Change Your Job, Change Your Life: Careering and Re-Careering in the New Boom/Bust Economy (9th Edition)

interview with author Ron Krannich on Dec.9, 2005.

Welcome to the ninth edition of Change Your Job, Change Your Life. In the seventh edition, written in 1999 during a period of major economic expansion and optimism, I began this Preface with these cautionary and now prophetic words:

We enter the 21st century with lots of trendy and chauvinistic theories about the end of inflation, unemployment, and jobs based on nearly nine consecutive years of unprecedented American economic growth. We should be so fortunate, and perhaps naive, especially since were surrounded by a world that is still trying to recover from a major economic bust that began in 1997.

Elsewhere I challenged the end of the boom/bust economy theory:

The roaring 90s showed signs of re-entering a traditional boom/bust cycle at the beginning of the 21st century. A turbulent international environment and unique events seemed to be better guides to the future than this trendy low inflation theory. Boom and bust cycles seemed well and alive, although temporarily residing abroad, and would most likely affect future jobs and careers in America….The bust side of another boom/bust cycle did not seem far away.

A New Economy and Job Market

Sixteen months later the highly over-valued stock market and shaky dot-com economy crashed and unemployment increased significantly. One of the most important unique events in American history took place on September 11, 2001 with simultaneous deadly terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC. An already ailing New Economy officially went into recession and unemployment continued to increase as the luster came off this over-hyped economy. Major business scandals left over from the go-go days of the late 90s once again revealed a boom/bust economy which also had become a cowboy/casino economy – a place where lots of people ponyed up to get rich quick on risky New Economy schemes and scams. – In the process, many people lost their jobs, and personal insecurity increased accordingly.

By mid-2004, the economy appeared to be gradually recovering from the 2001 recession. However, it was a rather anemic recovery characterized by a great deal of Wall Street hype countered by evidence of a jobless recovery. While the economy showed increased signs of strength, largely due to a booming housing sector, low interest rates, and high levels of consumption/indebtedness, few new jobs were being created in this recovering economy.

Indeed, the low rate of job growth was largely due to two related developments – increases in workplace productivity and the offshoring of jobs to cheap labor markets. The boom side of this New Economy generated few new jobs, and what jobs it did create were disproportionately low-wage jobs for people without a four-year degree. This new trend had important implications for individuals who would increasingly face difficulties in finding good-paying jobs in the decade ahead. For them, careering and re-careering would play an important role in their future.

As we go to press in late 2004, the economy appears weak, job growth modest and mysterious, and offshoring remains an important economic and political issue in a volatile presidential election year. At the same time, the economy and job market operate in the shadow of a war on terrorism and limited, high-cost world oil supplies.

What used to appear as unique events that could unexpectedly alter the economy and job market now seem to be predictable events. One important lesson learned since 2001 is that a major act of terrorism can fundamentally alter the economy and thus the job market. In fact, Americans live in a new era of uncertainty where major global events can have a significant impact on the jobs and careers of individuals.

The Book

This book was originally published in 1983 as Re-Careering in Turbulent Times. It has been periodically updated to reflect changes in the economy, job market, and employment scene. Many of the predictions and principles I outlined in the original book, as well as in subsequent editions under the title Careering and Re-Careering, remain true today.

Above all, this is a book about empowerment – taking charge of your own career destiny. Unlike other career planning and job search books, I’ve purposely placed individual-level strategies and techniques within the larger context of a turbulent economy where the best laid plans often go awry because of unanticipated events.

The process I call careering and re-careering for uncertain economic times is as true today as it was 23 years ago. Indeed, I continue to hear from readers who have successfully used the book in planning their careers and changing jobs.

This book has benefited from over two decades of observations and analyses of the changing U.S. economy and employment scene. What has emerged during that time is a highly competitive, talent-driven economy that requires new skill sets that did not exist two decades ago. In this fascinating economy and its rapidly changing job market, a clear pattern for career success is evident: the best jobs go to those who are well educated, skilled in the new economy, work hard, behave like savvy entrepreneurs, and know when to stay and when to leave.

Since jobs change, so must you. Today’s economy continues to transform the nature of work and the workplace with lightning speed. The skills you acquired recently may soon become obsolete. Not surprisingly, the job you have today may disappear tomorrow. One thing is certain: we live in a highly volatile economy where jobs are constantly created and destroyed in response to the changing nature of work and the workplace.

If left to the winds of change, your future will be very uncertain. The job you possess today will not be the one you possess five years from now. And the job you’ll have in five years may pay less than the one you have today.

The Possible New You

So where are you going with the rest of your life? Do you have the power to shape your future and change your life, or do you feel powerless – a passive recipient of changes initiated by others?

If you want to change your life, you first must possess the power to change your job and your career direction. For the power to change jobs and chart new careers is also the power to potentially change your life.

Whether you are starting your first job or changing jobs or careers, you’re joining millions of other people who redefine their lives by changing what they do. Possessing this power to change is one of the most important assets for determining what you will do with the rest of your life.

Change your job and you’ll probably change your life too! Never has this dictum been truer than in today’s economy. The job you occupy today will most likely be radically different from the one you will perform 10 or 20 years from now.

Like it or not, you will pursue careers that never existed 10 or 20 years ago. You will probably seek jobs and careers that are most compatible with your work-life goals. When given the choice, you will change jobs, because you want to change your life. If you’re smart about your future, you will pursue jobs fit for you rather than try to fit your interests and skills into existing jobs.

While many successful people acknowledge a mixture of serendipity, excellent connections, sound planning, and smart decisions for their career fortunes, few people are fortunate to see their career and lifestyle dreams come true. Only some people are lucky enough to find a job they really love going to each day. Buffeted by the winds of change, many people feel they lack the power to shape their lives.

Indeed, most people fall into jobs by chance, fail to examine many job and career alternatives suitable for their interests and skills, and pursue careers that are less than fully rewarding. After a few years of work experience, they wish they had better planned their careers as well as their lives. But by then many feel it is too late to make fundamental changes in their career direction.

Their jobs lock them into particular lifestyles which appear increasingly difficult to change. Facing the realities of family, home ownership, mortgages, and the high cost of daily living, they either don’t dream or they feel limited in their ability to make their dreams come true by taking the risks necessary for changing jobs and careers.

They accept their present work and life pattern as inevitable rather than something they can shape in the future. Like millions of others, they feel stuck in what appears to be a career rut. Only if they lost their present job would they be forced into making some major changes in how they approach the world of work and their lives.

Many people do lose their jobs; the fortunate ones see such a loss as a wake-up call, re-examine their lives, and move on to more rewarding work. Others are less fortunate.

If you are not doing what you really love to do, if you’re unsure what you might do better, if you are interested in exploring new career possibilities, or if you are interested in creating a work-life that is compatible with a desirable lifestyle, then this book is for you. If followed closely, it will help you give renewed direction to your career as well as chart a clear course for doing what you really want to do with the rest of your life.

This book is all about how to better experience serendipity, plan your career, and make intelligent job moves. It’s a very different book for individuals interested in finding jobs and planning their futures. Unlike other career books, this one focuses on the processes of careering and re-careering within the context of an economy and society undergoing fundamental restructuring.

Given this context, job search skills alone are not enough for long-term job and career success. Individuals must learn to career and re-career several times during their work lives. This means continuously acquiring new work-content skills, making strategic career moves, and relocating to communities which offer better job and career opportunities. They must be open, adaptive, and mobile.

With vision, determination, and a well organized plan of action, you should do well in finding rewarding jobs and careers in the decade ahead. But if you lack the necessary knowledge, skills, and motivation, you could well repeat past patterns as well as find yourself in a dead-end job which offers few rewards and a less than promising future.

If you are unemployed or about to experience a major career transition, this may be the best time to seriously consider acquiring new skills and relocating to communities offering more promising job and career opportunities. For what will certainly emerge in the decade ahead is a restructured job market in which the best jobs go to those who have the requisite education, training, and retraining capabilities demanded by employers in the new and rapidly changing job market. The worst jobs – those offering limited opportunities for career advancement and few financial rewards – will go to those who fail to take initiative to acquire the necessary education, training, and retraining to get ahead in this job market.

Dealing With Uncertainty

What should you do in the face of an uncertain job future? Are you prepared to take fundamental control of your job and your life?

If you feel your job is a life sentence, if you dread going to work, if your work is unfulfilling, if you think you’re inadequately compensated, or if you’re not doing what you really love to do, consider changing your job – and your life. You’ll never regret having taken a risk to create a better life for you and those around you.

I know, because I and millions of others have successfully careered and re-careered. Thousands of others do so each year. We’ve discovered the secrets to changing our lives by changing our jobs. We’ve decided to risk discovering new jobs and careers that are right for us.

One thing has not changed in this new edition – the underlying philosophy of this book. It’s very simple, real, and achievable: you are responsible for your own employment fate. And you must become even more responsible for your employment in the decade ahead, a revolutionary period of major economic restructuring both at home and abroad. No one is responsible for giving you a job or keeping you on the job indefinitely.

While the government operates many different employment programs, these are primarily designed for people who lack basic work skills and initiative. They help train people for an uncertain and unpredictable job market affected by a larger, yet equally uncertain and unpredictable, economy which is responsible for both creating and destroying jobs. On the other hand, employers spend over $300 billion each year on training and retraining programs for ensuring a competent and competitive workforce.

You should put your employment fate in your own hands by learning how to operate in the job markets of today and tomorrow. In other words, the philosophy here is one of individual responsibility and empowerment – empower yourself to make things happen your way rather than in response to the wishes and whims of others as well as the boom and bust cycles of the economy.

Today’s 8 million unemployed merely testify to the validity of this philosophy. Many wish they had taken better care of their jobs and careers prior to receiving the shocking news that they were dismissed. And millions of others seek more rewarding jobs.

While I focus primarily on the individual, I’m also aware of the importance of other forces and actors affecting jobs and careers.

Consequently, the first part of this book places the individual within the larger context of today’s changing economy. There I analyze the present economy and employment situation as well as identify trends and make predictions for the future that have particular relevance for individuals.

For the remaining 80 percent of the book, I return to you, the individual, who must operate within this larger organizational and societal context.