Preparing for the New Century
(A review of Job Shift, by William Bridges)
George Gendron, editor of Inc magazine, said that "the traditional admonition of one generation
to the next 'Get a Job', has been replaced with the more complex and bewildering mandate,
'Go out and create a job for yourself.' "
William Bridges, author of Job Shift ,encourages us to realize the concept of "the job" is rapidly
disappearing. "Although there will always be enormous amounts of economic work to do, he
suggests that the work will not be contained in the familiar envelopes we call jobs. In fact many
organizations are well along the way of being 'dejobbed'.
* Technology enables us to automate the production line where so many job holders used to do
repetitive tasks, to automate information processing, and to create new types of information-based work to be done.
* Big firms are unbundling their various activities and farming them out to little firms who have
created profitable niches. Outsourcing can include everything from production of parts to
installation of equipment by the delivery company.
* With the use of laptop computers, faxes, modems and cellular phones, the need to maintain
central offices has decreased significantly.
* Competition, national and international, encourages change, the simplification of product design
and processes so that change can be made faster, thus accelerating the work to be done and
changing the nature of worker responsibilities.
* Public services are privatizing and government bureaucracies are thinning as we seek to cut
government spending and decrease the national debt.
* Companies providing temporary workers employ more people than even the largest American
corporations, with temps doing everything from production and clerical work to professional
consulting.
Alternatives to a "JOB"
Bridges tells us, "Today's workers need to forget the concept of jobs completely, and look
instead for work that needs doing -- and then set themselves up as the best way to get that work
done....The future is going to be very different from what we grew up expecting, and most of us
are no more ready for it than eighteenth-century English villagers were for jobs in nineteenth
century English factories".
Some of the alternatives to jobs are obvious: you can start a business, become an artist, do
freelance work, become a consultant, do piece work in your home, or work part time. Another
alternative is to recognize the work to be done in your organization and position yourself to be
needed to get it done.
"Workers need to develop a mindset, an approach to their work and a way of managing their
careers, that is more like an external vendor than the traditional employee".
All of these work options suggest that careers of the future are made by individual choices that
make the most of "new basic skills". All workers first must have literacy, numeracy, and
computer skills to function effectively in any type of work. Second, all workers in a dejobbed
world must have the skills to manage themselves in a business-like fashion, including time-management, goal setting, communications, bookkeeping, office management, and project
management skills.
Finally, Bridges suggests that work search skills will be the same as market analysis skills of an
entrepreneur, including understanding your own assets and abilities, seeing all situations as a
potential market, spotting change and unfilled needs, understanding potential customers and their
perceptions, assessing competition, and defining your own ability to provide a product or service
that meets these needs.
Those involved in entrepreneurship education are encouraged to read this book and a host of
others about the changing world of work, where people assess their own abilities and seek
opportunities to use their skills in a world of constantly changing markets.
We welcome the concept of entrepreneurship as a basic skill.
Note: This article was published in EntrepreNews & Views and may be copied for local school use.
Please reference it as follows: by Cathy Ashmore, The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, Columbus, OH.
