Posted on 09/09/2010 5:03:10 AM PDT by Kaslin
What do you call a person who has a great job and has been there forever? A slacker! That's right. According to many experts, "the average U.S. worker will have many careers -- seven is the most widely cited number -- in his or her lifetime."
Or so writes Carl Bialik, aka The Numbers Guy, in The Wall Street Journal.
The Numbers Guy isn't certain that seven is the right number, and he is backed up in his uncertainty by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As the Bureau states on its website, "no consensus has emerged on what constitutes a career change."
Nor, may I add, has any consensus emerged on what constitutes a career, though it probably isn't what you are doing right now -- hanging on to your miserable job by your fingertips, waiting to be flung out into the black hole of unemployment.
The experts do agree that the time when most people rack up the most job changes is when they are young. Remember those wonderful days when you could jump from a top management spot soaping tires at the car wash to an executive position behind the fry basket at McDonalds? Today, it's not quite as easy. Today, if you want to work the fryer at Mickey D's, you have to compete with a bunch of Ivy League MBA's.
Another factor adding to the confusion, reports Bialik, "is that workers sometimes take on enough new responsibilities to meet a technical definition of a career change without leaving their general field." Of course, this is not likely to have affected your career number, since you've made it a policy to not only avoid new responsibilities, but also to ignore the few responsibilities you already have.
No matter how many careers you have or haven't had so far, don't waste your time wondering if you'll hit the national average. Instead, waste your time wondering why you haven't consulted Sue Frederick, the author of "I See Your Dream Job."
Unlike ordinary career coaches, Frederick is an "intuitive." That's the name for people who can see the future. These people used to be called "mediums" or "psychics." They were also sometimes called witches and were burned at the stake, but we live in more enlightened times now. Now, they get book deals.
Having no psychic abilities myself, I had to find Sue Frederick on the Fox Business website, where she is the subject of an article by Nancy Colasurdo.
"If you're inclined to watch the show 'Medium' and are constantly fascinated by its messages and miracles, you have a bit of insight into Frederick's gifts," writes Colasurdo. "She sees things, things that can help clarify thoughts you've been having, or put you on a whole different path that feels much more natural."
I did not come away with a very clear idea of how a career intuitive works. I imagine you enter a darken room, reeking of incense (you, not the room.) The intuitive -- who is wearing a sorcerer's robe and a pointy Merlin cap -- instructs you to slip your resume under a crystal ball and, while you're at it, to slip him or her a couple of Benjamins to sooth the spirits. Then as you look on, the intuitive enters a trance state, rocking and keening as the spirit of your new career enters her body.
"I see you in a cramped cubical working on impossible deadlines for an inadequate salary with absolutely no hopes for promotion," she intones in an otherworldly voice.
Amazing, ain't it? She's seen your past, present and future with 20-20 intuition.
Not every career seance turns out quite this negative. Frederick had a vision of one client -- a depressed software engineer, as if there was any other kind -- "chasing someone through dark alleyways and working in an office with a large government seal on the wall."
This client is currently enrolled at the FBI academy. And with your luck, he or she will probably soon bust down your cubical wall to arrest you for expense account fraud. But that could be good news, since losing your job will no longer be a source of uncertainty and anxiety.
Now, instead of spending your time going through the employment ads, you can simply buy yourself an Ouija board and let the spirits guide you to your next position. Scoff, if you like, but the spirits need to work, too. The way this economy is going, we'll all have to keep working long after we croak.
“Another factor adding to the confusion, reports Bialik, “is that workers sometimes take on enough new responsibilities to meet a technical definition of a career change without leaving their general field.”
Sorry. To me, that IS NOT a career change. Being a doctor, quitting practice, going back to school, getting a law degree, THAT is a career change.
Changing jobs, even staying withing the same company, IS NOT a career change. You are STILL in the same industry. It’s a job change, not a career change.
Geez...what a slacker I am, 24 years at the same company ; )
It depends on what kind of job they did before. If they got promoted to a new position that would certainly be a career change. Otherwise they could go to a new company and do the exact same job they did before. That would not be a career change
Generational differences? I’ve worked at the same job for almost 30 years now. It’s the first full-time job I got, and likely the last. However, I have worked for three different companies, because they kept selling us off.
Hm, let me think back. Donut-dipper. Torpedoman (USN). Rental agent. Caricature artist. Retail sales (hell). Copy editor. Teacher. Free lance writer. TV & Film extra. OOooo, I’m ahead of the curve!
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