Guest Blog Entry from Quintessential Careers
Workers and job-seekers face very different job-search and workplace realities than they did before the 2008 economic collapse. Job Action Day 2010, the third-annual initiative spearheaded by Quintessential Careers on Nov. 1, addresses this new world of work by exhorting job-seekers to look at innovative ways to create opportunity.
Some key indicators of this new world of work include:
- Fifty percent of the workforce added in 2010 will be made up of one form or another of contingent workers, says the report The Emerging New Workforce by Littler Mendelson, P.C., which provides employment and labor-law solutions. "As a result," the report states, "approximately 25 percent to as high as 35 percent of the workforce will be made up of temporary workers, contractors, or other project-based labor. The numbers of professionals working in temporary or alternative work arrangements will continue to rise. Flexible work schedules and telecommuting will increase as companies turn towards practical solutions to efficiently complete tasks while retaining talented individuals."
- Freelance Nation: Why Permanent Jobs May Not Come Back by Charles Hugh Smith, DailyFinance;
- Need a job? Contract work could be new normal by Eve Tahmincioglu, MSNBC;
- One-in-Five employers to hire full-time, permanent staff in Q4: survey by International Business Times.
A looming skills mismatch is preventing some workers from obtaining jobs even as employers increase hiring. During the recession, employers had to make do with fewer workers, and those workers took on more functions. "Now, someone who hopes to get those jobs must meet the new requirements," reports Christopher S. Rugaber in an Associated Press article. Technology has also added to the skills mismatch.
Competition for jobs has reached an historic high, reports OnRec.com. "Job-seekers are facing the toughest job market conditions ever recorded, with average number of applications at a 22-month high of 18 per job," the recruiting organization notes.
Some employers have begun to encourage the unemployed not to apply for jobs, blogged Laura Bassett in The Huffington Post, also noting that 5.5 people are looking for work for every job available, according to the latest data from the Labor Department.
NOTE from Susan Guarneri, The Career Assessment Goddess: Job Action Day 2010 on November 1 will feature articles and blog posts from many career experts. My article, Career Assessments: Tools for Lifetime Career Management, highlights the real story of one of my clients and how career assessments helped her career decision-making.
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