Unit 1 What is a job and how has it evolved?
Source: www.businessforall.com
- Cambridge Dictionary Online (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/job) defines a job as “the regular work that a person does to earn money”,
- Work has evolved over the years, with dramatic changes occurring over time,
- Looking at 50 years back, in the 1970s employees used to work either in a “cubicle”, if they held an entry level job or a “c-suite”, usually even on a different level, if they held a “c/chief” level job,
- Employees were also encouraged to work on their own, focus on the tasks allocated to them, meet strict deadlines and deliver their work independently,
- Technology was totally absent with communication and collaboration taking place by employing hard copies of documents, travelling from one cubicle to the next and telephone “landlines”, which meant you had to be at your office in order for someone to reach you,
- The use of electronic mail and computers emerged in the 1980s; IBM and Apple launched their own personal computers, IBM Model 5150 and Lisa respectively, in the early 1980s along with other manufacturers like Commodore and the famous Commodore 64,
- While the first dot-com address, Symbolics.com, was registered on March 15, 1985, by Symbolics Inc., a computer systems company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Internet, as we know it, meaning a global network that can facilitate collaboration and business, emerged in the mid to late 1990s.
- In the early 2000s technology is beginning to revolutionise the workplace introducing tools that transform how we work,
- The technology revolution introduces tools like smartphones, online file sharing, online collaboration and video conference, which totally alter the workspace,
- As jobs are shifting from manual to more sophisticated work, the “knowledge worker” a term coined by the management guru Peter Drucker, emerges and employees are becoming more valuable to their organisations,
- Work-life balance is introduced, and organisations shift their focus to making staff feel comfortable, allowing remote working and flexible schedules to keep staff happy and motivated,
- Addressing challenges like income inequality, gender balance, inclusiveness, diversity and promoting a healthy and safe workplace is becoming a priority for employers of all sizes.
- The main difference between a job and a career is that a job can be viewed as an activity through which an individual can earn money or make a living, while a career is usually linked to a longer, even a lifelong ambition or a goal, one chooses to pursue in a particular field of professional work,
- A career usually involves advancement and more responsibilities which increase sophistication as time passes,
- A job can be considered a short-term endeavour requiring no special planning, while a career as a long-term endeavour that will require the individual to pursue a specific path,
- A career can be seen as a project with specific tasks the career seeker must perform and milestones that must be met,
- A career requires specific skills and competences that must be developed over time, following a plan; Skills and competences are normally acquired through formal education and/or professional training,
- A job can be considered a safer path as the individual pursues stability of work and income, taking limited risks,
- A career may not mean stability as the person must pursue the advancement of her/his career by shifting jobs and priorities that will allow her/him to reach the career level sought,
- A career path maybe sought within the same organisation, especially where the organisation is large enough to accommodate one’s objectives or by shifting between jobs,
- A career can further have numerous paths, i.e. a computer engineer destined to master a programming language and change the world with his programmes, a salesperson aspiring to acquire the skills required to become a store manager or establish her/his own store, or a chef aspiring to become the food and a beverage manager of hotel chain,
- When selecting a career path several factors must be taken into consideration such as an individual’s personal skills, education, personal aspirations, financial expectations, work-life balance sought, family situation and in the end what an individual values most,
- Questions like:
- what I am good at, what do I like,
- what are my interests,
- what kind of life do I want,
- what do I want to achieve in life must be answered.