One in three American workers changed jobs last year — a reflection of change in employer and worker wants and needs.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the typical American worker has 12 jobs over the life of his or her career, averaging a job change about every four years.
“Workers are no longer staying in roles just for the sake of stability,” the True Talent Group staffing firm reported in its yearly assessment of the U.S. job market. “They’re seeking positions that align with their values, provide room for career growth and offer better work-life balance.”
Moving up at work often requires cultivating new skills, building new networks and exploring new ways of thinking. In Chattanooga, many professionals are finding support through personal mentors, outside coaches and community networking and leadership development programs.
Learning to lead
Many successful leaders have grown by stepping outside their own organizations to connect with others and learn about their community. In Chattanooga, the Chamber of Commerce supports this kind of growth with three programs that help young professionals and future leaders learn and network.
Leadership Chattanooga, the oldest of the Chamber’s management development program, began in 1983 and offers a 9-month training and community education program every year for 45 rising mid-level managers in Chattanooga. The Chamber has a similar year-long Protege training program each year for 25 younger managers and also offers regular networking and training programs for professionals up to age 40 through its Young Professionals of Chattanooga (YPC).
“These program really prepare people where they work and in the city where they live,” says Toya Moore, the Chamber’s director of leadership development. “Time and time again, we see people enter our programs to learn more about our community and, in the process, they learn more about themselves and are able to form friendships and community networks that last for years.”
Will O’Hearn, the director of the Chattanooga library for the past two years, was among those completing the most recent Leadership Chattanooga class in May. He praises the 9-month program for enhancing his community insight, leadership skills and network connections he made to help both his own development and the library’s programs.
“This gave me so much more insight into the different areas of Chattanooga and truly led to making life-long friends and confirmed to me this is really the right community for me,” O’Hearn says. “This program really helps develop and cement leaders and challenges all participants to become more engaged and better serve our community.”
As libraries diversity their programs and services in a changing communications market, O’Hearn says Leadership Chattanooga will help him develop new ways to meet the diverse needs and learning styles of Chattanoogans.
Micah “Mickey” Chapman, director of events and outreach for the Tech Goes Home TN program, says the Leadership Chattanooga program helped him see that “leadership isn’t just about credentials or title — it’s about how you show up for people and how you use your voice and access to open doors for others.”
“I’m constantly in rooms where I need to connect the dots between city government, education, technology and community needs,” he says. “Leadership Chattanooga helped me lead in those rooms with confidence and intention.”
With leaders from an array of local businesses and nonprofits participating one day a month for nine months, Leadership Chattanooga also “built real trust, and many of those relationships have become part of my professional circle and personal support system,” says Chapman, who now serves on the Chamber’s YPC advisory board to help other emerging managers build community connections and professional networks.
“Leadership isn’t just about where you’re going, it’s about who you’re bringing with you,” he says. “It’s about using your platform to advocate for those whose voices often go unheard. It’s about being the kind of leader who listens, who learns and who leads with both strategy and heart.”
Kristin Copeland, manager of minority and women-owned business at EPB, says the programs at Leadership Chattanooga “gave me and my peers a front-row seat to real-world challenges across sectors, while equipping us with practical tools in civic engagement, public-private partnerships and inclusive development.”
“From exploring AI and quantum applications at Volkswagen and EPB to examining digital access and public transit, I saw clearly that inclusive innovation must be intentional,” she says. “This directly affirmed my work in supplier development at EPB where I strive to ensure small businesses are not only aware of opportunities but are prepared to compete.”
Put me in, coach
Entrepreneurs and other business leaders also may need more personalized help in advancing their careers and building their businesses. Many turn to business coaches for specialized help. Drawing on their expertise, business coaches can provide tailored guidance, help identify blind spots and enhance needed skills for staff and business development.
“A lot of things in business can get overlooked when it is going well, but when there is financial difficulty and hard things begin to happen or a major customer is lost, that is when our true colors come out,” says Lane Ford, a business consultant who previously served as chief financial officer for Skuid in Chattanooga. “Leaders can often default into a type of top-down, command-and-control approach where they think people should just do what you tell them to do because I know what it takes to fix this. It can erode trust and begin to stifle your team and its creativity.”
Ford, the founder of Ford Consult LLC, works with executives throughout the country to help business leaders identify opportunities and build their teams to meet changing business conditions. He urges managers to have weekly one-on-one meetings — even if only a few minutes on Zoom — with each direct report to discuss opportunities, challenges and to build trust and teamwork.
“The foundation of it all is trust and a lot of times that’s where I start to help assess their relationship with their team,” he says. “Are you building a cohesive team where the sum is greater than the parts?”
Matt Jeffery, the 37-year-old founder and CEO of Chattanooga Floor Care, hired Ford last year for his expertise and advice in both the direction and finance for the growing company, which shifted much of its business back into commercial clients after a residential surge during the pandemic.
“I knew I needed not just a business consultant but more of a CFO (chief financial officer) to help us with our cash flow and ensure our profitability,” Jeffery says.
Ford offered “a new set of eyes” and outside expertise to provide new ways of approaching the business and staff development, Jeffery says.
“In business, it’s really the small, minor changes that often have the most effect and sometimes the big changes end up creating a lot more problems,” he says. “Learning to have that finesse sometimes takes some outside perspective.”
Remote possibilities
As more companies adopt remote and hybrid work, new approaches to team building and leadership development are becoming essential.
According to McKinsey & Co, 58% of all workers have the opportunity to work from home at least one day a week. But a survey of nearly 1,200 workers by ResumeBuilder.com, found that remote workers were the least likely to receive promotions and raises. The survey also showed that when remote workers did receive raises, they were often lower compared to hybrid or fully in-office workers
More remote work means fewer casual, in-person interactions among team members. But building relationships and trust is still key to a company’s success. To keep culture strong, many remote companies now use digital tools and virtual team-building activities to stay connected.
Michelle Sermon-Davis, chief learning officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, says leadership development is key in any company. BlueCross has developed a number of ways to identify and train future leaders and encourage staff interactions even with 89% of the company’s 6,500-employee staff working remotely on most days.
“A lot of promotions happen because you are real good at what you did and you were a great subject matter expert,” says Sermon-Davis, who joined the Chattanooga-based insurance company two years ago after working in organizational development and communications at CKE Restaurant Holdings, Bath & Body Works and Estee Lauder. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean you are well positioned to lead others.”
BlueCross works to identify high-potential workers ready to move up in the organization and works to assist such persons with mentors and leadership development programs to learn from other managers in the company, Sermon-Davis said. At the same time, BlueCross conducts regular online and in-person staff events and one-on-one meetings to develop work teams and the company’s culture.
“We’re trying to make sure that career paths and internal mobility are more formulated than they have been in the past,” Sermon-Davis says.
Building a more remote and hybrid work environment allows the Tennessee BlueCross plan to hire workers who may live anywhere in the country. Employees for the Chattanooga-based company are now spread across 39 states.
Kimberly Bell, a clinical pharmacist at BlueCross, joined the company five years ago when the Covid-19 pandemic shifted most offices to remote work. Although she lives in Nashville, over 100 miles from the Chattanooga headquarters, she has stayed engaged with colleagues and participated in the company’s mentorship program for emerging leaders. Bell meets biweekly with her mentor in person and stays connected regularly via Zoom or phone.
“The mentoring program has helped me see things outside of pharmacy, and it’s been wonderful to meet people from all parts of the company,” she says.
From classroom to career
Business colleges are also working to develop leadership skills for students preparing to work in the changing labor market.
At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), Dr. Kristin Pope erves as the executive director of Career Connections, helping students and recent graduates navigate the job market by connecting them with career-building opportunities and preparing them for the digital hiring process — including tailoring resumes and applications to stand out in applicant tracking systems.
“Customizing your application for the particular job description you are seeking and highlighting what skills you would bring to the job are important in helping you to get noticed,” Pope says. “Instead of just looking back and listing what you have done in he past, you need to look forward to show what you want and how you can use what you have done and how that can help achieve outcomes that will help in the job you are seeking.”
UTC and other colleges still host many in-person job fairs where employers talk directly with students.
To help prepare for job interviews, Pope works with students on mock interviews, going over potential questions and giving advice on how to best tell your personal story and demonstrate your potential to the hiring employer. Pope encourages students at all levels to go to job fairs, find out about what jobs and internships are available and build connections and experience in trying to find the right job.
While in college, internships, club activities and volunteer programs can be as important as what students learn in the classroom. Surveys by the the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) show that the grade point average of graduates are used to screen applicants by less than half of all employers and many employers are more interested in real-life experiences and skills of the applicant.
Destiny Pope says that when she arrived at UTC in fall 2021, she wasn’t sure where her college career would take her. Last month, she and her twin sister both walked across the McKenzie Arena stage during the commencement program as first generation college graduates in their family. When Destiny completes her bachelor’s degree in human resource management in the business college in August, she will join Insight Global which hired her following a competitive four-round interview process.
“Looking back on my time at UTC, one of the most defining aspects of my college experience has been my involvement with the First in Fletcher Council and the Decosimo Success Center,” Pope says. “Beyond the technical skills, what has mattered most to me are the relationships and mentorship I’ve found.”
Adapting to change
Dr. Tyler Forrest, president of Tennessee Wesleyan University and a three-time UTC graduate, told UTC graduates this spring that they need to be open to change and even prepared to pivot in their career as markets and opportunities change.
“At times, whether it be personal or professional, life throws your curve balls and you need to be prepared to respond,” Forrest said.
In his own life, Forrest recalls that his entire senior year in high school in Athens, Tennessee he planned to go with a friend to Samford University in Alabama. That changed two days before graduation, however, when McMinn County ‘s school superintendent questioned whether is really wanted to go to Samford and suggested Forrest might be better suited for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“With his help and encouragement, he put me in touch with the right people at UTC to get a financial aid package without ever stepping foot on campus,” Forrest says.
He went on to meet his future wife at UTC, earn three degrees at the Chattanooga campus and ultimately become UTC’s vice chancellor for finance and administration before being named president of Tennessee Wesleyan University in his hometown of Athens three years ago.
“Had I not made that pivot to UTC years ago, I am confident I would not be where I am today,” Forrest says.
Attributes employers want
A survey of 237 major employers last year by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) identified the most important career competencies as:
1. Communication
2. Critical thinking
3. Teamwork
4. Professionalism
5. Equity and inclusion
6. Technology
7. Career and self development
8. Leadership
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