For the past couple months since I graduated, I've been working as an assistant to a business expert. Recently, however, my boss told me that he won't be needing me to work for him anymore after December.
Of course, I was surprised and disappointed and a little dismayed. Had I really performed so badly that I was being fired after only 3 months? I must have been horrid!!!
Luckily for my wounded pride, he explained further. In the first four months of 2007, his trips were being arranged by a different company than normal. As part of the arrangements, they had assigned one of their employees to be his assistant. As a result, he truly didn't need me to work for him during that time.
Ten years ago, something like this wouldn't have happened. But it isn't 1995 anymore.
When we think of companies that employ a lot of workers in the US, American staples like IBM, General Motors, Ford, 3M and other prominent corporations come to mind. But today the largest employer of American workers is Manpower Inc, a temp agency based in Wisconsin that has expanded to over 1,100 offices across the US.
Every day, more than 3.5 million people are employed as temporary workers—an increase of over 800% from the 415,000 temporary workers recorded in 1982. And that's not just people working as secretaries, laborers or call center employees. Manpower Inc supplies corporations with college-educated professionals as well!
And even if we're not employed by a temp agency, we still can't count on having a lot of job security.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the average worker currently holds 10 different jobs before hitting age 40 and that job tenures now hover around four years. So, according to them, my brief tenure in this job is still very short.
However, Claire Schooley (of Forrester Research) predicts that things are going to get worse. She anticipates that today's youngest workers (that's us) will hold at least 12 to 15 jobs in their lifetimes. According to the New York Times, "among some types of information technology professionals...the generally accepted turnover rate hovers around 50 percent. That means the average worker switches jobs ever six months. In fact, having a short-term job on one's resume is no longer like ringing a huge alarm and screaming "I'm a bad employee!"
It's becoming normal... especially for us young workers. And in many cases, the quick turnaround isn't even the employee's fault. Employers know this and take it into consideration.
So luckily, my brief job tenure is not a death warrant for my career. It's just a sign that I get to start the ‘fun’ of looking for a job all over again!
Want to learn more:
Pink, Daniel. Free Agent Nation
Overholt, Alison. “Creating a Gem of a Career: Monster.com? History. Networks? Everywhere. Five trends that will shape your career in the coming decade.” Fast Company. Issue 103, March 2006, Page 135.
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