From the President
The recession has ended! That great news has to be punctuated by “if you have a job.” So many people are out of work and searching for their next position. While the bad news is a job will no longer look the same as it did even a couple of years ago; the good news is each and everyone of us has it within our power to create a new job – a new career option in 2010. What am I talking about – I am speaking about the portfolio career.
A portfolio career is where a person combines their skill sets and passions with part-time, contract, e-lance and free-lance positions.
The portfolio career model lends itself to the younger generation as well as the Baby Boomers. The Millennials -- teenagers and young people in their 20s – know how to deconstruct the work they have done and the skills they have. They also see their outside activities as potential income generators. They are young and wary of the corporate world. The Baby Boomers find the jobs they have done are outdated. They are facing tremendous competition from Generations X, Y and the Millenials. We can call it discrimination or we can call it reality. Boomers can also look at their interests and the things in their lives that they are passionate about and re-invent the way they make a living. For reasons of need and for reasons of desire, people are going to continue to work well beyond their normal retirement age.
I will tell you about a friend of mine. She is in her 30s. The bulk of her work is as a massage therapist, but she also works early mornings at a local television station doing behind-the-scenes work and then on weekends, she takes out her guitar and sings in restaurants. There is a man I know who is an accountant. He is a Baby Boomer. He found himself a job as an adjunct college professor and then a couple of times a week; he works for an accounting firm on a per diem basis. He also has another job working in a library. Who would have thought a seasoned accountant would end up working like that? He was downsized from a corporate career after 30 years. It is very difficult for someone like him to get back in, but it is not difficult for someone like him to compete for an accessory job.
There is a downside to this new career option. There are no medical or company sponsored benefits. People may have them in the form of COBRA for a finite time and then they may have to pick something up on their own. Some people are married to someone in a full-time job who does have access to benefits. They are the lucky ones. Benefits are an issue. You have to have them, so I tell people to get catastrophic insurance.
I hear a lot of people say; "We have to just get through this and then it is going to go back to the way it was." It is not going to go back to the way it was. We have to understand that and make adjustments. People have to figure out the next frontier. And I am here to help you.
Wishing you and yours a Happy & Healthy 2010!
Best,
Susan