| by Victor Cherubim
( November 25, 2014, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is no job for life in the world of today. To have and to hold a job is in itself, more than an opportunity. It has become a privilege. To search for a job is not easy. To find a job and secure it is an exercise, a combination in research, preparation, ambition, enthusiasm and dedication, of some magnitude - with fierce competition.
To get a job one has to literally travel miles, cross many hurdles, make many sacrifices in time, energy and money. To succeed, one has not only to have the right qualifications, the required grades, the necessary experience, not forgetting the ambition, the contacts, the will and right motivation to get ahead. There is no alternative, say observers.
It is never too late to switch to a new career. It is equally never in doubt to adapt to market requirements. As the jobs market is continuously changing to keep pace with technology and innovation, competition is also growing at a faster rate than before. As the content of jobs and/or careers is changing, employability is taking on a new dimension.
Statistics show an average person will have been through 10 to 14 different jobs during their lifetime and up to 4 or 5 career changes in this period. The days are long gone where “long service medals” are awarded for being in one job for over 40 years.
The illusion in the many professions offering training?
We were used to associate the professions of medicine and law, engineering and chemical engineering, accountancy and architecture, appealing as career progression professions of a generation past. Where have they all gone? A profession was the symbol of qualification, of status and of learning. The professions still exist but competence and comparison as “pillars of knowledge” has been challenged by the new world of technology and innovation. Here again change in each of their professions is seen. To be assured of a lucrative salary, status or even job satisfaction on completion of necessary study and training, is not automatic acceptance.
The idea of a clear cut profession is a misnomer. Some professions offer “a mosaic of employment opportunity, good prospects, work-life balance and job security” To scrutinise how the medical profession has changed over time, we may consider one aspect of this learned profession.
To be a qualified Surgeon, it was a necessary to possess acute precision and dexterity of movement of both hands to perform surgical operations. Today, we witness, varied techniques used in surgery, laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) instead of laparotomy (invasive surgery), unless necessary. The job of a Surgeon which was mostly confined and performed by an able bodied male, is being performed by perhaps,
“laser-guided,” eminent surgeons of the fairer sex. This is innovation in action, with quicker recovery, minimal blood loss, far better cosmetic result externally. What is imminent in the not too distant future? We may see the job of a Surgeon, open to much competition.
What about the legal profession? The field of law is not static, changes are “hitting” fast and more frequent. The profession of a solicitor, may soon become redundant, as barristers are given “right of access”. Even barristers and solicitors are being “penalised” with the near abolition of legal aid fee scheme in UK. Proposed funding cuts to legal aid threatens to undermine a decade of “Pro bono” work removing key areas of law from the scope of legal aid, resulting in the loss of expertise of lawyers practices in these areas. With more and more legal researchers taking over court representation, law as a profession is an open field, in the job prospect market.
Ways to get a job today?
Here are a few suggestions to consider, including a career change:
1. Make a list of your likes and dislikes, skills that you possess or acquired, especially those that are transferable to a variety of job situations.
2. Match your list to the roles in your research of the job market. But, most important, include time frames for the completion of the task and the achievement of your goals in the prevailing jobs market.
3. Be ready to pursue every known skill and passion you have as a career option.
4. Avoid adopting the excuse:”I am not ready for the change in career yet”. There is an invariable risk element in the belief that a change in career may be not to your liking in the end.
5. Plan to move on and get started on your proposed/planned job. You are not going to achieve anything, if you don’t get started, even small.
6. Prove to yourself that even wrong choices get started, which is the only way of eradicating fear, by talking to people who have been in your position.
7. Get connected to the real world of work by discounting negative vibes from yourself or anyone other than yourself.
8. Don’t look back on what you have chosen as a job prospect or career change. If you have the courage to juggle several different choices, and careers, you will not be dependent on one source of income, but simultaneously learn different skills of your chosen job / career.
The Job scene in 2020
By 2020, approximately 1.5 million jobs, a jobs survey says, will be created by “job entrepreneurs” who have on their own researched and created their jobs in the jobs market in UK.
Researchers also maintain that virtual services will be the basis of new jobs in 2020. It is better to start up with assumptions that 2020 will be a “brave new world,” nothing like 2014/15.
Ten to twenty years from now, we may look hard on the present as the dawn of “smart working era”, with continuous innovation changing almost every thing about the way we live today. “The only person, who can save you, is YOU”.
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