You might not need one job – you might need three: The changing landscape of the thing we call work in the US today …

“Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you've lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that's good.”  - ― Elizabeth Edwards

Work as we know it is changing.

People are making changes in their job (average tenure 2-3 years in a job) and career (2-5 career changes not uncommon today). For those in their 20’s, tenure in a job is 1.5 years on average. The “learners” (in school, not working) is a scant 1.5 years on average. The workplace is dynamic with change.

But there are economic factors that change the way you look at work  …

Let’s go back to the July national jobs report  (www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm)   which showed unemployment down slightly nationally to 7.4% and job growth of 162,000 jobs. A consistent month, but nowhere near the number of new jobs we need nationally to get unemployment down (economist say the nation needs 150,000 new jobs monthly just to hold the unemployment steady) The reason it went down slightly – more people took part-time jobs and are no longer counted as unemployed, and there was a significant increase in those who were unemployed and not longer looking for work.

There is another trend that continues over the months: Employers are hiring more “29’s) – workers who will work 29 hours per week, largely the potential impact of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a Obama Care) which must be offered to employees who work 30 hours or more in a week with one employer.  If you look at the detail of the national jobs report you will see that a large percentage of the jobs in July and other months were part-time.  Economics feel this is going to continue, and grow with the uncertainly n the employer market over what health care ill really cost – that is not good.  

Another trend – many are opting for not one way to make income – but rather two or three – what we refer to as the “Three-Legged-Stool”. This is where one has two- three- or more ways to produce income concurrently. It might be part-time gigs or consulting engagements, having a business and a part-time job, or other mix. The goal is to have the sum of all gigs produce ample income, and if possible in today’s economy, security and stability.

It works very well for those who can multitask; it does not work for those who have linear vision (those who find it difficult to have multiple priorities concurrently).  I have been doing this for years between my business in career management, business performance consulting and public service – it works for me.

Managing a Three-Legged-Stool career has very important advantages: You are in control, You control your destiny. You “insulate” yourself from fast-changing market conditions.  This is critical.

You next step?

Be flexible. Be resilient. Be career-prepared. Embrace that the workplace and what we call a job is changing. Change with it and prosper with it.

 And thank you for reading this. - Dan

PS: Published my book this past week – need a kick start in your career? Check it out: Accept-Commit-Permit: Three Essential Steps to Achieving Happiness & Success in Career (and Life!) (Series: DARE YOU ... To Cross The Threshold To Success)

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