By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses the mistake you are making if you are looking for a stable job.
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This is Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, and today’s video is really about stability and looking for a stable job. And I want to start off by relaying a story to you. Now, I’ve been a professional recruiter for more than 40 years. And I remember being fairly junior, like my second, third year in search, and saying to candidates things like this, “Hi, I’ve got this great company that wants to meet with you”.
Um, and I would describe the environment that the person would work in. I was only doing IT work at that point, but that’s not the point of the story. So I described the technical environment, how smart the hiring managers were, a whole bunch of stuff that I’d been taught. And then I would continue by saying, “And it’s a bank, and if banks start to lay off, it’s time for all of us to leave the country”. Well, banks have laid off. I haven’t left the country, maybe you have, but—.
And by the way, the name of that bank was Manufacturers Hanover Trust, which is a name that has long since disappeared from the banking circles in the United States. They were acquired by another name that’s long since disappeared, Chemical Bank. So, you know, in the hunt for stability, I want to point out there is no such thing as stability in corporations anymore. Things always change. After all, the stories about the Fortune 500 at the time of the Great Depression, including a company that manufactured buggy whips, and RCA, and other firms with antique technologies are legendary.
There is no stability. What you can do is keep your head up instead of your head down. Look at trends in your field, see how you can capitalize on being current or ahead of the curve. So that in this way, you’re attractive to other firms. Because the reality is if you’re at your firm for the next 10 years, that’s an unlikely set of occurrences. You are statistically an aberration. And why is that? Because frankly, to an employer, you are disposable.
I wish it were different, but the behavior tells me that the people who make the promises to you are often long gone by the time the promises need to be kept. The promotional opportunities and the salary increases? Trivial. You move from drone level one to drone level two, all the way up to drone four, who cares? What’s important is your personal marketability. If you’re able to stay with the technology of your time, if you’re willing to stay with the trends of the time, and not fall prey to the laziness or the financial inertia of your employer who tries to persuade you that doing this work that no one cares about in the market in general is just so wonderful, there’s going to come a day where you’re going to learn to the contrary.
So all I’m going to tell you is stop looking for stability outside of within your organization or from the next firm. The only stability that you can create, as millions of people learned in the last recession, is with your skills, knowledge, and network. Get that again: your skills, knowledge, and network.
So, this is Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. Hope you found this video helpful. If you did, you’re watching on YouTube, share it, leave a comment, click the like button, do something that lets people know it was worthwhile. Then go over to my website, which is thebiggamehunter.us. I’ve got lots of stuff there to help you with job hunting, plus you can search positions I’m recruiting for, lots of tools to help you. Um, just go over to thebiggamehunter.us and go exploring.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
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