The Job Horror Show

We are now entering the Industrial Revolution 4.0 but most people don’t know it.

For those lucky enough to have been born in the western world shortly after World War II, there was what can be described as a “golden age” of employment. While there might not have been “jobs for life” during this era from the 1950s to 1990s there was a reasonable sense of job security.

My father, for example, had three jobs in his 45-year working life, ending up with a management position with an aerospace company for 30-plus years. At the end of it all was a gold watch, a pewter mug (which now sits on my bookshelf) and a handshake.

KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN
In many ways this was a golden age in that if you were willing to work hard and had some basic skills you could be assured of a job – or at least not suffer too much from the gap between jobs.
Today, many people are coming to realize that the old certainties of job security are fast disappearing. We are now transitioning into what for many is proving a job horror show.

Granted, there are some professions that may weather the test of time. If you are a lawyer, doctor or even a plumber or electrician, chances are job security will not be too much of a challenge.

THE NEW NORM
But for the vast majority of people the job horror show is proving the new norm.

The job horror show features fewer job opportunities, lower salaries, lower freelance rates, and on occasions zero hour contracts. In some cases, it involves robots or automation muscling in and stealing your job if your work in a fast-food restaurant or even a bank, where the trend is towards automation and the axing of bank branches.

By and large, most people are brought up to be “good employees” in order to fuel the modern-day economy. You are a cog in the works. What this typically means is you depend on your job and your boss in order to put food on your table and support your family.

Yet this is proving an increasingly perilous path to pursue. Even those in well-paid positions can find the rug pulled from under them. Maybe there is a good severance pay package, maybe not.

STIFLING OPPORTUNITIES
The reality for many people going forward is that the job horror show will loom large and in many ways stifle employment decisions.

During my long journalism career, I found that I did not need to worry too much about my job prospects in the jumps I made from one position to another, or when a magazine I was working for closed down.

But for many journalists today, the horror is an ever-present reality. People are being laid off left, right and center, jobs are hard to get, and for freelancers, the opportunities and pay rates are on a downward slide.

For many young people fresh out of college, jobs are proving increasingly hard to find.

HORROR OR EXCITEMENT
The Industrial Revolution 4.0 is both frightening and exciting. Those stuck in the old mindset of reliance on a job for survival could suffer due to increasing job insecurity and poor pay rates.

Yet there is hope for those who seek to grab control of their lives by leveraging the tools now at their fingertips, namely the opportunities provided through the internet.

If you are reading this, chances are you recognize the promise of the net. You one of a growing band of people seeking to take control of your life through building a business online, leveraging the internet to gain more followers or customers, or generally building an online presence.

The opportunities are exciting. But they also are challenging. Where should you start? What should you pursue? What strategy should you take?

And what mindset is essential in order to succeed in this new world?

Stay tuned!