Career reflection births ode to old school employment

As I prepared for an upcoming presentation – more about that next week – for the weekly gathering of CareerNet at SAPC, my notes were getting longer than the allotted time slot would allow. I found myself reflecting on many of my personal experiences related to my presentation that was titled, “Surviving the Job Interview – What can I do for an encore?”

In the process of putting the notes together, I waned nostalgic on how employment has changed over the years. From this reflection, I put to pen this simple ode to old school employment:

Gone are the pensions without too much thought; enter the complexities of 401Ks, and the need to plan your own retirement.
Gone is on-the-job training; enter the need to complete online courses and acquire certifications.
Gone is the goal of a corner desk, or office with a window; enter a temporary cubicle, virtual office, or a spot at a coworking facility.
Gone is water cooler gab; enter collaborative communication from a wiki, blog, or social networking site.
Gone is typing a memo with a simple QWERTY keyboard; enter starting over again with Office 2007’s radically new ‘ribbon’ interface.
And the Peter Principle is 40 years old!