With very few exceptions, no person living today is guaranteed a job for life. In fact, it is probably more likely that most people living today will be career mercenaries, gig seekers, and/or job hoppers. As humans have been restructured/reduced to "resources," we work to serve the needs of our employers and their customers/clients, even if we are our own employer.
So, there are two things we can do with this information:
1) We can rage against the machine.
2) We can embrace the life of a temp worker.
And what of the temp worker? Didn't we always feel sorry for those people? Clearly, if they were any good at what they did, they'd have a full-time job like the rest of us, right? In the old paradigm, we could say this kind of thing and feel right to say it. But, not so much anymore. You see, the temp worker figured out something that the rest of us didn't, how to take advantage of the temp lifestyle.
When you are a temp, you are essentially lining up your next gig or two while you are working at the current job. As there is no loyalty to you, you treat the workplace as a non-human resource. You do your work, you get out. You seek out opportunities that have the longest timelines, but you also know that the the timeline is a best guess and you operate with the knowledge that a three week job may be a one week and done job.Hence you are always hungry and hunting. You rely on your fellow temp workers for lead and recommendation and reciprocate when you hear something.
When you are a temp, you are also looking at the mechanisms that may help you to find a good slot in an organization that you'd like to be a part. Temps are good at reading the room, knowing when to keep their heads down and when to stand out. These attributes can payoff for anybody.
So, there are two things we can do with this information:
1) We can rage against the machine.
2) We can embrace the life of a temp worker.
And what of the temp worker? Didn't we always feel sorry for those people? Clearly, if they were any good at what they did, they'd have a full-time job like the rest of us, right? In the old paradigm, we could say this kind of thing and feel right to say it. But, not so much anymore. You see, the temp worker figured out something that the rest of us didn't, how to take advantage of the temp lifestyle.
When you are a temp, you are essentially lining up your next gig or two while you are working at the current job. As there is no loyalty to you, you treat the workplace as a non-human resource. You do your work, you get out. You seek out opportunities that have the longest timelines, but you also know that the the timeline is a best guess and you operate with the knowledge that a three week job may be a one week and done job.Hence you are always hungry and hunting. You rely on your fellow temp workers for lead and recommendation and reciprocate when you hear something.
When you are a temp, you are also looking at the mechanisms that may help you to find a good slot in an organization that you'd like to be a part. Temps are good at reading the room, knowing when to keep their heads down and when to stand out. These attributes can payoff for anybody.
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