The Workplace Has Come Full Circle in the Last Century
Posted on July 08, 2009 by Davida Shensky, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
Jobs that existed 10 years ago don't exist today, jobs that exist today didn't exist 10 years ago, & there will be jobs in the future that haven't bee
When you look at the job market over the century, we have turned almost 360 degrees. When the Europeans first came to this country they were Entrepreneurs. They took their wares & sold them on pushcarts in the streets. My grandparents sold fruit from pushcarts. My mother always talked about Uncle Barney. He went to work for the steel mill and was willing to work for free until the owner could pay him. When the owner died it was in his will that his could not fire Uncle Barney, they had to let him work until he was ready to retire. He worked until he was in his 70’s & lived to be 99.
Their children, the first generation born in this country, came in at the beginning of the corporate environment. This generation fought in WWII and are now dying off. They went to work for corporations by starting at the bottom and working their way up to the top. My friend’s father worked for a trucking company and retired after 25 years with a gold watch.
Their children were known as the Baby Boomer Generation because these families exploded with more than 2 children. This generation came in at the tail end of the corporate environment, many after 15 or 20 years were offered early retirement with a severance package to give them time to decide what they wanted to do. Many in the computer industry became consultant and worked for themselves. Many like my friend Benay tried self employment and then went to work for small companies.
In the later part of the Century Generation X, Y, & Nexters have no guaranteed jobs. Unions out priced the job market in the US so those jobs moved overseas. Technology has taken away jobs but created new jobs. Another way to demonstrate this is to say there are 4 generations in the workplace today:
The mature generation born before 1946 are entering retirement. The Baby Boomer were born between 1946-1964 and need to turn to self employment using technology to create their own job. Generation X were born between 1965-1980 has embraced the new technology in their work and can adapt easily. The Millenials were born between 1980-present—this generation grew up using technology—first the PC’s—now laptops, cell phone ECT. so they embrace the new workplace and can create a job for themselves.
This analogy shows how we have come full circle over the last century. Today we work from home, selling our products & services through websites (storefronts), which is very similar to what The Europeans did selling their wares on street corners.
Are you prepared for the new workplace? Are you willing to change how you look at a job today? or Do you want to be left behind.
