In the opening of this month’s newsletter, I indicated how I had worked for a large corporation during my corporate career prior to my becoming a coach. It was common when I was young for individuals to apply and look for job opportunities at large corporations. There were several mindsets backing this thought process. Large corporations were stable places to work. They provided outstanding benefit packages to their employees. Your job was usually well defined in terms of duties and you were able to follow expectations by rote. While salaries might be better in other opportunities, the combination of salaries and benefits usually provided comfort for a long career.

As the 1990’s emerged, some of these advantages in the large corporation started fading away. Cost pressures led to letting staff go. Companies started acquiring or merging with each other, leading to staff surpluses. The cost of providing employee benefits became more expensive, so benefits were either eliminated or trimmed in their value.  

We are now 30 years past that timeframe. The generations that came after my generation saw the experiences of their parents and relatives. As such, they grew up with different mindsets. Some of them might find the corporate route attractive, but only possibly, for a certain time period. Once they achieved what they set out to do with a company, or received certain training in certain skills, they were happy to look for other opportunities. Those opportunities were not necessarily in other large companies. They could be in smaller companies, consulting firms, their own businesses which they started or even start-ups or ventures reaching the stage after start-up and looking to take off to the next level.  

Others have vowed never to work inside a major corporation. Their goal is to become entrepreneurs at a young age. Tools that in the past may not have been at their disposal, are available to them in their own home, (think computer, world-wide web, social media advertising, etc.).  While others do not have the same desire, their open to the idea of working for smaller companies, working virtually from home, or doing work schedules that are not in line with what many may think as traditional work hours.  rom the extremes of being an entrepreneur to working in a corporate empire, there are such arrangements as owning and running a franchise business, possibly working under the oversite of a large firm but for one of their subsidiaries, and every combination imagined in between.

Because of my background, many of the clients that I am assigned, particularly through my contracting roles with outplacement firms, has me working with clients in financial positions and technology positions. As such I see clients who speak of pursuing roles involving Data Architecture, Data Analytics, Cryptocurrency, and other terms. These were not necessarily terms which were ones that were part of the language, when I was a worker in my younger days. However, it is necessary for me to become familiar with not only the terms, but how they apply to the world of employment. Thanks, for such tools as Google for helping me stay up to date, (in addition to being open to learning from my clients themselves).

You may say, with all these changes, “Tony, how can you still be of value to your clients”?  While an excellent question, it in many ways is captured in what has happened in the world of work itself. I have often said to clients and associates, that while some of the tools used in a job search may have changed in the last 10 to 12 years, (dependence on Linked In, Automatic Tracking System software, Video interviews, etc.), the techniques used to find a job are very much the same. One still must assess what they want to do, research through book and online investigation and conversations, target and identify possible places to work, and then make the case why you are the person that can meet either the hiring company’s or the customer’s needs. Therefore, even though how people may be working may continue to evolve, and new technologies provide new ways to work and products to provide, the core fact remains the same. Individuals choosing to do what they enjoy doing to not only meet their basic financial needs, but at the same time fulfill their passion of providing their skills and services on behalf of others. 

January 2023 - Closing Thoughts