If you're ready to step back and do some honest analysis of the past year, consider using these questions to guide your own reflection. And remember: you can always dig deeper. This list is just a starting point, but if something stands out, ask yourself more questions—it’s always worthwhile to keep digging.

A recent poll conducted by Gallup of working Americans revealed that a mere 33% are engaged in their work, and an alarming 17% reported being actively disengaged. The other 50% are somewhere in the middle, which is not great either. When you do the math, disengaged employees are costing you a fortune. Gallup crunched the numbers to learn that a disengaged employee may be costing your organization a whopping 34% of their salary due to lack of productivity. Furthermore, if the idea of going through the hiring process all over again to find a replacement sounds daunting and costly, you’re not wrong. On average, it costs up to 2x an employee's salary to replace them (Gallup). 

I am re-reading The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell, a tried and true classic on the topic of leadership. This time through I was struck by one law in particular, The Law of Respect. It essentially says that people follow leaders better than themselves, and leaders they respect. Fair enough. The natural that arises here is: what causes people to respect leaders?

Fundamentally, New Year’s Resolutions are things that we feel we should probably already be doing and will certainly make our lives healthier and happier. We get excited about forsaking comfortable, fun, or easy things for uncomfortable, unfun and difficult things. We implicitly know (and act upon) the idea that doing things that aren’t gratifying now will lead to far greater happiness than the things that are. This is virtuous.

We placed Rudy Gomez at Mary’s Meals nearly four years ago. It was a blast to sit down with him to hear about his incredible work for this important mission, as well as his recent promotion!

Don’t fall into your next position. Do your research, prepare your story, crush the process, and land your dream job.

Working for a leader you are excited to serve is one of three key components to a thoroughly aligned career opportunity. Gallup’s findings support this claim and issue a firm reminder to leaders and managers to lead thoughtfully and with a coaching mindset.

We at Mission Advantage believe that when the mission of a person aligns with the mission of an organization, the results can be exponential! That has certainly been the case for Eric Connolly who is on fire for the mission of Dynamic Catholic. We took a few minutes to learn about the inner workings of Dynamic Catholic and why he’s so excited to be working on their team.

Perception is reality on the side of interviewers, especially in what could be a short 30 minute initial screen, and well-meaning comments on disagreements over technology, leadership, or other decisions in your current or previous role can come across far more negative than intended.

As a recruiter, I speak with dozens of talented people every week who are considering a job change. But I’m here to raise a bit of caution about changing jobs because sometimes, the best decision is to stay right where you are.

One of the best parts of being a recruiter is seeing the candidates that we place thrive in their new role. We caught up with the talented and humble Christina Vandagriff who is working as the Director of Development for St. Augustine University Parish, the Newman Center for the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, and couldn’t be more impressed with what she’s accomplished in just a little more a year!

Jessica Foley will be joining the team at the Oxenham Group (OXG) this month as their Director of Finance. Previously working for OXG on a consultative basis, the team is thrilled to bring on Foley as a full time member of the leadership team to leverage her financial expertise on operations and to make further plans for expansion.

I was recently challenged to stay off of LinkedIn outside of necessary work use for one week (I did it for two.) Here are 4 insights I had about myself and the platform after going through this “fast”.

Mission Advantage Recruiting was privileged to have a private session and counsel with General Joseph Dunford, US Marine Corps four-star general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under two US presidents. He shared invaluable lessons on leadership, decision making, recruiting, and more…

Whether you look at our website, our LinkedIn page, or our email footers, the phrase “aligning mission with talent” is imprinted explicitly throughout. What makes it so important? Why is this the drum that we have and will continue to beat from the rooftops?

As recruiters, we see a distinct shift in the pace of the talent market around the month of December. Both job-seekers and employers are less eager to make a seismic shift “right now” as they are eager to well-cover their tasks at hand and then prime the pump for a full-speed start to the new year.

I had felt for some time that a change was in the cards for me and wanted to “test the waters” of the job market. This exciting venture toward the next great chapter in my career quickly became frustrating for a number of reasons, as job searches often do. Now that it’s my full-time job to help other people find jobs, I want to share 3 things that I wish I could tell my past self to make my previous job hunt more effective.

With the disruption in the day to day came a window of time where all of us were able to take stock of what is really important and of how we are spending our time. As a recruiter I have recently heard more and more job-seekers with a newfound conviction of what matters to them, of what they’re passionate about, and of the desire to let their day-to-day work harmonize with these things.

As a recruiter, I regularly receive detailed feedback from our client companies regarding candidate interviews: the good, the great, and (sometimes) the ugly.

One of the biggest mistakes that candidates make in interviews is lack of brevity.

Our team at Mission Advantage recently finished reading Who, a hiring method for leaders to recruit, interview, and select A players. If you are responsible for hiring and have yet to read this book, I would highly recommend it! While the book outlines a very specific and intensive process to hire the right people, it also shares very practical tips to incorporate in your interview process to improve your success immediately. An example of this is the list of red flags to look for during interviews that indicate great potential risks.