1. Jobs as Short-Term Projects: Challenges for Career Coaches
LaBarre Spence
7/31/2019

2. Situation VUCA world – volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous
Darwin – not survival of fittest – as much as survival of best equipped for change
Adaptability is key --- speed of change*
Creative destruction -- mass layoffs, buyouts .
*Career Thought Leaders, 2011 Global Career Brainstorming Day

3. Situation Shorter job experiences
Average number of career changes increasing*
7 to 11 careers
Generational expectations and contrasts
Gen Y’s and Millenials
Experienced workers
“New normal” .
*???

4. Situation: Employers Great Expectations
Investors expect more of companies
Companies expect more of employees
Employees expect more of companies
Employees expect more of themselves
24/7 timeframe; global playing field .

5. Situation: Employers Less tolerant of poor fit, need to shift quickly
Can’t/Don’t take as much time to build talent
Needs, therefore jobs continually evolving
Desire flexibility in engaging employees
Part-time work, freelance, contract work .

6. Situation: Employers
Change -- in worker’s opinions about career and workplace evolving at faster pace
Growth opportunities for Employees
Prefer opportunity for creative thinking (95%)
Identifying new and better ways of doing things (88%)
Work-life balance – satisfaction, productivity, retention – desired but not delivered
Emerging Workforce Study, 2009 SFN Group .

7. Situation: Employers
Retention - By 2015, 76% of U.S. jobs will demand highly skilled employees; labor shortage, knowledge gaps
Cultural shifts
Adoption of social media
Workers’ desire to be connected to org’s mission and aligned with workers’ values
Emerging Workforce Study, 2009 SFN Group .

8. Situation: Individuals
Required to be more proactive; Career Management
More aware of changes internally and externally
More focused on own path; self sufficient
Pursue experience/exposure vs. stability
Short term approach with long-term view .

9. Situation: Individuals
LinkedIn -- transparency in your skills/experiences and others’ skills
Constantly expand skills and expertise
Build network
Seek opportunities to apply skills in new areas
Part-time, freelance, contract work .

10. Situation: Individuals
Careers utilizing strengths daily
Pursue their passion – all ages accepted
You, Inc. – Tom Peters
Individual needs to
Provide own health care
Bridge income gaps with savings
Manage own retirement planning
Invest in own education .

11. Implications for Career Coaches?
Career Vitality
Role of Career Coach
Brand Focused
Development Oriented .

12. Implications: Career Vitality
Always in demand, never extinct
Change, adapt, skills and work focus to fit new goals and current business environment
Build capability to continually build value
From Lifetime Employment to
Lifetime Employability*
*Career Thought Leaders, 2011 Global Career Brainstorming Day .

13. Implications for Career Coaches
Portfolio skills, building for the next job
Vision, creativity, advocacy
More proactive, more defined
Increased value of short-term experiences – contract, projects
Continuous evolution of capabilities/ ongoing checking in and assessment
Longer duration, greater frequency .

14. Implications: Personal Brand Focused
Distinctive value
Roles, how, style
Help client build personal brand
Employed and in transition
Extreme transparency/comparison opportunities .

15. Implications: Personal Brand Focused
Help client self-market
Proactive search – current job and in transition
Social media
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+
82% of recruiters
Online digital brand – William Arruda
Lifelong career management/free agent attitude
good branding => careful career search => job satisfaction* .
*Career Thought Leaders, 2011 Global Career Brainstorming Day

16. Implications: Development Mentality
Development vs. Placement
Continually building for the next job
Client/coach identify next role(s)/goals
Know desired competencies/profile for next step
Ongoing evaluation/research/observation
Understand strengths/weaknesses – gap analysis
Utilize multiple assessments .

17. Implications: Development Mentality
Create/implement dynamic, capability building strategy
Experience-, skill-, knowledge-building opportunities
Clarity of purpose, value, outcomes .

18. Competencies for the Future
Trans disciplinary
Cross-cultural competency
Computational thinking
Programming, using data to solve real world problems .
Future Skills 2020 Report, Institute for the Future

19. Competencies for the Future
Sense making – drawing deeper meaning from facts
Cognitive load management – continuous learning an managing attention challenges
Social intelligence – synthesize knowledge, apply to help people, collaborate with people of different skills and emotional intelligence .
Future Skills 2020 Report, Institute for the Future

20. Challenges/Opportunities
Are we ready for this change?
How do we change/evolve?
Are our clients ready for this change? Do they have a choice?
Success depends upon:
Can control (desired brand, education, experience, track record, network)
Can’t control (U.S. and world economy, politics, fads, management, government, weather) .