SkyWater Blog

In a recent blog titled "Before you quit your job, read this!" we gave some advice on how to get your ducks in a row before leaving your current role, to set yourself up for success during the upcoming time of change. If you have now secured your next career move, it’s time to hand in your notice.

The way most people quit their job ranges from a spontaneous walk-out to agonizing over how to explain their decision to leave to their boss and colleagues. Some professionals become so anxious about quitting they decide not to accept an alternative job offer.

This Monday, many of us will participate in Memorial Day rituals that date back to the civil war.  American flags will decorate our veterans’ graves. Families will lay wreaths and flowers at the headstones of loved ones. Names will be read. And Taps - the civil war bugle call that the Union army once used to signal the end of the day for their troops - will play. Especially now, I find it deeply reassuring to know that, on this one day each year, the same, simple sounds will echo through our communities and across our entire country, from the tiniest rural graveyards to our most grand and sprawling national cemeteries.  

You have an exciting job offer and you’ve quit your existing job, eager to get started in your new role. Now your current employer has asked for an exit interview, the thought of which fills you with dread. What do you do?

It’s HR policy in many companies to request an exit interview. This gives the hiring manager the chance to find out exactly why you are leaving the company and your views on working for them. This can be a difficult situation for many employees, especially if your time with your employer has not been a happy one. Do you air your grievances about your co-workers and your boss or do you smile and claim it’s “nothing personal?”

The decision is up to you, but as with every interview, preparation is the key. Our tips below will provide you with a good starting point.

Emerging from a job interview that went really well is a great feeling. You answered all the questions just as you wanted, put some relevant ones of your own forward and the hiring manager was hinting at a job offer. After a few days without a phone call or e-mail from the employer you naturally begin to get anxious. As a few more days pass by, doubts and frustration begin to creep in.

And How to Make Sure Never Make Them

Let’s face it. Rock-star employees are always tough to find. But in a candidate’s market (like the one we’re in right now), a superior candidate pool can seem as elusive as a herd of unicorns. At times like these, hiring managers often ask me for tips and tactics that can help them compete in a battleground market like this one.

My answer: keep the employees you have – and keep them happy.

Happy Mother's Day!

Being a parent stretches us all to find talents we never knew we had. These are valuable skills that are often overlooked or under-appreciated in the business world. We polled the SkyWater moms to see what job titles and skills need to be added to their credentials on this very special Mother's Day.

Here's what they had to share...

It’s a question most of us – whether we’re employers or employees - have tackled at some point over the past three years: how important is in-person face time with the boss? Is it essential to achieving long-term maximum performance? Or is it just an old habit we cling to, based more on a fear of change than any conclusive evidence?  

While it may be too early to know the answers to those questions, here’s what we do know:  pre-pandemic, remote, and hybrid work arrangements were clearly shown to organizations, teams, supervisors, and employees.

Instead of quitting, try smart negotiating

In her recent Forbes article, writer Caroline Castrillon offers an 11-step process for building a win-win work-from-home arrangement to which you and your boss can agree. Her process is smart, clear, and effective. I’ve paraphrased and consolidated her steps here:

If you think Citizen Science is only for retirees and others who can spend hours tramping through nature and taking field notes, consider these surprising – and empowering – facts.

For many of us, the very idea of protecting our earth can trigger feelings of worry, anxiety, and even helplessness. After all, our best household-level efforts to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle can seem piddling, given the current pace of climate change.  But recently, in an effort to understand what more we mere mortals can do, I took a closer look at the Citizen Science movement. I was blown away by what I found.