9 job search misconceptions in 2022
Age, Sex, Race And Job Performance In The Work From Home Era
Pay Stubs Are Glorious
Does anyone actually care if it's a paper stub1 or a digital entry into a bank account? Let's hope the answer is no because this is the future and the future is now.
If one still desires that paper stub, you can put your request in red ink on the top of your CV and underline "do not hire." Save the hiring manager the time, do not pass go, and definitely do not collect that glorious pay stub.
This essay is the first in what will be an ongoing series of posts and podcasts dedicated to examining the changing labor force, technology, digital money, blockchain, and societal evolution. Consider this initial post an outline to stimulate thought; detail to follow.
Work From Home Accelerated Acceptance Of Technological Change
The world changed. Information has been googleized2. Much of human labor has been commoditized and de-valued. But, the sky is not falling.
Adapt and overcome. Adapt and remain employed.
Fail to adapt and become subject to the realities of long-term redundancy, depression, frustration, and anger.
Does recent experience with work from home suggest that age, gender, and skin color doesn't matter?
We start this episode with the tri-part questions of age, race, and sex on the process of finding and keeping a job and career. We will focus on age as the center combined with performance characteristics and then add gender, race and other relevant factors.
Labor Is Fungible
The MAN doesn’t care about your livelihood or mine. Perform or be replaced.
fungible
fŭn′jə-bəl
adjective
Interchangeable.
Able to be substituted for something of equal value or utility; interchangeable, exchangeable, replaceable.
Distributed Networks And Democratized Labor Forces
Consider this, if distributed networks are acceptable for creating safe, secure, intelligent, trustworthy networks for value and provenance, i.e., Bitcoin as a medium of exchange or blockchain as custodian for a work of art - why should distributed labor not be engendered with the same characteristics of trust and value creation?
Have you ever heard of Fiverr or Upwork? Each offers freelance services ranging from design to data. Upwork's slogan is "Forget the old rules. You can have the best people. Right now. Right here".
Some forms of labor are more interchangeable than other forms. Still, the critical point for our discussion is that WFH should allow older workers to remain in the labor force longer and with opportunity not limited by geographical boundaries.
There exist similarities among the distributed network (DINs) of digital currency and blockchain technology and a distributed labor force:
Accountability - The networks are rules based and accountable
Accessibility - Available When Needed
Independent - Capable of working as a singular unit
Interdependent - Capable of working well in Groups; is team-oriented, characteristics common in nature to DINs and human teams
Age, Gender, Race And Work From Home (WFH)
In an August 2021 study, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, cites 12 jobs over a lifetime (defined as 18-54) as the average number of positions held by an American worker.
It is always challenging to decide to change the tracks of one’s career, whether it be in quest of self-actualization or a change of economic necessity. But, at what age, in general, does the impact of age become a dual concern for hiring managers?
Is it 40, 45, or 50 years of age when age discrimination kicks in?
Life Expectancy and Retirement Age
According to statistics provided by the United Nations and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. life expectance has increased 10 years between 1950 and 2020. The average American can now expect to live to 79 years of age. Obviously, variances exist based on sex, economic status, race, but the point holds; we are living longer.
Yet, we still as a society maintain the 1950’s era dream of retiring at 65 (55 if lucky) and rocking on the front porch.
The issue which should be obvious by now is living 10 years longer means ten years additional income is required.
Sad as it is to say, the argument for raising the Social Security retirement age has some merit.
Why look for work later in life?
Income needs
Completed 20 years in another career and aged out
Self-actualization
Numerous other reasons
In a knowledge based economy, why does age, race, or gender matter?
In fact, it doesn’t.
Prove to me quantitatively that it does and I will adjust my line of thought but, I have yet to see logic that justifies this line of reason.
That’s would be similar to saying Google gets dumber as it gets older. Yes, she requires updates but so do we as humans.
Let your freak flag fly. What makes you different?
9 Reasons How We Think About Finding A Job In 2022 Is Wrong
Work From Home (WFH) changes everything
Gender is less relevant in 2020
Age is less relevant in 2020
Race is less relevant in 2020
Global market for skills exist a la Fiverr and Upwork
Transferability of labor due to cloud services
Changing job costs are greatly reduced
Longer lifespans allow for longer careers
Longer careers allow for greater knowledge base development
The Author And Podcast Host, Tom Levine
Following a 25 year career in capital markets, Tom Levine founded Zero Hour Group in 2014.
The Los Angeles, California-based firm provides consulting, strategic analysis, and real estate services.
Services are offered nationwide and across a variety of sectors. The firm's clients range from family offices and high net worth individuals to institutions and professional investors.
Real Estate related transactions are brokered through our subsidary firms, Native Angelino Real Estate and WEHO Realtor.
Tom Levine is a Native Angelino and graduate of USC Marshall School of Business, Claremont Colleges, and spent a term at the London School of Economics. Additionally, he is a certified Short Sale Specialist under the National Association of Realtors.
Podcast
The Native Angelino Podcast is underwritten and produced in conjunction with the Zero Hour Group, a consulting and strategy firm, parent to 1929, Native Angelino Real Estate, and associated real estate assets.
From the Native Angelino description found on iTunes:
“From a vantage point within sight of the Hollywood Sign, seated beneath a palm tree, Tom Levine takes you on a twisted, exploratory tour of popular thought, the upside-down theories of classical economics, politics, and other strange things.
Tom talks all things Los Angeles, bright new ideas, and complex topics of interest to creative thinkers and discerning skeptics.
L.A. locals state with pride, "You can surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon." Well, if you get a really early start, it's true. Sometimes.
Los Angeles is the City of the Angels, and Tom Levine is a Native Angelino”.
The phrase “Pay Stubs Are Glorious” has been appropriated, with permission, from a conversation with Nicole Nahabedian. Topic of money and work in 2022.
Googleized: Googleization (to googleize) is the process of data addition to the Google database; transparency and access to information increase as data acquisition costs approach zero. The term's first use is credited (2003) to John Battelle and Alex Salkever. I modify the definition only slightly to add: When private or proprietary information becomes readily available without friction, such information and data sets are "cheap," i.e., inexpensive to acquire.