Everyone gets fired why your corporate job is a risker bet than going it alone

Our world completely changed over the last 20 years and we didn’t even notice.

Executive roles now have a life span of 18 months to 3 years. Far removed from the last century (that’s 18 years ago by the way) when you had a job for life and spent 20 years with the same company.

There is massive disruption occurring in our careers, yet our approach to our future career and livelihood has remained the same for almost a century.

I don’t like my job, better find another one. Call a recruiter, have a coffee and wait for a call back.

How is that approach going for you?

Not as well as you’d hoped huh? Well there is another way and that involves taking control of your own career and stop relying on large corporates to do it for you.

So, what’s been going on to cause all this change?

Well, for a start, big institutions have gotten smaller and they continue to do so. Ever decreasing risk profiles driven by conservative parent companies overseas means that the larger firms only want to deal with other firms that look just like themselves in size, stature and of course “risk”.

Only 10 years ago, large financial institutions had a varied client base including individuals and small business. Today it is rare for large firms like this to have clients considerably smaller than themselves.

Secondly, the idea of the “job for life” is no more and roles tend to be no more than 2–3 years in length on average.

Loyalty is not a relevant trait for either employer or employee. Firms now realise that rapid growth in globalisation and technology means that they can no longer even pretend to offer a job for life.

Employees (the smart ones anyway) also know that they need to continually re-invent themselves and have a short to medium term plan around where they next job is likely to be. If such a next job does exist.

Previously employers and staff had an unwritten “loyalty contract” which said that if a staff member works hard and continues to improve their performance then the employer will look after him or her with a secure job and increasing wages and responsibilities going forward. Sadly, some employers still try to insist that such contracts exist, but I think we all know in our hearts that this is no longer the case.

Globalisation has meant that shared services centres for “non-core” support services has become the norm. Attractive tax jurisdictions and countries with low-cost workforces have become the winners from this trend. Developed countries such as Australia are among the losers.

When I first moved to Australia, a senior banking friend relayed the following parable which sums up the situation well…”Tony, for large organisations like ours Australia is insignificant and let me tell you why…In New York we have 3 buildings full of staff, in London we have two buildings, in Hong Kong we have one building, in Singapore we have a floor and in Sydney we have a room…”

Yet we continue to hear that jobs are on the rise in Australia and unemployment has dropped. Sounds great, but it is simply not true.

So how does the Australian Bureau of Statistics classify if you are in work?

According to established international standards, everyone who works for at least one hour or more for pay or profit is considered to be employed. So, if you drive an Uber for one hour, then you are not unemployed. Huh?

What this means is that in today’s world, everybody gets fired and this eventuality is simply a function of time. No matter how senior you are, how indispensable you may feel, you too will be fired. The equation is simple — the longer you have been at an organisation, the more likely it is that you will be fired

So, what are you going to do about it?

In Australia alone, there are now hundreds maybe even thousands of highly qualified professionals either wanting to or having to finding “another way” of working. This list of outsiders includes those made redundant, who are older, have returned from overseas after long periods, are hoping to return to the workforce after having or raising families.

As one recruiter remarked to me recently, these guys have more chance of being hit by lightning than of me finding them a job.

So, we need to adjust to a new reality of most likely never having another single corporate role. Instead, we will need to look at having more than one employer or client or working on projects with periods of inactivity in between. Or in short working for ourselves either by establishing a business or operating as a contractor.

If you do currently have a role at a large corporate please don’t get complacent, you can (and most likely will) become part of this group very quickly. You have the following choices ahead of you:

Think about it.

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