This education model continued through the 1970s when high tech innovation, and the increasing shift of low level manufacturing overseas required that most US workers needed a college education to succeed. Simultaneously, workers began to have higher aspirations for themselves in their relationship with employers. An engineering degree was a ticket to success and long-term approbation.

Fast forward to 2011. Innovation and globalization are well-known phenomena. I think we all understand that the rate of both is accelerating. The average permanent job is lasting 2-3 years as business owners must constantly re-group to meet competitive threats. Yet, workers have become increasingly less engaged, crabby that the employer is not taking care of them, threatening to move on at the first opportunity.

•  69% of employees describe themselves as under-engaged or un-engaged.
• 30% of executives describe themselves as under-engaged or un-engaged.
• 47% of engaged high potentials say they will leave “at the first opportunity.”  (#)

I don’t understand the disconnect. I talk to folks every day who proudly threaten they will move on within the next 12 months to a “nicer” employer.

Why do you think the next employer will be radically better? The phenomenon we are caught in is happening to all of us, employer and employee alike. Yes, the employers could be nicer in many instances. CEOs should not make so much more than the rest of us. However, the bigger trend is that employers will have less and less choice to nurture the relationship with employees in the way you are all accustomed to. Companies are being pushed into decisions that will make the relationship with employees more and more transient.

So what are you doing about it? Showing disengagement to your current employer or a hiring manager is likely to put you high on the first-to-be-fired list. Feeling disengaged is counter-productive, a dead end. It won’t get you promoted.

Instead, you need to learn how to succeed and shine versus other employees in the future or work for yourself.

(#) http://www.workforce.com/section/hr-management/feature/special-report-employee-engagement-losing-lifeblood/

The greatest effect will come from globalization:

• As of 2007, more of the US GDP (Gross Domestic Production) resulted from world trade than domestic. That trend will continue and increase in speed. (a)
• As of May 2011, 50% of all Electronic Engineering Masters degree holders in the US (not just students) were foreign nationals. 70% of PhDs. (b)
• The number of manufacturing jobs in this country have fallen 44% since the peak in 1979. They are projected to shrink 1.25 million between 2008 and 2018 even though they have increased in the last 18 months. (c)
• While there are only 6-8 million ex-pats (ex-patriates) from the US living abroad, there are 200 million ex-pats globally. Workers from the US are not the talent of choice. (d)
• The top 25% of Chinese students or the top 28% of Indian students outnumber the number of Adults 18+ in the US. They will be looking for work and opportunity in the near future.

Paying attention yet? If you think that “after the recession” things will go back to where they were 5-10 years ago, you are in denial. You need to learn how to manage and adapt your career strategies now in order protect yourself for the future. Stay tuned, we will be talking a lot more about this.

(a) Russell Institutional Research 2010
(b) President’s Council Jobs + Competitiveness May 2011
(c) Bureau Labor Statistics 2008, 2011
(d) UN Secretariat, Dept of Econ Affairs 2005, US State Department 2010

In a world where the average job tenure is 2-3 years, the most valued employee/potential employee is one who is constantly sensitive to the company’s evolving needs in order to remain the preferred resource. This does not mean you should do this without any concern for your own agenda. Here are some ways to balance the two objectives:

Make your own objectives deliberately (and pragmatically) broad:

• My goal is simply to be an excellent marketer. I realize that the company needs may evolve, so I want to do what I can to be seen as one of your most valuable resources. Where do you see the greatest future needs at the company?

Emphasize the projects where you can bring the most value (and reward):

• As you know, I love projects looking for immediate change in mission critical processes and profitability.
• I enjoy the challenge of working with very difficult customers where numerous others have failed.
• I will be seeking ways to interface more often with other departments in the company.

Reinforce that you will be monitoring your own progress and have achievable but time-sensitive objectives yourself:

• Please provide me with feedback on current or past projects. It is important to me (and you) to know if there are business considerations I was not aware of that would have made the deliverable stronger.
• I will be asking you every 3 months or so for your evaluation of my performance against goals.
• Expect I will be volunteering for the projects that provide me with greater visibility and a chance to grow within the organization.

On a simple level, a “Portfolio Career” means someone earns income from more than one simultaneous employer by choice or necessity. It is not a new concept. “Freelancers” in ad agencies and “Contractors” in IT have been doing it since the 1970’s as a means of gaining exposure to a wide variety of clients/technologies as quickly as possible. Folks with multiple jobs are easy to find in any industry in Europe.

Deliberately selecting unrelated simultaneous jobs spreads your risk if any one industry or skill area shrinks. Remember when the telecom industry shrunk by 70% in the 1990’s? Ad agency work has been shifting over 20 years from mass media like network TV and magazines to the Internet and other personal media. A Portfolio Career would protect you in similar transitions.

Consider implementing a modified form of a Portfolio Career for yourself immediately without leaving your full-time job. Take a part-time or short-term apprentice role in a very different professional arena – which you can execute evenings or weekends. Take on an 80-hour project to help someone you know with a market research study or engineering proof of concept test. Then look for more complementary projects to increase your depth of knowledge.

I have a client who has created an incremental income of $150K per year from the hobby of creating iPhone apps on Saturday afternoons in front of baseball and footballs games on TV. Another client consults with start-ups evenings to validate new product development concepts. Either person could escalate the new credentials to a full-time income stream overnight if necessary.

Or think retirement and avocation versus vocation. Maybe you have dreamt of retiring to run a bread and breakfast. The part-time apprenticeship you should choose now is as a hotel manager. If the title Director of a non-profit appeals, start volunteering in your off-hours now in an executive capacity – but let them know you will not be available for free indefinitely.

If you are over the age of 45 where the risk of not being able to re-enter your present industry if laid-off  is great, it is absolutely critical for you to be creating options for yourself.

Take charge of your destiny!

Do you have an unusual part-time idea to share with others?

Someone who has been out of a relationship or work many months may take a questionable spouse or job out of financial desperation or the need to be “wanted.”

In both marriage and work, you should do more homework about long-range goals and the cultural fit before committing. Beauty is only skin deep. One-night-stand and one interview decisions carry a lot of risk. Consider Contract-2-Hire.

The more you invest up front in preparation and strategy, the more financially secure you will be long term.

If you argue with your spouse or employer about money, your marriage or job is more likely to end in divorce.

If you are happily single, and financially independent, you pick differently. You don’t see the need to get married at all. Or you partner from choice, not need. Maybe working for yourself or staying single is the better answer, so you are connecting to several partners at the same time and spreading the risk.

The best marriages and jobs offer both partners a little flexibility or at least forgive the other a few transgressions. In the best marriages and job relationships, both parties work on keeping “engagement” or satisfaction levels high.

Regardless of present marital or work status, age, or financial need you would benefit from having long-term strategies in place. Consider where you want to be 5-10 years from now. Have a progressive strategy that selects a spouse or job for the next 1-2 years and simultaneously you start activities like networking and becoming more visible in the market to start building momentum now for the time after the divorce.

Have your own analogy to add? Please do, through a comment. The more outrageous or funny, the better.

^(a) www.census.gov