How Happy Job-Hoppers are Growing the Gig Economy

How Happy Job-Hoppers are Growing the Gig Economy Picture a fairly average Saturday: You wake up in your rented Airbnb, make breakfast, and hail an Uber to do some exploring. You head back “home” but are wiped out, so you order some dinner through your Postmates app. Easy as 1, 2, 3. Before you check out the next day, you worry about losing your deposit â€" so you hire a TaskRabbit to tidy up while you call a Lyft back to your apartment. After just one regular day, a person could theoretically have interacted with five or more different companies powered by one fast-growing portion of our workforce: gig workers. Fueled by companies like the ones mentioned above â€" and many more â€" the gig economy is matching app-happy consumers with a burgeoning group of workers using gig-style jobs as a side hustle, or even a full-time career. Now, according to data from Jobvite  says  19 percent of American adults say they’ve held a gig-type job. Who  are these gig workers? How  will they impact the future of our country’s labor force?  For starters, they’re young. Twenty-five percent of millennials surveyed have worked a gig job, while even more (31 percent) of 30-40 year olds have. It makes sense: those tech-savvy generations in-between jobs or taking a break from the lifelong career grind can now find lucrative opportunities straight from their mobile devices. These gig workers are also predominantly men. Twenty-two percent of men surveyed have held a gig job, while only 13 percent of women have. They typically reside in large metro areas in the West (24 percent) and the Northeast (26 percent). From gig to career Perhaps most importantly, though, gig workers are turning these side jobs into actual careers â€" and they’re happy about it. Over 55 percent of those who have held gig jobs considered it their full-time job (versus the 36 percent who considered it part-time), and Time, Burson-Marsteller, and the Aspen Institute report that 71 percent of gig workers love working in the industry. Even more, they even feel optimistic about its future: 64 percent believe they will fare better financially in the coming year. One thing’s for sure â€" the gig economy is a different type of workforce, one that enables workers to work where, when, and if they want to. Today’s job seekers already job hop almost constantly, and the gig economy doesn’t pretend to command the faithfulness that has characterized the U.S. job market for decades. There’s less formality and more flexibility, and as the on-demand economy continues to flourish on the consumer end, this style of work will only grow in popularity and desirability from the workforce as well. Heavy competition But with this new economy comes intense competition â€" between on-demand companies and their gig workers. These companies will be racing to innovate, to come up with the “next big idea” that consumers won’t be able to live without. As we get more and more comfortable (and reliant on) this on-demand lifestyle, we’ll need an even greater population of gig workers to supplement the great appetite for it. And not every company will survive. There’s no denying that the way we’ve traditionally understood work is now changing â€" and our society as a whole is evolving along with it. How the gig economy may affect you, your career, or your company will differ, but next time you’re impatiently waiting for an Uber, appreciate the transformative time we’re living in. About the author:  Amanda Van Nuys  is  Sr. Director of Marketing Communications at  Jobvite.

Are You Blaming Self for Being Unemployed - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Are You Blaming Self for Being Unemployed - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Recently, while looking around LinkedIn, I came across an article that intrigued me. It was about a book titled Flawed System/Flawed Self, written by Ofer Sharone, who taught at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where he was assistant professor of work and employment research. I ordered the book and found it amazing. The author digs deep into unemployment numbers across class and nation and makes a comparison with the same issue in Israel. The author studied the specific day-to-day activities and strategies of searching for a job and concluded that American unemployed workers blame themselves for their failure to secure employment, as opposed to Israelis, who blame the system. Consequently, Americans get disappointed and after several unsuccessful tries give up, which is not the case among Israelis. As a practicing career coach, I was intrigued and mesmerized by the concept because I see such reactions too often in working with my clients. My own conclusionâ€"based on actual empirical evidence and not academic studyâ€"is that people face multiple failures two ways: first, they are shocked by their sudden unemployment, and recovery from that shocked emotional perception is slow, which serves to slow down the job search; and second, they don’t understand what it takes to win in today’s environment of tough competition. They fail to recognize that the job marketplace has changed from what it used to be years ago and that it requires total retooling for the new uphill battle. Here, perhaps there’s a symbiotic relationship between my two tenets, which leads to a downward spiral and then ultimately to a sense of deception and disappointment. So, what is the solution? I see three necessary, basic steps for leading to success. First, have your résumé produced by a professional, certified, and recommended résumé writer. Writing résumés is a résumé writer’s full-time business, and some are excellent, producing outstanding work. In parallel with that, a job seeker needs an equally outstanding LinkedIn profile in order to get found. Second, use a recommended career coach who would organize your tasks for you and would prioritize and provide you with collateral such as sample thank-you letters and tools that keep track of your job search activities and the like. And third, practice mock interviewing with someone who is competent and can help you brand and market yourself so as to ensure that your presentation and image are impeccable. A part of mock-interviewing training should be mock negotiation as well, because if that part is done well, all of your professional expenses for the service could be not only recovered but surpassed several fold.