Skip to main content
Social Sci LibreTexts

Introduction - A Journey Begins...

  • Page ID
    152220
  • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    image of girl with suitcase walking on road

    "If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." This popular saying attributed to Yogi Berra, an American professional baseball catcher, suggests that we should have a pretty clear picture of where we are headed. And college, for most of us, is an important step toward a fulfilling and exciting career. The fact is that the employment market and job-seeking techniques have changed significantly over the past ten years and will continue to change. Mapping out a clear career path is not as easy as in the past. A clear direction still can provide enough flexibility, however, to respond to the changing needs of today’s job market. In fact, building flexibility into your career plans is a requirement for achieving a successful career.

    Consider the ways in which the job market has changed—and what it may mean to your planning:

    • You likely will be employed by many organizations in your lifetime. The idea of working for a single employer is no longer the rule but rather the exception. The United States Department of Labor interviewed over 9900 people born between 1957 and 1964 in 1979 then interviewed them again in 2018-19, and the average number of jobs held between the ages of 18 and 54 was twelve. This statistic means today’s graduates need to be very flexible in their career plans and should make an effort to identify and develop transferable skills in order to navigate the changing employment market.
    • Five years from now, you may be working in a job that does not even exist today. As new technology accelerates and national and global priorities (such as going green or national security) take on a new sense of urgency, new needs are identified and new jobs will be created to fill those needs. Think about this: five years ago, a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist was a job in only a handful of Web-centric companies. With the meteoric growth of Google, SEO is now a common role in just many marketing departments—and a job in relatively high demand. In the same way, the aging population has created new opportunities in elder care, the events of 9/11 created a whole new category of jobs in homeland security, and new discoveries and approaches in science have created fields like biotechnology and nanotechnology. Today’s students and job hunters must become lifetime learners to keep up with new trends.
    • The physical location of a job is no longer as important as it once was. Other than jobs that require you to serve customers in a specific location or region or jobs that require specialized equipment (as in manufacturing facilities), companies increasingly have off-site employees who stay connected via the Internet. This means that students and job hunters should be able to demonstrate the ability to work independently and produce results without consistent, direct personal supervision.
    • The growth of job posting sites online has created a glut of applicants for most posted positions. You have access to millions of job opportunities via the Web, but so do hundreds or thousands of other job seekers. Each employer must go through hundreds of resumes received for each job posted on the Web. Strategies for standing out in this crowded field becomes very important.

    These factors combine to create a job environment that is different from what most people might expect. The way you prepare for a career needs to be more flexible and more personalized. Technology will play an important role in your career development. Linking your demonstrable skills to the needs of a job will be the key to your success (Martinez & Shaker, 2021).

    Thumbprint: Girl with suitcase (Pixabay License via Pixabay)

    • Was this article helpful?