What follows is an excerpt from chapter 1 of my new book, Always Be Job Hunting. Continue to watch here for news of the publication date for the book.
What I still think of as my worst job—although my last one is now competing for that title— was a place I stayed for exactly one year and 10 days. I disliked the workplace so much that I counted each day, just like someone in prison would do.
The job I just left lasted just shy of two years. I started in July of 2008, as the Great Recession started doing its worst to the economy, and left in June of 2010 as I and the rest of the country hoped things were improving, even as the stock market was predicting more troubles ahead for all of us.
My parents’ generation (yes, I’m a Baby Boomer, born in 1953) worked with the hope, even sometimes the certainty, of lifetime employment at one company. That idea already was fading when I got out of school and it seems a distant memory today. Indeed, a Bloomberg Business Week magazine’s cover story (insert date) noted that everyone in the professional world will eventually just work as consultants and temporary workers.
The neighborhood in Brooklyn where my life began. And where my views on jobs were formed.
Is my job changing simply a different definition of consulting or contract work? I think so. Switching employers every two years, which was once seen as the kiss-of-death, is now somewhat normal. (brief insert study/numbers that show this succinctly) I’m not so much a harbinger of what’s to come as I am the new norm. So why this book? Because since I’ve already tackled this rapid job hunting and changing employers – in fact, actively sought it out – I think others can benefit from my story. My employment history, my job-decision-making record, and in how I’ve found my jobs all contain lessons – from what to do to what to avoid – that you can use to keep yourself gainfully employed in today’s uncertain world.
Always Be Job Hunting 