Looking at Your Career from a Turkeys Perspective - Career Pivot

Looking at Your Career from a Turkey's Perspective - Career Pivot Careers and Turkey? The turkey metaphor comes from the book, End of Jobs by Taylor Pearson. I reviewed this book a couple of months ago in the post, The End of Jobs â€" A Book Every Boomer Should Read. Taylor compares our careers to turkeys. Taylor wrote in his book: A turkey is fed for a thousand days by a butcher; every day confirms to its staff of analysts that butchers love turkeys ‘with increased statistical confidence.’ The butcher will keep feeding the turkey until a few days before Thanksgiving…[The] turkey will have a revision of beliefâ€"right when its confidence in the statement that the butcher loves turkeys is maximal and ‘it is very quiet’ and soothingly predictable in the life of the turkey.” N.N. Taleb From the day a Thanksgiving turkey is born, everything about its lifeindicatethatthings are only going to get better. It’s hatched in a safe, sterile environment. It’s cared for and fed daily. Every single day, this pattern happens again. It wakes up to find plenty of food and a place to live. It is at themomentwhen the turkey has the mosthistoricaldata to show that its life is likely tokeepimproving, on the 4th Wednesday of November, that it realizes â€" It’s not so good to be a turkey. Since writing the review, I have been asked multiple times to talk about being a turkey. Last week, I was on Thom Singer’s Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do podcast and thetitle of the session isMarc Miller â€" Career Pivot…..Don’t be a Turkey. On Friday of this week, I will be speaking to the IIBA Austin chapteron the topic “Looking at Your Career from a Turkey’s Perspective and What To Do Instead.” I’ve never seen a metaphor resonate with people so quickly. Thank You, Taylor!! A Turkey’s Perspective In 1978, when I was right out of Northwestern, I went to work for IBM. I was a turkey. Listen to the most recent episode No worries. I would always have a job. Well, until January of 1993 when IBM nearly filed for bankruptcy. I then realizedit was not so good to be a turkey at IBM. IBM discontinued the full employment policy. They had their first layoffs in history and closed multiple locations. A lot of my colleagues were blindsided by what happened. They were not prepared financially or emotionally. Prior to October of 2001, Enron was a great place to work. Their stock was soaring. The company executives encouraged everyone to invest in Enron stock. Of course, October of 2001 came, and the rest is history. Many Enron employees lost everything, as they had all of their retirement savings in Enron stock. One year ago, if you worked in the oil industry, it would have been easy to be a turkey. Oil prices were over $100/barrel. Frackinghad revolutionized the industry. All things were great. When prices dipped below $30/barrel early this year, it was not so great to be in the oil industry. It is easy to be lulled into being a turkey when things are good. Have you been a turkey? My guess is that many of you will say yes. Gig Economy We are rapidly moving to a “gig” economy. There are many projections that, by 2020, almost half of the people in the United States will be contractors, freelancers or consultants. You can not afford to be a turkey. You always have to be looking for your next gig. I know this is not fun for most of you. You want to get into a position, do a good job and stay there for a while. For some, that will be possible. Today, the average job lasts a little under 5 years. If you think you will be in a job for the next 10 years, it may be possible…but not likely. You have to be prepared to move on at any time, or you will be a turkey. I developed the Targeted Job Search process so that you are always looking for your next gig, whether you are an employee of a company or a free agent. My next post will be How not to be a Turkey in the Gig Economy. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...