Articles From Our Members
 

Changing Times Call for Career Resilience

The business climate seems to have changed dramatically over the past three years in an unexpected way, with potentially profound impact on our community and the economic well-being of the working populace. Companies have become risk-averse. I don’t know if we are seeing a temporary occurrence or whether a long-term shift is taking place. However, if our tradition of an aggressive, optimistic approach to investment and growth is changing to a more conservative, laid-back, risk-averse attitude, than we need to take a completely different tack with career planning. So why am I concerned?

First let’s look at the big picture. Normally, three years after a recession the country would be in the midst of a boom. Interest rates are at historic lows and according to economists we are now being taxed, at least at the federal level, at 1950 rates as a percentage of GDP. We are awash with liquidity. That means there is a lot of money available for growth and investment. In the past that meant substantial job growth, factory and office building construction, and expansion, accompanied by rising employment.

In my 30 years in this community, I have seen at least five downturns. Each downturn simply set the stage for the next surge. Whatever the difficulty, it seemed as though our optimism, confidence and creativity propelled us forward to greater success. As a community we met and overcame every challenge. So what is different now?

First is outsourcing. Many experts claim this is not a serious issue, in fact many claim in the long run outsourcing is beneficial. However, there is a growing chorus of voices that suggest something quite different is taking place. Finding the lowest cost workforce to sew jeans may make sense, maybe, but seeking the lowest cost to read an x-ray or write software is a totally different matter. The experts also point out another phenomenon that is a cause for concern with regard to corporate earnings. Too many public companies are reporting earnings growth where a large component of that growth is attributable to tax cuts and cost savings, not sales growth.

The volume of temporary work is up. Normally, that is a good sign. Temp workers fill in until permanent workers are hired or until economic conditions enable normal hiring to re-commence. This time it appears whole categories of work are being filled by temps as a permanent alternative to hiring. It seems more and more businesses have concluded that their permanent workforce should be fixed or reduced “as an ongoing policy”, with temps filling immediate needs. Of course, this is also affecting permanent employees who are being called on to fill two and three jobs.

To be fair, there are also optimistic experts who look at the same information and the make the opposite conclusion. They claim that outsourcing is good for the nation, we are on the verge of a sustained growth period and the naysayers are just plain wrong. These issues are outside of my expertise and I hope the optimists are right. However, I would be quite sanguine about this situation if companies were responding in a more traditional manner regarding hiring, interviewing and training, but they are not.

So, what am I seeing and what does it mean? Despite moderating salaries, the overhead costs associated with a permanent employee are going up. In addition, too many firms seem to be more concerned about the risk of hiring the wrong person, than finding the right person. The hiring process is much longer, interviews are more intense and frequent, and even then the decision process is filled with delay, delay and delay. As pointed out in this column previously, “chemistry”, team conformance and group values are playing a bigger and bigger role in the hiring decision. And, most disturbingly, too many companies are interviewing without actually hiring. I do not claim this is premeditated, rather, it seems companies with good intentions simply are subject to inertia when faced with taking the final step. Bringing on a permanent employee is a major step. Permanent hiring is a very big deal these days. The old expression of finding a “warm body” is now unthinkable.

The impact on job seekers is enormous. The length of the job-hunt increases, demanding a renewed commitment to continue searching, and increasing the need for more encouragement and more stamina. All these factors contribute to increased anxiety and genuine concern about self-worth.

The point is the sources of strength in the economy, employment opportunities, hiring patterns and the hiring process itself strongly suggest something new may be happening. If this is true, the whole notion of career needs to be re-examined. This column has long preached the idea we are all temps, contract our skills to those who need them, and then move on. We discussed the idea of lifelong learning and the essentials of professional development as a requirement for continuous employment “just to stay in place”. However, I believe we may be face with new challenges. These challenges call for a new “career resilience”, an idea we will explore in subsequent columns.

Note to readers: I want to ensure the topics I discuss are timely and relevant. If you would like to suggest topics of interest, please email me at jprice@careercampaign.com.


- Judit E. Price, MS. CDFI, IJCTC, CCM