4 Ways Current Labor Trends Will Impact Your Career

I have been reading Laurence Shatkin since I was in college.  In the process of releasing the tenth edition of Top 100 Careers without a Four-Year Degree, he shared some insights regarding how current labor trends might affect people’s careers – now and in the future.

Education Pays

It’s no secret that people who have more education and training generally earn more than those with less, but the advantages don’t stop there. According to Shatkin: “Jobs that require education and training beyond high school are projected to grow significantly faster than jobs that do not. People with higher levels of education and training are less likely to be unemployed, and when they are, they remain unemployed for shorter periods of time. There are always exceptions, but it is clear that more education results in higher earnings and lower rates of unemployment.”

Tech Knowledge is Increasingly Important

Shatkin explains that in all fields, people without job-related technical skills tend to have a more difficult time finding good opportunities because they are competing with others who do have these skills. “Employers hire people who have the skills they need, and people without these abilities won’t get the best jobs. So, whatever your age, consider upgrading your job-related computer and technology skills if they are not up to date and plan to keep them current on your present and future jobs,” he adds.

Ongoing Training is Essential

According to Shatkin, rapid changes in technology have prompted the requirement for people to continue learning throughout their work life. He says: “Jobs are constantly upgraded, and today’s jobs often cannot be handled by people who have only the knowledge and skills that were adequate for workers a few years ago. To remain competitive, you will need to constantly upgrade your technology and other job-related skills. This may include taking formal courses, reading work-related magazines at home, signing up for on-the-job training, or participating in other forms of education.”

Career Planning is the Name of the Game

“Most people spend more time watching TV in a week than they spend on career planning during an entire year. Yet most people will change their jobs many times and make major career changes five to seven times. For this reason, it is important for you to spend time considering your career options and preparing to advance,” he explains.

This post was originally published on Intuit's Quickbase blog.

 

Comments

[classycareergirl]

Agree with Shatkin. Very interesting and informative post. Sounds great talking bout careers. Career planning is very essential. Thanks for sharing!

[Heather Mundell]

Thanks for writing a post that advises specifically what people can and should do to remain competitive. I'd love to read more about the best ways to go about career planning - find a mentor? go on a "retreat" for a few hours each quarter to think about your future? I imagine there are many effective approaches that could be turned into habits.

[Alexandra Levit]

@Classy: You're welcome, and thanks for reading!

@Heather: Thanks for the suggestion! Along these lines, I'm in the process of writing a post about how to systematize finding your passion.

[Lynne]

interesting thoughts, but i disagree. i have over 30 years of technical computer application development experience, and an MBA. I am office / business manager for a small non-profit which pays 25% of what i was getting before the market tanked. by the time the market turns around my tech skills will be outdated! My MBA concentration was in Project Management but that was not a good choice since for someone with my experiences the market is not very open to a PM without certification and i cannot get certified without otj experience so its a catch-22.I am under employed without many options that i can see.

[Odebode]

A well-deserved Thank You to both you and Dr. Shatkin. I whole-heartedly agree that it was the author of the Yahoo! airtcle who made the big mistake. It is nice to know that the U.S. Department of Labor has a pretty complete description of what constitutes being an archivist. Thank you, Dr. Shatkin, for pulling together that information and making it available through your book. It does much to dispell the stereotypes of archivists.As for stress level I do find my job as stressful. I figure if I dream about work issues/projects and such, that is a pretty clear sign I'm stressed. I do agree that stress level is different than the busy-ness of the job. I think Spindry about the different stress levels for archivists depending upon their work situation. As an almost lone arranger (1 f-t [me], 1 p-t), I find my situation rather similar to Spindry's. I would also add managing (and often working on) several major projects at one time.I have enjoyed the discussions that developed because of the Yahoo! airtcle. By having these types of discussions, we are better able to define the work of archivists.

[Jamela]

Careful, meticulous, staedy, calm, confident is the nature of our jobs as archivists. Low stress does not mean the job is boring or unworthy. The stress we do have is about funding, appreciation, peer pressure, and having enough resources to do our jobs, and that is all in the way we respond to internal and external pressures. The most stressed people I have seen in archives (and I admit to being one of them back in the day) are those who have a massive task to do and have to work for and among many other people in an institution who do not know what we do, why we do it, or why they pay us to do it. The key is to spend more kinetic and less frenetic energy. My two cent's worth (and yes, I know it should be an entire dollar!)