I feel as though I have been vindicated by Time Magazine. For a long time I have been talking about the Portable Career – the Paladin model of employment where you are always a consultant for hire. The latest issue of Time seems to agree with me. As stated in this week’s Time cover story, “The Future of Work”:
Though unemployment is at a 25‑year high, work will eventually return. But it won't look the same. No one is going to pay you just to show up. We will see a more flexible, more freelance, more collaborative and far less secure work world. It will be run by a generation with new values — and women will increasingly be at the controls.
It’s a brave new world of work being powered by new technology and new service-driven industries. According to Time, there is growing demand for skilled workers in retail, health care, education, and computer technology, but the opportunities are not your old-fashioned 9 to 5 jobs. The older perks, such as traditional pension plans, are disappearing in favor of other benefits, like flex time. And boomers are discovering that they will have to keep working because pensions are in jeopardy and because those 401Ks are now 101Ks. There are some fascinating insights and trends in Time’s coverage and I urge all or you to read it to get a better understanding of the future of work.
So what this means is, to compete, you have to be more flexible. We have been talking to a lot of career coaches and job seekers lately who have been obsessing about the “C” word – consulting. These days, freelance is not just another word for nothing left to lose. It’s the part of the new Paladin employment model and more experienced executives are abandoning traditional job search in favor of consulting as the next step along their own career path.
According to a recent survey by Mark Hovind at Job Bait, consulting is on the rise. In fact, Mark’s survey shows that consulting has been outpacing job growth across the board since 1990. The one area where consulting is not faring well this year is, not surprisingly, human resources. Here are the highlights from Mark’s latest Job Bait poll, but visit JobBait.com to get the full report:
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Industry |
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|
Average Annual |
|
|
Current Annual | |||
|
Management consulting |
|
|
6.3% |
|
|
2.0% | |||
|
|
• |
|
Administrative management consulting |
|
|
6.8% |
|
|
1.4% |
|
|
• |
|
Human resource consulting |
|
|
2.7% |
|
|
-0.1% |
|
|
• |
|
Marketing consulting |
|
|
8.1% |
|
|
4.1% |
|
|
• |
|
Process and logistics consulting* |
|
|
6.9% |
|
|
3.3% |
|
|
• |
|
Other management consulting |
|
|
6.0% |
|
|
1.4% |
|
Environmental consulting* |
|
|
7.0% |
|
|
0.5% | |||
|
Other technical consulting* |
|
|
12.3% |
|
|
7.8% | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||
|
Workforce growth rate |
|
|
1.2% |
|
|
1.1% | |||
It’s time to re-think traditional employment and embrace your inner consultant. Use your network to find out how your peers are re-inventing themselves as consultants and entrepreneurs. Use outlets like LinkedIn and our NETSHARE forums to talk to other professionals about how they are redefining work. By pooling our knowledge and experience, we can all become success stories in the brave new workplace.
