THE BEECHMONT CREST CAREER GUIDE:
SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN THE CORPORATE JUNGLE
Chapter 1: What do Employers Want?
There is a silver lining—if you are willing to adapt to the environment
“There is no security on this earth. Only opportunity.”
-Douglas MacArthur
As the famous general suggests, all “sure things” are temporary. Throughout your working lifetime, the economy will undergo numerous boom and bust cycles, entire industries will pass in and out of existence, and the ingredients that make up a “killer resume” will change many times over. The lesson: you’ve got to be willing to read the market, then retrain and reorient yourself as necessary. These are harsh words to start out with, but I wouldn’t be doing you a favor if I painted the picture any other way.
In the book Paradigms: the Business of Discovering the Future, author Joel Barker describes the concept of the paradigm shift. A paradigm shift occurs when the rules of the environment change radically, creating new winners and losers. Barker cites the example of the complacent Swiss watch industry of the late 1960s. In 1968, Swiss watchmakers dominated about two thirds of worldwide timepiece sales. They had spent decades perfecting their techniques for manufacturing mechanical watches; and no one could beat the Swiss at making watches with springs, gears, and other movable parts.
Nevertheless, about 80% of Swiss watchmakers lost their jobs between 1979 and 1980. The Swiss watch industry was destroyed by the now commonplace quartz watch. Ironically, representatives of the Swiss watch industry had gotten an advance look at quartz watch technology in 1968. (The technology was initially developed at a research facility in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.) However, they failed to act, leaving room for innovators who recognized the significance of quartz watches, like the Japanese company Seiko. By the mid-1980s, Japan--not Switzerland--was the world’s leading watchmaker.
The Swiss watchmakers had advance insight of the sweeping changes that were about to remake the timepiece industry. However, they failed to act, remaining trapped in a comfortable, but no longer valid set of assumptions. As a member of the global workforce, you can avoid the fate of the Swiss watchmakers through your willingness to observe trends, acquire new skills, and periodically reinvent yourself.
Career Tip: Read the business press. Publications like The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek and Fortune provide timely insights regarding industry and hiring trends.
Companies reinvent themselves, too. The Finnish electronics giant Nokia began as a manufacturer of paper products and rubber boots. Toyota Motor Company is now Japan’s top automaker, but the company began as a manufacturer of automated looms for the textile industry.
Copyright 2006 Beechmont Crest Publishing