Technology - Threat or Asset?

If you were to choose a new career to pursue, would you pick elevator operator, or travel agent, or typewriter repair person? I doubt it, because each of these occupations, and dozens of others, have fallen prey to the relentless advance of technology. And the pace of this replacement is only increasing, which is not a happy story for people who have lost their employment in jobs becoming obsolete, or in declining industries. In a word, technology is replacing the need for people.

This almost seismic shift is slamming the middle-class in a double whammy. First is the loss of jobs because computers and machinery are taking over the repetitive and computational tasks that were done manually a generation ago. The second insult is highlighted by the continual government reports for the past 3 years that a) the economy is improving and b) millions of new jobs have been created as a result of government intervention. Regardless of your political persuasion the reality of these newly created jobs is this: they are primarily in the service sectors and pay well below the middle-class jobs that were lost through the recession that seems unwilling to loose its hold on the U.S. and the Western world. A recent Associated Press article reports that half of the 7.5 million jobs lost during the "Great Recession" paid middle-class wages between $38,000 and $68,000. Yet only two percent of the 3.4 million jobs gained since then are in the same pay ranges.

For the job seeker this means at least three things:

• Learn technology. If you can learn to use technology you can turn a loss into a gain. If you job is replaced by a computer or machine, then someone is going to have to install, operate, service, and design that device. History is replete with job loss, and with complementary job gain. The printing press eliminated manual scribes, yet hundreds of new jobs and sub-industries were created to support this new machine, which enabled unthought-of volume of production.

• Learn what cannot be mechanized. The job category of office secretary was decimated by the advent of the word processor. But in the hands of one who is ignorant of grammar, vocabulary, and communication skill, a computer is simply a device for producing vast pages of indeciperable or misleading gibberish. Computers let us communicate faster; they do not make us communicators. Skill in writing and speaking are tipping points in the team-oriented work environments of today. If you possess these skills, you possess an attribute that will weigh strongly in your favor in a job competition.

• Examine the encroachment of technology into your job area. Just think about your own experience in your everyday life. How often today do you you call a business and hear a human answer? Less and less often. We all hate Voice Recognition systems that "know" what we are speaking but it is simply a fact that these are cheaper than a receptionist. Read the industry magazines for your current job area. Read the industry magazines for the job areas you think you might want to move into. Pay attention to success stories of new technology introductions. Do not skip over the technology advertisements: these are the forewarnings of the shift away from people. When I was studying for my engineering degree I worked nights and weekends as a mechanic in a local gasoline station. I loved reading "Service Station Owner" and other trade magazines because they taught me new diagnostic skills that helped me pay for my education, and every issue had at least one article about a new device or automobile advancement using technology.

None of this news is encouraging. The future is not hopeless, but the future is changing. A prudent person will continually and carefully scrutinize the economic landscape, weighing the discomfort of moving to a new and hopefully growing career area against the comfortable - but possibly dead-end - choice of remaining in a declining job area until that area just disappears. My recurring theme in my book, Hired!, and in this blog is that I hope you will choose these life-changes on your terms and on your schedule rather than being hostage to external events that always come at the worst possible time.

Living Without Reserve (Funds)

A recent headline from the Associated Press laments that almost half of U.S. households are living paycheck to paycheck with less than 3 months of living expenses in reserve. This is a precarious position. I have been there myself and I will never forget the vulnerability I felt as a young, itinerant road musician, wondering when the next unmanageable expense would descend on me.

In my book I discuss this dilemma at some length including how to manage medical expenses during a period of unemployment. Here I will offer some additional comments on what to do if you are in this situation, and an amazinly simple technique to avoid being in if you have not yet fallen into this trap.

If you are out of work, or were unemployed previously and have not rebuilt a new financial buffer, you must start building that buffer now. This means that you first start with cutting your expenses. You may not have control over your current income, or even some of your mandatory expenses such as housing or a car payment, but you have control over other discretionary expenses. And you may not realize you have some control over your housing and car payments, too.

A young couple I talked with recently has no money set aside and no credit, but they have a passable income when the man's hours are not reduced. However, the tires on their sole automobile will need replacing in about ten thousand miles, and their washer and dryer are showing their age. Their comment was, "We don't have any money, how can we save anything for an emergency?"

They were so close to their choices they did not see the choices they had made, or the options available to them. They were spending about $5 each day on cigarettes, which is $150 each month, or $1,800 per year on this habit. Additionally, they were spending a bit over $100 each month on broadband Internet and cable. Rather than make lunch at home, the man was spending about $7 a day on food at his workplace. With 22 workdays in a month, lunch was costing another $150 per month. So, in just these areas they were spending $400 per month on cigarettes, cable and lunch-out. They have control over these expenses. Even if they cut these costs only by half, this would save them $200 each month. And a couple months of these savings will pay for a decent set of tires in the near future.

At some point it is prohibitively difficult to further reduce expenses, but most people have lots of fat they can trim away. As a personal reference point I can share that I would love a brand-new pickup. I bought one once - twenty years ago. Of the very few other vehicles I have owned in my entire life, that was the only new vehicle I ever purchased. My wife and I agreed to buy used cars and put the saved money into college funds for the children. It's just a matter of priorities.

If you are working but do not have the recommended six months of essential living expenses set aside, do not wait another day. Start somewhere, start anywhere. But start today. My wife and I started with $25 every two-week paycheck. When I got my first raise, we bumped our savings to $50 every two-week paycheck. We adopted that most exquisite of financial success plans: "Pay Yourself First". We still follow that plan over 30 years later.

Take the Job or Keep Searching?

You are desperate to find work. An opportunity appears but it pays less than your previous job, and barely enough to cover your expenses. Do you take the job? Do you pass on it and keep looking? What should you do? This is a decision each of us must struggle with, but here are some observations that may help your decision.

If you take the lower-paying, available job you will have less time each week to look for the better job. Some job counselors say a job hunter should not take a lesser position, but should allocate all of their time looking for that "best" job. In my humble opinion that is a very reasonable strategy in a growing economy. But our economy is barely holding its own in some sectors, and you have to evaluate if having some money coming in is preferable in the short-term to having none coming in. If you can get income for 20-30 hours per week that will

• Give you income for those hours, and
• Allow you time for continuing your search for that "best" job.

How do you find 20 or 30 hours of work if the economy is bad? One answer is that the hiring of full-time workers is suffering but there are relatively more opportunities for part-time workers. So if you are approaching a company about part-time work you are not competing against full-time workers and you might find your goal more accessible.  Additionally, if you have specific skills you can look into contracting for those 20-30 hours. This might raise your anxiety if you have never followed a contracting model, but engaging with temporary employment agencies is an excellent scenario to consider. They do the marketing, find the clients you can provide services for, and handle all of the payroll issues. And these temp jobs often turn into long-term or permanent positions.

Unemployment Benefits?

But what if you are receiving unemployment assistance from your state government? If you take a job won't you lose that income, and possibly be no better off working than if you just stayed on unemployment? If you take a part-time job you will have to start paying for gasoline to travel to work, maybe buy lunch every day, and won't you have other expenses that will make working a losing proposition?

You have to make your own decisions: financial, moral and otherwise. But the reality is that it is easier to find a job if you already have a job, even a part-time job. Put simply the longer you are out of work, the harder it is to be offered a job.

And consider this scenario from a potential employer's perspective. You apply for a position and you are asked, "Where are you working now?" Scenario A: You reply, "I am working at XYX Company." Scenario B: You reply, "I am not working right now."  Big difference in how you might be perceived, don't you think?

In scenario A the employer's next question will be "Why are you looking to leave XYZ?" and you can be honest that you are looking for a more challenging position, more hours, more stability, and so forth.

In scenario B the employer's next question will be "How long have you been out of work?" There is really no way to build a win-win in this conversation. Perception is reality in job search, and if you are looking for work you will be best perceived if you are currently working, even part-time.

Be open to different models of employment. Something is better than nothing, even if your "lesser" choice is just to get by the next couple months. Think critically about what is best for you and your loved ones. Holding out for the "best" situation may not be the best choice right now. Do the math, and remind yourself that everything can change in the next two weeks, or two days.