• Posted on Jan 8, 2019

I truly believe that 2019 will be unlike any year we’ve had from a career development perspective. With less than two months left of the year, MCDA has been focusing on planning cutting-edge learning and growth opportunities to help prepare you for the challenges of this upcoming year. We’ll be offering two webinars at $10 each for members during the months of November, January, March, and June for a total of 8 so far. As more webinar and other learning opportunities come our way; we’ll be sharing them with you. Also, if you attend a training session outside of MCDA that you’ve found valuable, please let us know so we can the opportunity with others. 

As we start to prepare for some much needed spring cleaning of our career facilitation toolboxes, it would benefit us to keep in mind what’s still working and what makes sense to let go. Although I can’t say for certain what 2019 holds, from a career development perspective, here are three of the top issues I think are applicable for career practitioners to prepare for:

1. Millennials are shaping the workplace. Despite Millennials being the largest generation in the U.S. labor force since 2016, the older generations have continued to demand and follow the status quo. Now, as we turn into 2019, the profound impact of Millennials in the workplace is in full swing. There’s no mistaking the definitive deep change in workplace culture, hiring methods, and employee engagement that the Millennials have commanded.

Many employers lost promising and highly qualified Millennials to other organizations whose hiring processes were more personable (i.e. less formal and more friendly), efficient, and technologically friendly (such as permitting them to conduct interviews virtually). When the majority of the workplace consist of Millennials, organizations must shift gears to attract and retain them in order to stay competitive.

Career practitioners may find their Millennial client base increasing, since most working professionals are indeed Millennials. We can leverage the broad data about how to serve and attract Millennials from a helping skills and consultative perspective without making our strokes too broad; which can be challenging.

1. The Marijuana industry is REAL. Career practitioners who don’t start understanding at least the basics of the industry won’t be doing themselves any favors. At the MCDA conference this past year, I presented Unconventional Labor Market Information: Marijuana, Sex Work, and Other Unusual Career Paths. During this presentation I shared that the marijuana industry is projected to be the second fastest job growth sector at 17%, only after the “healthcare and social assistance sector” which is projected to be #1 at 21%. Well above the #3 fasted growing sector of Construction which comes at a distant 13%. In other words, the marijuana industry is not something to be taken lightly. As a matter of fact, in the November 2018 issue of The Beacon, which is a free paper magazine for people over 50, an article titled “Is medical marijuana for you?” was on the front page. Marijuana is mainstream. It’s legit and thriving. More and more states are opening up their arms to the industry and the economic and health benefits it brings with it.

In my private practice, I’ve found that jobs in the marijuana industry are particularly appealing to my clients in health care who’ve been burned out by unrealistic expectations and inadequate resources at their places of work.

1. The Gig Economy & Sandwich Generation are HERE. I believe it when workflexibility.org says that, “One big reason for this shift in the work landscape stems from Millennial attitudes around work and life. The sweet spot of the workforce, Millennials favor flexibility, fun, and freedom in their work.” I believe that the Gig Economy is a result of not just Millennials, but of the perfect storm between Millennials, technology, and the overall increase in global competition for on-demand goods and services.

Many Millennials are stuck between providing for their children and caring for their aging parents. This creates a “sandwich” generation in which workplace flexibility and the freedom the gig economy provides is not just a luxury, it’s a deciding factor and need. 

With about 40 percent of the population projected to be part of the gig economy by 2020, career practitioners need to sharpen their skills on the unique helping and employment skills required for serving those working or interested in these innovative non-traditional employment opportunities. Consider this:

• What a person did for an employer (i.e. their results) may actually be more important than their longevity with that employer. There’s a continuous shift towards acceptance of shorter lengths of employment; even for full-time work.
• Online career portfolios and professional recommendations posted on social media and review sites will increase in importance during the hiring processes as work shifts to include more project-based gigs.
• Smart organizations will realize that slow, impersonal, and inflexible hiring approaches are not the way to win the war on talent. Smart career practitioners will be informed in how to coach job seekers to succeed during streamlined hiring processes heavily or entirely processed through technology. Smart career practitioners will also reflect back on the efficiency and technology regarding their own intake processes and coaching mediums to ensure they appeal to Millennials and others in the gig economy if they are targeting them for career development.
• As a career practitioner, if a job seeker you were working with was interested in the marijuana industry, would you be prepared to help them? If you’re working with a client whose job became extinct, would you know enough about the marijuana industry to help leverage your client’s transferable skills into an industry that’s actually growing tremendously?

As we prepare for 2019, there’s a lot on our plates to think about. Now is the time to understand the emerging workplace trends, embrace the rising unconventional industries, and start applying our knowledge of sociological and cultural changes in values and meaning so that we can continue to provide high-quality career development that will make our world a better place, one job seeker at a time.

Read on LinkedIn HERE.

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