max threshold.
All of this to say, I know I’m being paid $10k-$20k less than my peers that have the same job title plus I’m doing above and beyond that.
Is there any way to negotiate/demand a higher salary right now? Due to my personal situation, applying to new jobs to play hardball isn’t really an option right now.
I want to stay at centene but I want to be paid fairly.

Question for those late in their career. I expected my biggest raises to be early and at some point to max out and then just keep up with inflation. Has this been your experience? What age did you max out? Have your raises kept up with inflation or are you making less each year when considering inflation as you approach retirement age?

I spent years trying to earn a promotion and the bonuses that come with it. Every time I got close, something changed. The metrics shifted, the requirements increased, or the timeline got extended. At first I thought it was bad luck but then I noticed the pattern. They moved the goalposts on purpose. They kept me just close enough to keep trying but never close enough to actually get there. If anybody is wondering, I never got the promotion and I wasted years chasing targets that were designed to move. Now my main focus is to find something else so I can leave.

I'm a level 7 individual contributor in tech in my early fifties. With four kids soon all in college and a late start (last year) on active retirement investment, I plan to work till age 65. I actually enjoy my work and my team at Fidelity.

Assuming I wont' be laid off, is it a realistic expectation to work till that age, as an individual contributor or should I transition into one of those "leadership" roles to stay on longer?

I only worked at DXC a short time, but long enough to see what it's really like. If that place ever had a good reputation in the industry, it's destroyed now. I hate that I have to put its name on my resume. It doesn't help me. In fact, I have a feeling it probably hurts me.

Took forever, over a year. I almost threw in the towel. So glad I didn't. It's a much smaller company, pay is comparable, and they actually seem stable. Fingers crossed they don't go under or slash headcount the week I show up. Either way, best of luck to everyone still looking. Stay persistent. Don't quit. The market is brutal, worse than I remember, but there are still jobs out there.

Fire away

Curious what the ceiling really is here, because mine didn’t exactly change my life.

Do you have new jobs by now? I know one person who's still unemployed, and that's scaring the he-l out of me. I'm hoping others are doing better and can alleviate some of our fears about the available jobs.

How do you settle down in this environment? How do you buy a house, have kids, make any kind of long term plan when your job could disappear next month? Endless layoffs mean endless uncertainty. And endless uncertainty means you can't build a life. Working at Dell offered a certain security for many of us that the new generations don't have.

I'm so excited I could cry. I could be leaving Honeyhell!

The market is rough if your skills aren't current. That's just the truth.

Do they really help?

Attitude, Resilience, Persistence, Demeanor, Flexibility, Volunteer, Practice your stories, Follow-up, Send thank you notes and much more. I got let go, it took me 10 months to get a new job. Take advantage of LLH career resources, take as many classes as you can. Different career counselors provide their point of view and take things with a grain of salt. Do not let age stop you from moving ahead.

Physical exercise has taught me:
• Discipline when motivation fades
• Resilience when the miles get tough
• Balance when life pulls in many directions

Does anyone know what CL chiefs are? Is it the pinnacle of the technical ladder?

Anyone?

I have been with the company for around 15 years and have yet to receive any actionable feedback or coaching. I must be a rockstar right? My assessment results have varied wildly but I have never been below VG. I am not a hipo. It is extremely frustrating to receive feedback that cannot be actioned such as your role is limiting your assessment outcome and get a new role.

Everyone I know from 40 to 45 lately has been moving to lateral or even jobs they're overqualified for. Has anyone in this age range been able to move up in the last year or so?

I used to stay late learning new skills. Used to take on extra projects to grow. Then I watched three people who did exactly that get laid off anyway. Now my full potential is doing my job well enough to not get noticed, because getting noticed here isn't safe anymore.

I joined this company 20 years ago and it is no longer the company I joined.

When DWW says people are the most important asset, he is not lying but he is not painting the whole picture. He needs to add the qualifier that people are a necessary asset and thus that makes them important because the company can not run without them. However, that doesn't mean he cares about the people as individuals with emotions and actual lives outside of work. When DWW says people are the most important asset he says it in the same way Egyptian Pharoahs said it while constructing the pyramids or how cotton plantation owners said it about their slave populations. DWW says it the same way Scrooge McDuck says it about his money. People, like overall wealth is important to him, the individual pennies and dollars are not - those are interchangeable.

I highly recommend employees under 40 look for new opportunities now. I recommend employees 55+ retire now rather than be shown the door via PIP. I recommend new hires do not join this company unless you are willing to give up your soul.

The promise of a 30 year career at this company is no longer true. It has truly become a job. There is no sense of family, no sense of being a technology company, no sense of fulfillment beyond a paycheck.

I've been here long enough to see this play out multiple times. A mediocre person gets promoted. I don't know if they interviewed well or they're friends with someone important. Then they get put in charge of a team of talented people and within six months, the best people on that team are gone. They quit, transfer, find something else. The mediocre manager is the one who stays as the work gets worse and the team gets weaker. And the company acts surprised. Promote the wrong people and you lose the right ones. It's not that complicated. It's just cause and effect. But they never seem to learn.

Life is too short to be miserable at work. If you're not happy here, leave when you can. If you can't leave right now, accept that it might be rough for a while, but make a plan. Use the time to invest in yourself. Take some classes, build your skills. Make yourself valuable somewhere else. Then when the time comes, vote with your feet.

Been working at the bank several years and my immediate team has had transitions either with new teams joining or leaving multiple times over the past 18 months. Tired of living in constant fear I’ll be next. I’m an analyst so a decently transferable role to another field in P&C or Life, I would think. Thinking of trying for an internal transfer but also worried that’ll put a target on my back if they have to do layoffs. I feel like working in the bank it’s just a matter of time.

Let’s be real nobody’s exactly waking up fired up to work at Dell these days. But with how tight and unpredictable the market is right now, a lot of us are still tethered to our roles whether we like it or not. It’s less about passion at the moment and more about stability, timing, and being smart about the next move.

So we show up, do the work, keep things moving, and stay ready knowing that when the right opportunity comes along, we’ll be in a position to take it.

Hey fellow Vteamers! I am really proud of us for completing our Google AI professional certificates and posting about it on LinkedIn for attention and praise. It’s a monumental achievement in showing to the world that we play to win by completing another company’s training materials! When my kids bring home their participation awards, I show them my AI certificates and we celebrate our accomplishments together. AI unlocks EI and makes us amazing humans. This will save us from layoff risk and differentiate us as superstar thought leaders. Yay team!!!!

The whole idea of having a real career at Wells Fargo pretty much disappeared around the turn of the millennium. Nothing’s changed since then.

Does anyone know if your current manager will be notified if you apply to an internal position or if that only happens if you make it to the final round?

Hello my WF friends — I’m hoping to get some insight from hiring managers or recruiters on here. This may benefit others as well.

After many years of solid meets/exceeds performance, I ended up with an IM rating this past cycle. TLDR: my manager and I didn’t really click.

I’ve found a couple of positions in other areas that would actually be a promotion for me. I also have a positive history with one of the hiring managers, as she’s a former manager of mine.

My question is: would WF policy even allow me to be promoted into another role while in the IM “penalty box”? I don’t believe I’m on a formal PIP, so I don’t think I’m required to disclose last year’s IM when applying.

That said, I assume my IM rating would come up during the interview process. If so, I’m guessing the hiring manager would need to make a strong case to move forward with me, given that context.

Anyway, I’d appreciate any thoughts or experiences on this.

I was given the devastating news March 26. I already have an interview April 13 (Monday). No guarantees of course, but it gives some hope. I have probably applied to 10 positions so far. 2 rejections. And there was a contractor who sent me an email that seemed interested. But the role was in DC and paid significantly less with no benefits so I passed on that - not that desperate YET.

I never thought I would be playing this game again. I hope everyone who has gone down this cr-p road is making progress. I told the recruiter I secured this interview with that if they see T Rowe people applying that they are the best (workers not managers). Good luck all.