The Crisis of Employment

This post is part of a series of posts covering the topic of personal Calling & Vocation.  You can find more about the entire series in the archive on the Vocation & Calling page. A person's Vocation or Calling is a deep part of our human spirit.  It is the thing we constantly search for in our lives.  Few find the balance of life and vocation that brings satisfaction.  In the first post about Vocation & Calling, I am going to be digging into the meaning of Vocation and Calling and how it relates to my life. I want to mention, first of all, that my thoughts would be no where without the insight of Gordon Smith's book Courage & Calling.  These posts were inspired by his book and I owe a tremendous amount of credit to him.  My goal is to provide commentary on his book and not to repeat it.  I will attempt to summarize the portion of the book I will be commenting on, then provide my thoughts. Summary: Because of our rapidly changing world, we experience a crisis of vocation.  The type of crisis we face can be broken down into 4 areas, the first of which I will discuss today. The crisis of employment centers on the new realities of the workforce in our world today.  Increased globalization, outsourcing and economic factors are all squeezing the individual worker into a new mold.  What once was, "Your company will take care of you" now is "If you don't take care of yourself, no one will".  This has proven to be a difficult reality to face for elder portions of the workforce.  Response: As a new worker in the IT field, the realities of the job environment today are very apparent to me.  When looking for the job I currently have, I spent 6 months of searching approximately 20 hours per week.  I was faced with many contract positions that only guaranteed steady work for 3 months or less.  When I started college, right at the height of the tech boom, I thought I would be able to land a great job and at least stay there for a few years.  The reality I faced when graduating 4 years later was that the traditional jobs I was aiming for were few and far between.  Outsourcing was playing a big role, and the glut of tech workers in the market also was affecting my chances for finding that "perfect job".  This all came together to create a very difficult environment to find employment. I am now gainfully employed and I consider myself very lucky.  Ironically, I was found by a recruiter through Monster.com.  I had posted my resume on Monster on the suggestion of the career counselor at the university.  After posting it, I essentially forgot about it.  Yet, two months later I got a call that eventually resulted in the job I have today.  It was the only interview I had. After going through that experience, I realized it would never be easy to find a job again.  Granted I took the cold turkey approach, which is definitely harder, but I still knew that finding employment would be a much greater task that originally anticipated.  One thing I've currently done to counteract this is to develop my relationships.  Networking is still the #1 way to get a job.  In searching for my personal vocation and calling, I've discovered that the barriers of changing employment and finding that "perfect job" are quite high.  It is much easier to stay with what you know and play the safe hand than to chase after a vapor of a dream.  These barriers prevent me from chasing after what really makes me come alive and beg me to settle for the safe path.  This comes back to how I choose to handle risk in my life, but that is a topic for another post. Because of our changing world today, I believe the lack of security in the workplace often gets us derailed on our quest for our calling.  We opt for security instead of what truly makes us come alive.  This is a critical crisis we face. To combat this crisis, I believe we need to be proactive about our place of employment and how we handle the lack of security in our workplace today.  Below are some tips and ideas I've come across when faced with this question: » Wherever you are employed, keep a list of 3 people you know you could call about a job if you ever got laid off.  Cultivate the relationships you have with people on this list. » Start a small business to supplement your income. » Live frugally and save for a rainy day.  Contact a financial advisor on how best to invest your savings to ensure the health of your bank account long term. » Take a risk management course and learn how you personally react to risky situations.  After discovering your personal tolerance for risk, learn techniques for controlling risk.  Risk is only risky when you don't feel you have control over the outcome. » Embrace the workplace today; learn to flow with the changing tide.  It will be essential to move with the change, or you will be left behind.