Talent Glut Swelling, From Microsoft to CNN: You Can't Dodge that Bullet

 The media is putting it this way: "Macroeconomic forces" - that's what’s doing in Microsoft's financial performance. That and more are being applied to CNN. Both are in the midst of layoffs. The Reduction-in-Force will likely continue through 2023 and maybe beyond.

Talent - Smirk

That means the glut of talent keeps ballooning. During the pandemic the concept of "talent" had been buzzy. Sectors, be they tech or professional services such as finance and law, kept chasing it. And, at the time, that began transforming the management-labor social contract. Power was shifting to the latter. More recently, professional anonymous networks chronicle how employers again have the upper hand.

If you are part of the glut, you have to rethink how you go about earning a good living. Meanwhile your industry is showing you no mercy.

Where All This Could Be

The major issue to ponder is if the surplus of your talent is temporary or permanent. 

If it's simply the fallout from those current macroeconomic forces then you can figure out some way to stay in the game even if it's on the periphery. Simultaneously you have to bring in enough income to make ends meet. That's exactly what real estate brokers had to do during the residential crash of 2008. Contacts are almost everything. So, you bet, hold onto the network.

If your skill is not so marketable because of a fundamental shift in your profession then you have to consider a career change. For example, the overcapacity of writers isn't going away. Technologies such as AI will continue to eliminate work. Also, the culture has really become visual and audio. The kind of text writers create and polish will continue to be less in demand. 

Another scenario that has played out in the past is that when the market recovers it had moved beyond you. There's no way back in. In addition, your skills probably have atrophied. Too many of the lawyers and staff who had been forced out in 2009 became The Lost Generation. On one day Latham put 440 of them on the street. Paul Weiss was atypical in not laying off. When I lectured at the New York State Bar Association I hammered how transferable their experience, once redefined, could be to other lines of work. 

Good At – So?

Obviously, the professional sense of self is being shaken. "I’m a good X" is becoming increasingly irrelevant. What counts is if there is demand for that Good X.

After decades of telling youth to find their passion, we are circling back to the pragmatism of boomer times. High school guidance counselors, our Depression-era parents, and the local politicos told it to us straight: We had to grab onto the way we could make a living in the long term. It was about The Job, Not The Career. It's useful to note that our generation has wealth. In addition, we are earning income from work beyond age 75. 

Chasing Income From Work

The game has become just that: focusing on work as a source of income. During the economic ups and downs of the 21^st century that's where I recommend my intuitive career coaching clients put their attention: streams of income. Much is changing. Eventually, sure we can return to the passion meme. But for the near term it's about getting, holding, and moving on to better work.

In transition in your career? Need more income? Healing from a professional setback? Intuitive career coaching.

“On the menu” of services are Tarot readings, both spreads and one-card pulls. Complimentary consultation.

Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com or text 203-468-8579.