One of the interesting lessons I have learned from my
recently travels and conversations with recruiters is that, when you reach a
certain age, it’s often better to look for work than look for a career.
Depending on your geographic area, even that could be a challenge. (Consider
what you are facing if you are an unemployed logistics guru in Detroit these
days.) So if you are willing to look for work (not just a job), you have to be
willing to break the geographic boundaries. Now is the right time for the
portable career.
I recently ran across an article on About.com that talks about the Portable Career. With the technology we have today, you can maintain your professional identity and work from almost anywhere. Of course, there are a number of professions that still require you to physically work in one place to treat patients or interact with customers on a one-to-one basis. But with the advent of the Internet and wireless technology, most professionals have broken their chains to their desks. This not only makes it easier to create a life/work balance, but gives you infinitely more possibilities when it comes to looking for work. Here are some tips to consider:
- Portable careers require skills and services that are in high demand. Careers in training, education, and technology are usually portable since the demand for specialized talent often exceeds the local supply of resources. A lot of these kinds of resources also can be delivered by long-distance.
- Portable careers are not usually driven by credentials. If you need a license to practice medicine or certification to pass the bar in a specific state, your expertise is less portable than in other professions not dictated by local licenses and registration.
- Portable professions typically have no local market boundaries. You can offer your services online, via e-mail, chat, phone, etc., and have just as much impact as if you were in the local market, probably more impact.
- Portable professions rely on technology. You will need to be able to leverage the Web to its fullest extent, as well as e-mail and telecommunications. New products like the iPhone and Blackberry are making it easier to combine all your communications in a single device so you can work from almost anywhere. That doesn’t mean you need to be a technical genius, but you do need too be comfortable with the new technology tools.
- Avoid brick-and-mortar commitments. If you want a portable career, avoid entanglements that require physical location, such as heavy machinery or a physical location, like a hotel or bed and breakfast. If you can keep your product portable, as with data on a computer, then you have more flexibility.
New market conditions call for new thinking, so think about the portability of your profession. Who says you can’t take it with you?
