It looks like unemployment rates around the U.S. are exceeding all-time highs, and unfortunately are probably going to increase significantly in 2009. Many companies are downsizing because they simply do not have the money to pay their employees any longer.
This leaves a majority of new college graduates, with fresh degrees in hand, very few choices. There were times when a four-year degree could almost guarantee you a job immediately after graduation. At this time it is difficult to find a job unless your area of expertise is very specialized.
And that's the way it will continue. Students and potential job seekers will need to specialize in an area that will set them apart from the rest of the masses. Well, that's one scenario to think about for the long term, but what about the rest of this year?
Because companies are downsizing rapidly, they continue to search for that mythical Renaissance man, the one who can do a little bit of everything, thereby allowing them to pay only you and not three or four other employees. As impossible as this may seem, it is doable. It is not only doable, but you can work such a situation to your advantage in more ways than one.
So if you are employed now, I suggest you begin learning other people's skills around you. Of course, start with areas which are related to what you are already doing.
This reminds me of two Oracle Database administrators I once knew. The job market was stagnating but fortunately they saw it coming. They began taking molecular biology courses at a local University - just a few here and there. Then in their spare time they taught themselves Perl and Java programming. This enabled them to jump right into Bioinformatics, a new up and coming field at that time. In this way, they not only diversified their skills, but they were specializing as well.
It's important to be aware of what's going on in different industries and try to anticipate what areas will come together and create new opportunities. But you just can't follow websites, newspapers, or some clueless job headhunter. Be the first to create these opportunities and then be completely clear with yourself about the type of job you want. Don't let predefined titles and descriptions in a job ad define what you will do.
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Having worked in different industries, I see what you mean by companies looking for the mystical renaissance man. At the beginning they always tell you exactly what your post is and what they expect you to do. But as time moves by, they always would ask me to do other choirs. Not having my work permit at the time I didn't really have a choice. So from food packaging, I went to snow shoveling on the yard, snow shoveling on the roof, traffic police for the delivery trucks.
ReplyDeleteIf this economy doesn't turn around pretty soon
ReplyDeletewe are looking at a 10 year depression.
As the job market shrinks a lot of people will lose their job no matter what their skill are.
It will get ugly!
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