Job security is a thing of the past, and we are all entrepreneurs now whether we work for ourselves or someone else. Are you ready to navigate the new-millennium working world? Here are ten ways to get there!
Source: Job Security Is Disappearing — What Does It Mean For You?
This is an important article to read, especially as a technical communicator. I know that for me, the idea of a long term position and job security was gone by the time I got out of college almost thirty years ago. Just as this article says, the idea of working in the same place for a long time is almost unheard of. I’ve never worked anywhere full-time for more than three years. (The next longest gig, that wasn’t a volunteer one, was two and a half years with a three month break, and then brought back on part-time for a couple hours here and there for the past year and a half. Not quite the same.) I have been looking for a full-time technical communications position for MANY years. I have never known job security, so when I am unemployed or “between jobs”, I truly get restless and feel freaked out, because I know that you have to be able to grab whatever you can get in a fleeting moment. Full-time, employee positions are very rare, especially where I live. If you find a tech comm-related job, it’s practically a guarantee that it’s going to be some sort of contract job for short-term or long-term (long-term being a year or more). I’m aware of companies that have contractor policies that contractors can’t stay more than 18 months, so they’ll hire a person for 18 months, give the person a three month break, then rehire them–rinse, lather, repeat. The longest corporate limitation I’ve heard is three years. On rare occasions, you do hear of contractors who have gone “temp to perm”, being hired as full employees. I’ve rarely seen that happen. I almost experienced it, but instead the company had layoffs just as they were about to bring me on full-time, and laid me off instead.
The point is that with tech comm work these days, a lot of it ends up being contract work, and unfortunately, most companies still haven’t figured out that tech comm people aren’t expendable. We are always needed for something. Just like the remote working issues, undercutting workers without some sort of job security is just…difficult. This article talks in depth gives a few pointers on how to put it all in perspective.
What do you think? Do you think there’s still job security in tech comm? Include your comments below.
–TechCommGeekMom
