You probably remember your parents telling you to go to college so that you can get a good career and be set for life. That advice is getting less and less sound and more people are finding that they need to change jobs and even overhaul their career once or twice in their lifetime.
What we’re seeing is that a career is less of a guarantee these days, and with money-making opportunities abounding maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Origins Of The Word Career
The word career comes from French and Italian words meaning road or racecourse, representing a clearly defined path that’s designed to get you to from Point A to Point B in your life. It started being used a lot more in the 60’s through the 90’s but interestingly enough has stabilized in the last two decades and we could start to see a decline from use going forward.
How Things Used To Be
It used to be that you could get a career right out of high school and stay with that company for decades until you retired. Not only would they give you a great wage, they’d also provide you with health insurance, vacation pay, sick pay, maternity leave, match your 401k payments, and set you up with a retirement package.
These days a bachelor’s degree doesn’t seem to be enough to cut it, and after you spend all the time and expense of getting an undergrad degree and then getting a master’s degree, you’ll still enter a job market where most people change jobs 10-15 times in their working years.
Corporate Loyalty Has Faded Away
It’s a two-way street, and not only are you unlikely to find one company that will employ you for your entire life, employees are not showing the same sort of loyalty they once did. In order to advance in today’s business world it is often necessary to entertain offers from other companies in order to take the next big step in your career.
Some are finding it easier to shift into completely unrelated areas, leaving behind their old job and starting fresh in a new industry, even returning to school to get educated in a new field entirely.
Entrepreneurship Is On The Rise
You can see the entrepreneurial spirit of our time in the form of the rising gig industry where many people are turning to side gigs such as rideshare driving in order to pad their income or as an alternative to a traditional career.
Today’s workforce is not depending on one employer to take care of them their whole lives and set them up for retirement, they’re taking matters into their own hands and calling their own shots when it comes to how they live their lives.
What The Future Holds
Right now is a great time to find side gigs you can do to supplement your income or even as a full-time job. In the near future it seems like there will be more opportunities for this type of work, and less need for a nine-to-five, work-for-30- years-and-then-retire sort of set up.
In five to ten years there may be fewer opportunities available but for now it’s time to get while the getting’s good and make as much as you can while these opportunities still exist.
