As a result of globalization and the digital revolution, we are experiencing a paradigm shift in the way business is conducted and how it will be conducted from now on. Many of the private sector jobs that have been lost will not be replaced. This will impact the so-called Generation Y, those born from 1990 to the present. These are our grandchildren, and the structures that mentored their parents and grandparents as they entered the market in their time are no longer there. The reason for my writing this blog is to see if we can provide our grandchildren some ideas of how to deal with this new phenomenon. It is timely because the oldest of our grandchildren are graduating from college or other schools and are about to enter the job market.
For perspective, when we the grandparent generation entered the workforce, we could largely count on being employed by the same firm, and often at the same location, for our entire career. For the most part this was true of our children’s generation, as well. Our bosses mentored us and helped us advance in our careers. But for our grandchildren entering the workforce today, that is a very unlikely scenario. It is highly probable that the job one starts with will not even be in existence beyond five years, let alone at one’s retirement. Consequently, our grandchildren will have to be their own mentors, career planners and managers of their health programs and retirement plans. While they are at the peak of their skill level in terms of the digital revolution which they acquired in grammar and high school, these young folk are poorly prepared to be their own mentors and career planners let alone how to set up health and retirement programs from day one in their first job.
Unfortunately, their parents, their grandparents and their teachers don’t have much of an idea of how to help them. However, there is a book that can serve as a primer for them. It is titled: “The Start-Up of You” with the sub-title: “Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself and Transform Your Career” by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha. Hoffman is an entrepreneur, co-founder and Chairman of LinkedIn and Casnocha is an entrepreneur and journalist. The book’s website is: www.startupofyou.com
The authors state that: “Whether you’re a lawyer, doctor, teacher, engineer or business owner, today you need to also think of yourself as an entrepreneur at the helm of at least one living, growing start-up venture, your career.” According to the dictionary an entrepreneur is: “Someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it”.
They authors further state: “With the death of traditional career paths, so goes the kind of traditional professional development previous generations enjoyed. You can no longer count on employer-sponsored training to enhance your communication skills or expand your technical know-how. The expectation for even junior employees is that you can do the job you have been hired to do upon arrival or that you’ll learn so quickly you’ll be up to speed within weeks. Whether you want to learn a new skill or simply be better at the job you were hired to do, it’s now your job to train and invest in yourself.” A further point the authors make is this. “There used to be a long-term pact between employee and employer that guaranteed lifetime employment in exchange for lifelong loyalty. This pact has been replaced by a performance-based, short-term contract that’s perpetually up for renewal by both sides. Professional loyalty now flows ‘horizontally’ to and from your network rather than ‘vertically’ to your boss.” THIS SHOULD COME AS A SHOCK!! Because I doubt that any of us, especially our grand children have ever been told this.
Let’s start by asking why the jobs are not there? Simply stated, it is because entrepreneurs cannot figure out what to do. Newspapers, magazines and books are falling to the new digital technologies and all businesses are determining how and where the new digital technologies will fit to reduce the need for human personnel. In other words the market place is in a state of turmoil for which there is no historic precedent. Worse our Congress and President have no clue what is going on, so they exacerbate the issue by adding unnecessary regulations, take no serious actions to deal with the deficit and muddle the question of whether taxes on businesses should be increased or not. Worse they become easily distracted from the central issue of jobs with petty political matters.
Fortunately, the book provides some great ideas for our grandchildren. The first and foremost, is to know and fully understand your strengths and weaknesses. Anyone who runs a business starts with analyzing the assets and liabilities of the company. When that list has been developed and fully explored, then you can choose the right course that exploits your assets (strengths) and minimizes your liabilities (weaknesses). One can, of course and should always, continue to work on minimizing one’s weaknesses.
The second important thing that the job seeker must be doing is networking. And the job seeker must keep the network viable and constantly expanding. You never know when someone will know someone who is searching for the very talent that you have.
A third important thing is not to sit around and mope if you can’t immediately find the job that fits your skills, talents or passion. Krysia Mossakowski, a sociologist at the University of Miami
I recommend that our grandchildren who are close to entering this new work world get a copy of the book. You can download it on your Kindle or I-Pad. Parents and grandparents of our young folk should also get a copy of the book so you can add some ideas that might help. All generations might want to read some of the other books that are referenced by the authors, as well.
Our children’s generation will need all the help and understanding that they can get from us at this critical time in history when they alone will be experiencing what their parents, their grandparents and their teachers never experienced or maybe could not even have imagined.
A FEW EXAMPLES FOR FURTHER READING
- “Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself”
- The author explores the attitudes toward autonomy, informal networks and self-constructed safety nets of the self-employed.
- “The Brand You 50: Or
Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from and Employee into a Brand that Shouts Distinction” - The author says: ‘You should think about what makes you stand out and then aggressively promote those distinctive skills, accomploishments and passions that make up your personal brand-just like a companywiould promote its products and services.”
- “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives”
- The social scientists who authored this book argue that connections up to three degrees away from us have a profound effect on our mind and body.
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