Job Security

[dreams82]

How does one attain job security? What jobs are always, or most of the time secure? I find myself pondering this now as I am looking frantically for a new job. Maybe frantically isn't the right word to use as it's not like I am being forced out of my current position, but I know it is time to move on. I am bored, and not moving anywhere in the agency I work for now. I don't know what else to do though. I tend to gravitate to the non profit type jobs, even though I know there's no money in it. My Mom also told me this morning that her job as a librarian at a middle school may be cut due to the fact that she does not hold a library science degree, and they'd like to get someone who does in there. She does a damn good job at her job and this makes me so mad. Oh well, just wondering what types of jobs will always be around, or what types of places to work for/at that will always need people, and not outsource.

[pisces2473]

I don't think there's any secure job anywhere. Even if there's a secure industry, the company itself might go under.

[cache]

It's not about the jobs - most come and go - unless you are a teacher, police officer, etc. To me, the key is your skills - as long as you constantly keep your skills and qualifications up to date, you have personal job security. Not in the sense that you mean, but you make yourself valuable to organizations so even when you lose a job, you are still qualified for plenty of other stuff.

I know a few people who have geared their professional life around their current job, and all is fine, as long as nothing happens to their current job. But if something does happen, they are completely unqualified for anything else, and would have to take a big hit in pay and position.

[weary]

there is no such thing as job security. not even if you are a mortician (or whatever they're called) and follow that "people always die" rule.

i do think though, that if you have some easily transferable skills, it is easier to find work...be it just to keep the rent paid and lights on, or to get your foot in the door in a new field. skills/knowledge like customer service, office administration/clerical, writing, law, HR, retail, hospitality/food service, etc.

[MollyMe]

Even the government doesn't have job security. They are not going to replace you for someone else, but they can source out the work to a contractor.

I think that is pretty stupid about the library.

[dreams82]

Me too. My Mom and her co-worker are technically ed assistants, so they do their work for crap pay. My Mom likes her job though and wanted to hold onto it until she could retire in like 10-15 years. Now she's wondering if it would be worth it to go to school to get her Masters, but her and my Dad discussed it and it may not be financially sounds right now. I just want to gain as many transferrable skills as possible, but I know that I am not learning anything new where I am now. I am bossless, as my boss left for another job a few weeks ago. I am totally not stimulated and I just feel like I am getting dumber by the minute.

[wordsmith]

Originally Posted by pisces2473

I don't think there's any secure job anywhere. Even if there's a secure industry, the company itself might go under.

Yup...my job isn't at risk in terms of the boss I report to onsite, etc. Nobody wants to do my job for the pay offered, when we have an opening, we have a hard time filling it due to the bad pay and bad hours. It's not like "A million people are lined up ready to take your job if you screw up," in my case. I'd have to bring a lawsuit down on our paper or get caught doing something dishonest or seriously inappropriate to get fired.

BUT...our paper is owned by a corporation that has very little to do with our actual day to day running, very hands off, and very dispassionate. They could decide that they want to close our paper or sell it, really, at any point if they don't think it's been making enough money. Because I'm not in advertising (all newspapers' chief source of revenue), I never know our status, for sure, but there are telltale signs when it's a lean year for us or a better one. One year that it was good, we all got approved for new, upgraded Macs, and got two thousand-dollar digital SLR cameras. When it's not so good, we get told that we're wasting ink by printing so much out. I've never seriously worried that anything was at risk, but we recently lost a very large advertising account, and it being a rural area, there's nothing much to fill the hole that left, and even as disconnected from ad sales as I am, I know people are getting anxious.

[wordsmith]

Originally Posted by dreams82

How does one attain job security? What jobs are always, or most of the time secure? I find myself pondering this now as I am looking frantically for a new job. Maybe frantically isn't the right word to use as it's not like I am being forced out of my current position, but I know it is time to move on. I am bored, and not moving anywhere in the agency I work for now. I don't know what else to do though. I tend to gravitate to the non profit type jobs, even though I know there's no money in it. My Mom also told me this morning that her job as a librarian at a middle school may be cut due to the fact that she does not hold a library science degree, and they'd like to get someone who does in there. She does a damn good job at her job and this makes me so mad. Oh well, just wondering what types of jobs will always be around, or what types of places to work for/at that will always need people, and not outsource.

If my mom stays in her field (special education paraprofessional, i.e. aide, for an elementary school distict, she'll eventually be axed, and she's had more than ten years of exemplary service. Why? Because of NCLB-related moves toward making all people who work with children in a school setting certified staff. My mom has no teaching degree, and if she did, she'd be a teacher, not an undervalued and disrespected aide.