http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/get_a_life_blog/2006/08/requesting_quic.html
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Chapter Two: Why corporations today cannot provide job security, no matter how hard they try
Anyone who thinks that taking a job as a corporate employee today is more stable than generating their own income is in for a rude awakening. Corporate jobs can be tremendous training grounds for learning about business and management, as well as providing temporary income streams. But if you look for a long-term, till-retirement-do-us-part work relationship, you are in for intense heartbreak. This chapter describes what has made corporations constitutionally unstable (such as radically changing marketing conditions, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, frequent top management changes and pressure from globalization). I will include tips for getting the most from your corporate experience while you are still there (some from my “Open Letter to Employees”).
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As I have ranted before, the “rules” have changed on us. We’ve gone thru several iterations of them. But the 50’s illusion of going to work for a big company, like AT&T as I did in the late sixties, working for fifty years and getting lifetime security (the rules were spelled out: don’t be drunk, don’t dip you pen in company ink, and don’t steal) with a pension and financial security at the end of the yellow brick road, are OVER! That worked for my Mom; it will NOT work for us!
ATTENTION KMART SHOPPERS the rules have changed! (There. Now you’ve all been told.)
New rules:
(1) You’re only as secure as the last paycheck that cleared!
(2) You’re only value is what you are PERCEIVED to produce! (Note: Not what you actually produce; that’s irrelevant.)
(3) You better save your pennies because at the end of the road that’s all you’ll have. (IRA, 401k, tbills, etfs)
(4) The rules, even these rules, are subject to change without notice, without logic, and on a whim. (Pay careful attention to deduce these new rules!)
(5) Old and gray, although smart and wise, is not respected, valued, or employable.
(6) Having multiple revenue streams, (i.e., a white collar job, a blue collar skill, rental properties, an ebay business, an investment portfolio, and some “mad” money), means that the loss of one stream will not materially effect your happiness. (Or your marriage, which is in case you haven’t realized it, your most important asset!)
[Feel free to add your own. I’d be interested to learn what you add! Please tell me I can be a little dense sometimes.]
FJohn
The Big Turkey
looking for “rules” in all the wrong places
Reinke Faces Life 