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5 Hard Realities of Working in Today's Economy
Tips for career planning and navigating the current economy.

People have a lot of assumptions about what working in today’s economy is going to be like. More experienced professionals (depending on the generation) may have experienced a variety of different things during their career working for a company the past few decades.
There are many positive things to focus on, and you can read a number of my career coaching insights in previous newsletter articles. However, this article is focused on a few of the negative, hard realities of working in today’s economy and how to position yourself to achieve more success given these factors.
Corporate jobs aren’t as stable as they used to be…
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average tenure for an employee at one company today is 4.1 years. I can tell you that I’ve worked for five Fortune 500 companies after earning my Bachelors Degree 22 years ago and all of them had at least one large layoff.
You may still know of some of your friends, family, or acquaintances that have worked for their company 10, 15, or 20 plus years. However, what is most likely is that they work in a high demand field (Such as software or network development, healthcare, oil & gas, etc.) where their may be supply shortages on talent OR they work at a government agency, state or local municipality.
Although, a great interview question for employers is to ask each interviewer how long they’ve been with the company. If you’ve been through 2 or 3 rounds of interviews and are finding they’ve all been with the company 10 or more years - that business is most likely a diamond in the rough and worth pursuing to an offer.
When you find these companies, I would make sure you give it 110% in the hiring process. That means “thank you emails”, showing your knowledge of their company and the industry, pre-emptively offering 3 references to contact, and covering all of your bases in interview Q & A.
Unfortunately, in todays economy, there is a shortage of companies that will invest in new hires and value legacy brand knowledge from many years of service to the business.
Having to embrace Ai…ugh.
Right now, using tools like ChatGPT are a “force multiplier” for marketing teams. However, the direction that the industry is going when looking at all career fields - I hate to say it, but we’re training our replacement folks.
Unfortunately, yes - doctors, lawyers, and accountants - the tech already exists and is in use now to replace highly educated roles such as these. Its not just retail, customer support, writing, graphic design, sales, and marketing.
It’s good to learn these tools and leverage them to be 20% better at what you do, but the goal of these tools is not to augment our abilities or make us better - it’s to replace us. Be very mindful of this when employers start asking to record video calls, provide an audit of your process, templates of your work, or flat out ask you to sign away you likeness. Scary stuff, I know.
In the meantime, leverage these tools, because its expected at a lot of companies today, but be mindful of the pathway. It’s not 5 or 10 years from now that Skynet becomes self-aware LOL. The product development for AI services is expanding exponentially - and I’m seeing dramatic changes happening within the 12 to 24 months timeframe.
Promoting from within isn’t as common as it used to be.
Another great interview question is to ask if the company has a culture of promoting from within. Having worked for several Fortune 500 companies, I can tell you that many companies still have a culture of promoting from within.
I’ve also seen the ugly side where companies continually believe that they either don’t have the right people or can’t train the people they have to do the future demands of the business. This is usually a false reality.
Much of the time, employees can be re-trained. Also, legacy brand knowledge comes with tenure at a company and you can’t just hand the 10 years to someone that is day one on the job. It’s years of knowing what programs performed, what tactics were already tried, what ways the companies done things, relationships with customers, and so on.
This can be a red flag when interviewing with a company. If you’re looking for a business with more stability, ask if they have a culture of promoting. Granted this won’t account for any volatility within a particular industry, but I’ve found it to be a solid interview question regarding company culture.
Many companies are an “every man for himself” environment.
I’ve always had a team player mindset as well as a desire to maximize my contribution to the business. Know that not all companies will see how much you help the team and regard that as adding value to the business.
You may help several people boost their performance or even get promoted, but at the end of the day - you might get hit with “what have you done for me lately?” Make sure you’re mindful of your own contribution to the business (each week) in the eyes of the leadership team.
In the interviewing process, you can probe around this concept by asking if they are looking for people that can coach and mentor others on the team. Asking this of the person that you will report to will be even more insightful.
Overall, I think being a strong team player is more valuable for the seasoned professionals that are typically paid more and are also going to impart wisdom, knowledge, and experience gains to younger employees within the organization.
Politics and politicking can dominate some large city office environments.
Most people I have met in an office or working remotely have been great team players and genuinely want to contribute to the success of the business.
However, you will most likely run into one or two people at any company that are 110% focused on themselves, climbing the ladder, appearing to be the hero, and occasionally will step on the head of anyone in their way.
You may have seen one of them. Some of them spending their entire day going from one leadership team members office to another - talking themselves up, while everyone works diligently to hit the companies KPI’s that they will later take full credit of achieving.
Because of these anomaly’s (lets just call them that) in the company, it’s very important that you “manage your personal brand” in the eyes of the leadership team. Managing this personal brand will not only reduce your work stress, but build towards a longer tenure with the company.
Your personal brand involves even the simple things like always being dressed for success, being the first person in the office, and greeting everyone daily.
More important things such as hitting a big KPI - make sure everyone knows about it. I know it sounds self-centered, but you don’t want people to forget about you when thinking of key contributors.
Things like when you perform a special project for another department - make sure you hit a homerun on these periodic and random tasks. Mainly because that project you did is going to be 100% of what operations, finance, or said department thinks of you and communicates to leadership when asked.
Overall, I’ve found that happiness at your job is going to depend primarily on what you enjoy about “the company you work for”, “the role you have”, “your relationship with your boss”, and “your total compensation package”.
However, you don’t have to be in love with all four of these categories to be happy long-term working for a business. Some of it depends on your priorities. If you have questions about these topics, you can email me at [email protected] anytime.