The Adaptive Power of Career Activism

For the past eleven months, we've been exploring the principles and practices of Career Fitness. When you take up that program, you are -- consciously or otherwise -- transforming yourself into the persona of a "career activist." You are acknowledging that you are a person of talent and that you are responsible for the direction and content of your career.

Why is that so important? Because as I explain in my new book, The Career Activist Republic, the American workplace has never been fraught with more danger than it is right now. Nor, on the other hand, has it been filled with more opportunity.

First, the danger. Those in the field of higher education are now facing two pressing threats:

• You are enduring "employment waterboarding." Even as the economy stabilizes and hiring is beginning to rise, jobs continue to drip, drip, drip out of the workplace. Employers may be recruiting new employees, but they're doing so for fewer jobs.
• You are engulfed by a "national warming of work." Thanks to the heat generated by constantly changing requirements, the duration of jobs is now shrinking. Most people want a permanent job, but the definition of permanent has now become impermanent.

These tectonic shifts in the workplace force all of us to rethink how we approach our career. In this rapidly evolving environment, for example, there is no time to coast. Managing your career is now a lot like riding a bicycle. You have to be moving forward -- expanding your knowledge, adding to your bank of contacts, developing ancillary skills and proactively setting goals -- or your career will come to a crashing halt.

If that's the danger, what's the opportunity? The same challenges that face higher education professionals in their careers also face those in every other profession, craft and trade. As a result, a growing number of Americans now realize that they must see themselves as a "work in progress." They are never done with their occupational development, their quest for new knowledge and skills in their field.

That demand is already crashing down onto community colleges and undergraduate and graduate institutions. Five years ago, there were 92 million adult Americans enrolled in educational programs. Today, that number is undoubtedly larger. Yes, academic budgets are under severe pressure. And certainly, traditional career paths in academia are morphing. But this intense demand for education and re-education among America's working adults all but ensures that there will be abundant employment opportunities for those who can and are willing to adapt.

That adaptation is at the heart of career activism. It recognizes our natural preference for what is familiar and expected, but bases our survival and prosperity on our ability to evolve. It is our instinctive capacity to see the world as it is and to reshape ourselves in a way that leverages that reality to our advantage. Career activism won't eliminate the hard times, but it will give you the capacity to overcome them.

It's been my pleasure to serve as an Author in Residence on HigherEdJobs over the past year. I hope you've enjoyed my blog posts, or at least that they've given you food for thought. And, please accept my very best wishes for a long and fulfilling career.

Thanks for reading,
Peter