Featured Article – Synopsis
Link to article – What’s your “Employability Score”?
For many, job stability is becoming a thing of the past. Mergers, restructuring, out-sourcing, changing technologies, shifting markets or simply a new boss with a different vision, are all sources of churn affecting today’s job market. Old roles are being swept aside and transformations in the economy usher in constant changes in the way work is done and who it is done by. For the individual worker the shifting world means that there is the ever present risk that they will need to find a new role. The idea of “job for life” is pretty much gone and many working professionals are beginning to realize that the chances of them having the same role throughout their career is falling. As a result, changing jobs is a reality many professionals will have to face one or more times in their careers.
For some changing jobs many be relatively simple. If you’re working in a growth industry in which the demand for employees is exceeding demand, changing roles if the need arose may be relatively simple. For other people changing roles may be more difficult. Although such people may have experience that is of value in their current role, should their current role disappear, it would be harder for them to translate their experience into something of value elsewhere.
The degree of difficult a person would face in finding a new role (of equivalent income and responsibility level) can be a reflection of their “employability score”. The higher a person’s employability score the easier it would be for them to find a role should the need arise. The lower the score, the more trouble they would have and the greater the chances that they might be facing a period of unemployment or the need to take a role significantly below what they were used to.
There are many factors that might influence a person’s “employability score”. Among the factors might be considerations such as:
- The demand for people with your particular skill set or background
- The rate of growth or contraction in your particular business sector, industry or locality
- How widely connected you at a professional level
- How well you present yourself
- Your communication skills (how good your resume is and how clearly you can respond to questions in an interview)
But ultimately those are just a minimum bar and the jobs typically go to those who have the best experience. In the following article we look at the role projects play in building up your employability score and how proactive professionals are using projects as vehicles through which to gain new experiences and knowledge.
Link to full article – What’s Your Employability Score? A career development article from Calleam Consulting Ltd.