Follow me on Twitter In my past blogs I have written about the negative press we continue to read and hear about regarding the job market. We know the media continues to focus on the high unemployment rate, the bad economy, and the poor labor market for today’s jobs. However, if you look at the more recent labor statistics companies are starting to hire and the economy is showing signs of improving. But, at the same time, many of these same companies are realizing there is a shortage of talent for what is being termed the new “skilled professionals.” So the media pundits may have one part of the equation right, albeit unwittingly, that there is a shortage of people with the skills required to perform many of today’s new jobs.
This changing technology, whether it is the loss of many of the traditional manufacturing, construction, or other craft related jobs, has all us challenged when it comes to learning new skills. If we do not keep up, we will be swept aside like those old walkie talkie type cell phones many of us recall from the late 80’s. For job hunters with many years of work experience, along with the challenges of overcoming the “overqualified” or “too old” stereotypes, you will now need to keep pace with our new “skilled professionals” by learning new skills and adapting to new ways of working or you will be lost in the stampede for these newer, more technologically challenging jobs.
In a recent article in HR Magazine (a publication of the Society for Human Resource Management), Anthony P. Carnevale, who is director of The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, refers to these technological changes in our workforce the result of certain tasks that once required “repetitive physical and mental tasks” are now becoming automated. However, the products and services that are the result of these new technological changes will still require a workforce skilled in such functions as design, marketing, finance and management. So the challenge for job hunters is to prepare for positions that have become technologically more complex.
I am familiar through some of our Five O’Clock Club members that professional associations such as the American Society for Mechanical Engineers and the New York Society of Security Analysts work closely with many of major universities and colleges to ensure that they are providing the kind of education that will prepare students for positions in a changing economy. This concern — that many of the unemployed do not meet the demands of a more technologically complex workforce — is shared by Stephen J. Davis, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He notes that a large number of workers who made a decent living in the more traditional manufacturing and other craft jobs can no longer find employment in this new work environment.
At the 5OCC, we instill in our members the importance of keeping current through attending professional association meetings, volunteering to work in a new, more technically challenging environment, and to “hang out” with those with whom you want to work at every available opportunity. We also try to keep current with our presentations by incorporating material that is relevant to job search in today’s market. For example, in our presentation on “Shortcut Your Search: Internet & Other Research,” our coaches focus on LinkedIn and some of the other social networking sites because that is not only where the technology is leading us, but it is a main conduit for making the right contacts to compete in this more technically advanced economy.
We also know, based on recent job hunters’ experiences, that more companies are hiring on a contractual basis, and when the project is complete you move on to another assignment. We have members who land consulting assignments report on their success because it is one of the new directions the world of work is taking. So, in light of these changes and new realities, it will become incumbent on all of us to look at the world of work differently, realize where our strengths, skills and accomplishments can best be utilized, and have the flexibility to keep pace with those new “skilled professionals.” They are, after all, the competition.