The strange US job market

The way I see the US job market

The job market in America is strange. On one hand, there are scores of low paying 10 dollar an hour jobs in the private sector. In fact, many educated talented people are now searching for Walmart jobs, even just out of curiosity. There is no dishonor in this anymore. However, who can live off of this?

While on the other hand, the juicy private sector jobs are for employees who are highly skilled and who make big sacrifices in life. You have to be really sharp and somewhat ruthless. I think of myself as pretty sharp, but it drains me to be this for someone else’s dream or vision and I do not want to give up my life for my bosses bonus anymore. This is one of the main reasons why corporate America sucks.

Options for high paid employment in the US

• There are IT and high paying financial jobs, but those are not for everyone, as all of us cannot be IT directors. I think many people have the talent to be but the way you get there is a lot of luck, take it from someone who was there.
• The other major choice is health care again, not for everyone. This market is dominated by middle-aged women who have set their sights on a modest income. You will not starve but not hit 6 figures in these jobs. The same goes for teaching.
• You can try sales, but many of this pond is overcrowded with fishermen. I was out there swinging hard, but too many players. However, if you are desperate or unemployed I would recommend you give it a try.

This is the job market today. A real dichotomy between a large number of low paying jobs and a few jobs at the top where people get well compensated.  It seems unfair ad the middle jobs, the old middle-class jobs are gone.  It is unfair.  I have a solution if you want to find a high paying job.

Let’s look at what happened and how we got here first.

It is shameful that in America, the greatest country economically, the economy is such that two parents must work to maintain a household. The children are the ones that suffer. But what can people do, I really feel bad for many American families. If they were to live on one income, they can not pay the bills. How did we fall from greatness?

My father’s generation job market to today

A job for life – I remember when my father and all the neighborhood dads would come home when the sun was still shining and a job was pretty much guaranteed for life. My father said the only people who lost their jobs were people who were drinking, and often not even then.

Their career path was clear. You would work your way up the career ladder and promotions were based on seniority as much as talent. The retire down in Florida.

A job for now – The job, for now, is why we have the dichotomy in the job market. In the US job market, companies downsize and delayer. This means they have a flat structure with the management of fat cats being replaced by stern taskmasters overseeing cube slaves. Workers only have their job as long as they add more value than they are paid. Companies are looking for specialists. If you are bright specialists you are all set. The keyword here is bright. You cannot just be someone who knows the job, but someone who innovates. The bar has been raised. The market is now, low paid jobs at the bottom and high paid jobs at the top. A  lot of the middle layers have been reengineered or outsourced.

Doing the Freelance thing – You really get paid what you’re worth here. But the funny thing is most people struggle or never get rich freelancing. The reason your search factor in looking for these jobs is pretty expensive. Further, the market is overcrowded with ex-corporate people trying to sell their services. You also have to pay your own medical and you have no job security.

The job market generally – What happens is when you are in your 20s companies will scoop you up because you are cheap labor. But if you have not broken through to a good niche or management in your mid-30s, you will have a hard life. This again is the job dichotomy. What is the solution if you did not make it to the top of the food chain?

The solution in the musical chairs of the US job market

• Work for yourself – This is the real solution. This is why I do not work.
• Differentiation -Find something that will give you differentiation other than just jobs skills. Conventional solutions will not work in today’s job market. Jobs experience is equally ineffective as having an education. Experience and education just gets you on the same playing field as everyone else who is hungry out there. The real secret is you need to get something like military clearance, for example. You need to find something that is really a niche but not that is over crowded. MBAs are a dime a dozen. But someone with a little but of computer skills and military clearance is a very good niche for example. It is having a piece of paper that is different from a degree or a resume full of experience. Something really nichey like military clearance and some computer skills.  There are of course many other niches. Once you find this you can have the job stability of our fathers.

My personal philosophy about work – Focusing on making money, not getting a job

Remember most people ‘think about getting a job’. I tell people to “think about making money”. Two different ideas. In fact, having a job often gets in your way of making real money. This is because it consumes your time. Time is the stuff that life is made of.
Next, most people ask ‘how do I make money’? I tell people to do not. I tell people ‘think about creating something of value’ with hard work.
People ask me ‘how do I come up with an idea’? I tell them to do not. ‘Stop looking outside’ and start asking yourself what are you really interested in. This comes under the category of living your dream.

So I only will get a job if I have to. I have not really worked in 7 years. My friend Erik is 34 and he never had a job in his life. He said instinctively, when someone mentioned the word ‘job’, his tail curled between his legs like a dog’s when he did something wrong.

I am a firm believer that all work is noble and you have to pay the bills. But the best way to do that (besides living your dream as mentioned above) is to try to find a niche that has a requirement to qualify like military clearance. This type of usual ‘green stamp’ will give you the job stability only our forefathers had. Find that green stamp.