Customer Reviews

Jobshift: How to Prosper in a Workplace Without Jobs

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I strongly recommend this book for those feeling overwhelmed by the current challenges in the job market. Bridges wrote the best-sellers "Transitions" and "Managing Transitions," and when not authoring has been a management guru for a couple decades. "Job Shift" serves as a primer for managing your own career in what he views as a fundamentally new career marketplace.

The main thesis of his latest book is that our country, and indeed our
world, is currently in the midst of the Second Great Job Shift. The first
was caused by the Industrial Revolution, when people transitioned from
village life to urbania. Along with this shift came a redefinition of the
very meaning of the word, "job." In the village, it meant a task or
project, generally of finite duration and paid fee-for-service if paid at
all. (The etymology of the word "job" apparently goes back to "hauling
dung.") In the Industrial Age, a "job" was actually a position in the hierarchy of a company, with a clearly-defined set of responsibilities and paid a salary. As long as one stayed properly within the confines of the job description, one could count on advancement up the organizational ladder.

The current Second Great Job Shift, according to Bridges, is the Death of the Job, at least as it has been defined for the past two hundred years.
The Information Age is forcing companies to move and respond more quickly to shifts in markets while at the same time allowing increased automation of information processing. Companies are replacing the traditional corporate structure with project-oriented organization. People are assigned to projects, and performance is evaluated based on the project's outcome, not on how well one fits into some job description.

Bridges has recommendations for individuals, companies, and even
governments for addressing and dealing with this Job Shift. While I'm not entirely convinced that I agree with all of Bridges' vision, his argument is extremely powerful and thought-provoking. It is certainly a different approach than I've encountered in other job
search books, and has a certain appeal just on that basis. I highly recommend
it as a well-written source of ideas for anyone in the job market, even those who are happily employed. Instead of telling you how to write a resume or shine in an interview, Bridges looks at the overall job environment, and offers general advice on the mentality and approach needed to advance yourself. Reading this book in close conjunction with Bolles' classic "What Color is Your Parachute?" is a frightening, exciting, and empowering experience. Whether you end up agreeing and taking Bridges' advice or not, I think it is always helpful to get exposed to another way of viewing a problem.

[Longer versions of this review have been previously submitted by the author to the Young Scientists' Network and Network for Emerging Scientists' online discussion forums.]

In the era of downsizing and mergers, one hears far too many people bewailing what we've "lost": job security, well-defined career paths, companies that feel responsible for the people who work for them, employee loyalty. Bridges offers a more positive perspective: "work" as we conceive of it was an artifact of the Industrial Revolution, with its view of workers as cogs in a machine; and, as that rigid structure gradually disappears, so will our present concept of "jobs" and "careers."
This was one of the first ripples in what has become a massive wave of books on the changing business world, including recent examples like "Blur" -- but it's refreshing, easy to read, and can change your whole view of what "work" entails. I think it's especially important for young people still in school to read it: don't waste your efforts preparing for a traditional "career" that may not be there five years after you graduate; focus on developing your talents, your skills, and your entrepreneurial spirit instead, because those are what will be worth the most to you in the future.

I first read this book some seven years ago as a text for a class intended to help graduating students prepare themselves for the world of work. Interestingly one of those graduates was intending to work in a start up business with digital cameras which he believed would emerge as the dominant force in the picture business. Probably telling the future is not a good business to be in.

Here in Northern New Jersey everyone knew, and still knows, all about downsizing and organizational flattening and outsourcing. Since the collapse of the tech-bubble, many of those independent contractors are now looking for work and escaping the computer field alltogether in the face of falling wage rates, excess supply and new entrants from college who expect a lot less!

Revisiting this book gives one the opportunity to rexamine it's claims and, not surprisingly, finds them lacking. To be fair, much of what the originator describes has come to pass but not in the way that he suggests.

The main lesson that I come away with from this book is that markets are so powerful that the competitive environment determines the shape of the organization. Obviously, some would say but this is only half of the story. Combine the power of markets which is, after all, only the result of individuals exercising choices, with a proactive government and you get a pretty unstoppable force. If the dollar is high then imports are [inexpensive] as compared to domestic goods which puts intense competitive pressure on companies who then must cut costs. Add to the mix a policy of a free trade area as NAFTA and a competitive labor market and there is even more pressure on costs. Finally have a boyant stock market and increased wealth and you have lots of venture capital looking for profit. The result, falling unemployment with little inflation and downward intense pressure on costs leading to more business. The picture is muddied somewhat by rising benefits costs but they become a force against rising costs too,

What I am describing is the pressure on business to focus on their core activities and float off internal activities which can be done by service companies contracted for the purpose. Wage bill too high - make workers contractors who then have to pay for their own benefits or better still get the states to introduce basic minimum health care schemes.

This nirvana of the dejobbed economy never really existed. Sure there are more small businesses and self-employed, sure there is more flexibility among the workforce but there is also compulsion, workfare, for the unemployed as well as the requirement for many families to work two, three or more jobs to make ends meet.

Hayek the Nobel prizewinner foresaw the person described in this book many years ago as did his mentor Mises. To be successful they argued the individual must market themselves as a self-entrepreneur. Very true.

This book is an excellent description of a possible future in the light of developments in business at the time. The author is to be commended for the clarity of his thought and exposition. However, he ignores the bigger picture and the implications of a global economy and powerful, interventionist governments. Perhaps he would like to write an update to this book in the light of the events of the last seven years.

Bridges argues that you must make yourself relevant to the changing economy by managing your career as solo business, finding the unmet needs inside of your company and increasing your contribution to your company.

The traditional workplace, where tasks are broken up into `jobs' with specifically defined duties, is disappearing fast says author William Bridges. Many companies that try to cut costs simply cut jobs. However, more innovative companies are changing the way their employees work altogether. The trend has been to move away from work divided into specific tasks, to work based on teams and project work. People are brought together to work on specific projects and then break up when the project is completed. If this is happening at your company, you can apply for a job someplace else, but the chances are good that you're just exchanging one vulnerable job for another.

The better answer, says the author, is to change your attitude towards work, forget about your job position and start looking for opportunities to fulfill your company's needs. Increasing your contribution to your company will also increase your value to the company.

· Treat everyone around you as a customer, and start looking for unmet needs. Think of your workplace as a market.

· Align your desires, abilities, temperament and assets with those of your company or find companies and projects that are right for you.

· Manage your career as an outside vendor, not as an inside employee. You must find products and services to sell inside your company to ensure your employment. Do market research on your own company.

· Manage your job insecurity by preparing yourself for constant change, and using new interpretations of work that will help you bring order to chaos.

This book should be read by everyone in government and anyone connected with making job policies. Bridges was ahead of his time when he wrote this book. He pointed out that the old way of working - mostly for large corporations - doesn't work. He was among the first to realize that job security is an illusory goal and he suggested realistic solutions.

As we are in the early stages of the 21st century, this book seems more relevant than ever. Corporations create wellness programs that actually intrude on the personal lives of employees. They make hiring decisions based on an employee's impact on health care costs, not necessarily on productivity. Losing a job has huge consequences because we still tie health benefits to jobs - even with Obamacare. Bridges addresses these issues by proposing new ways to organize, such as guilds resembling craft guilds from earlier centuries.

The book argues that fewer people have jobs and more people are working in less traditional arrangements such as temporary work, consulting, and micro businesses. The book recommends that you assess your desires, abilities, temperament, and assests, and it suggests managing your self like a company.

This review was written as part of the Annotated Bibliography of Learning A Living; A Guide to Planning Your Career and Finding a Job for People with Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Dyslexia