Is it Easy to Find Meaningful Temporary Work?
Finding Work Is Easy Wait, wait, WAIT! Hear me out! (OMG, we have a tough crowd today) Let me start again.
Finding work is easy.
Yes, it may only be temporary work but if you pick up any newspaper you'll find a plethora of jobs ready for you to start today...
right now.
Your body is warm - come on in, you can work! Now I don't mean to be facetious and I certainly don't want to belittle anyone in these tough economic times.
The kind of work that is plentiful today is indeed only temporary.
And much, if not most of this temporary work is so entirely devoid of meaning that it would be better for a person to stay home and either continue to search for something else, or better yet create his/her own meaningful niche.
This Temporary Work Isn't So Meaningful The kind of temporary work that is so plentiful today usually comes in two flavors: * entry level minimum wage work - flipping burgers, data entry or telemarketing * work that requires a minimum amount of retraining - eg.
either acquiring computer skills or new software to learn I've done the burgers, data and telemarketing, staying for as long as two months in one place for a summer before I just couldn't take it anymore.
The work was so meaningless and unfulfilling that it literally drove me to despair.
For others, having a minimum wage job actually costs them money.
By the time they pay for travel to and from the job and sitters for their children there is virtually nothing left over - certainly not nearly enough to put food on the table and a roof over their head.
Temporary Work That Leads to Security Gone are the days where a person would join the work force right out of school and remain with a company for 40 years.
Temporary work is the reality of the 21st century.
'Security', if you can call it that, is no longer than two-year contract - usually it's much shorter.
And even then there are no guarantees that the temporary work will last that long, with companies themselves coming and going at an alarming rate.
(Recently Maggie and I took a day trip to Kitchener, ON and were shocked to see the near total abandonment of the downtown core) In most countries, there are laws now in place defining temporary work as 'tasks that the company does not routinely or permanently require'.
The problem is that it's too easy for a company to change or modify the job description.
Every position can be deemed 'temporary work' with a bit of creativity.
What this means to you is that once the contract is done, you're gone! Another obstacle, usually faced by the older generation (50+), is that with things changing so rapidly, people must be able and willing to adapt to the requirements of today's temporary work.
As I continue to pursue my blogging career, there isn't a day goes by where I don't learn something new, whether it's the latest software or totally innovative methods of marketing so that more people know about my work.
Temporary Work - Final Words of Advice and Encouragement It's nice that I have a wife who is studying to be a career counselor.
Maggie has worked for the YWCA LEAP (Learn, Explore, Assess and Prepare) program for many years, so she is quite adept at guiding people to find meaningful temporary work leading to full-time employment.
Here is what she advises:
Some have even gone on to become independent leaders in their communities.
Maggie leaves you with these final words of encouragement: KNOW that it is possible to find meaningful temporary work which will lead to long term fulfillment.
Oh my, you just gotta Love That Feeling!
Finding work is easy.
Yes, it may only be temporary work but if you pick up any newspaper you'll find a plethora of jobs ready for you to start today...
right now.
Your body is warm - come on in, you can work! Now I don't mean to be facetious and I certainly don't want to belittle anyone in these tough economic times.
The kind of work that is plentiful today is indeed only temporary.
And much, if not most of this temporary work is so entirely devoid of meaning that it would be better for a person to stay home and either continue to search for something else, or better yet create his/her own meaningful niche.
This Temporary Work Isn't So Meaningful The kind of temporary work that is so plentiful today usually comes in two flavors: * entry level minimum wage work - flipping burgers, data entry or telemarketing * work that requires a minimum amount of retraining - eg.
either acquiring computer skills or new software to learn I've done the burgers, data and telemarketing, staying for as long as two months in one place for a summer before I just couldn't take it anymore.
The work was so meaningless and unfulfilling that it literally drove me to despair.
For others, having a minimum wage job actually costs them money.
By the time they pay for travel to and from the job and sitters for their children there is virtually nothing left over - certainly not nearly enough to put food on the table and a roof over their head.
Temporary Work That Leads to Security Gone are the days where a person would join the work force right out of school and remain with a company for 40 years.
Temporary work is the reality of the 21st century.
'Security', if you can call it that, is no longer than two-year contract - usually it's much shorter.
And even then there are no guarantees that the temporary work will last that long, with companies themselves coming and going at an alarming rate.
(Recently Maggie and I took a day trip to Kitchener, ON and were shocked to see the near total abandonment of the downtown core) In most countries, there are laws now in place defining temporary work as 'tasks that the company does not routinely or permanently require'.
The problem is that it's too easy for a company to change or modify the job description.
Every position can be deemed 'temporary work' with a bit of creativity.
What this means to you is that once the contract is done, you're gone! Another obstacle, usually faced by the older generation (50+), is that with things changing so rapidly, people must be able and willing to adapt to the requirements of today's temporary work.
As I continue to pursue my blogging career, there isn't a day goes by where I don't learn something new, whether it's the latest software or totally innovative methods of marketing so that more people know about my work.
Temporary Work - Final Words of Advice and Encouragement It's nice that I have a wife who is studying to be a career counselor.
Maggie has worked for the YWCA LEAP (Learn, Explore, Assess and Prepare) program for many years, so she is quite adept at guiding people to find meaningful temporary work leading to full-time employment.
Here is what she advises:
- Starting right where you are, take a personal inventory of your current marketable skills
- Be willing to take any temporary work you can find to give yourself a base income and possibly open doors to other opportunities
- Commit to lifelong learning, beginning with some basic requirements that will get you started in work that is meaningful for you as quickly as possible
- Be patient - a doctor, lawyer and other professionals study 4-8 years for their careers, and even then continue to study and upgrade their knowledge and skills.
Realize that it will take time - usually a minimum of 2-4 years before you will begin to see your dreams come to fruition. - Be aware - if you can't find the perfect career through temporary work, look for ways to create your own opportunities.
Some have even gone on to become independent leaders in their communities.
Maggie leaves you with these final words of encouragement: KNOW that it is possible to find meaningful temporary work which will lead to long term fulfillment.
Oh my, you just gotta Love That Feeling!