The Death Of Job Security & How To Deal With It

Job security has become a thing of the past. But we mustn’t let that get us down. Here’s how I dealt with my lack of job security.

The current trend of outsourcing, and working on temporary contracts, as opposed to providing long term employment, has left many without the feeling of job security, that many have grown accustomed to.

A recent study found that since the financial crisis, more than half of all jobs created in the European Union have been through temporary contracts.

As a senior lawyer in a large organization, I certainly wasn’t spared.  There was a trend towards outsourcing in-house lawyers, and the more senior you get, the more you get paid and the more you depend on that pay-check; and ironically, the fewer jobs there are available for you.

I was brought up with the idea of lifetime employment, and values such as, if you are prepared to work hard, you will never starve…

If you get a good education, you will get a good job. If you get a good job and be loyal to your employer, you will have job security. Fun and time with the family can wait till retirement.

So, when I started working, it was only natural for me to defer many of my priorities, thinking that I could only have them after I retired.

Having a job meant more to me than a means of financial provision. My job became my identity, and that is true for so many in my generation. You know how when someone meets you socially for the first time, and the first question that comes out of your mouth is “so what do you do for a living?”

I would therefore surmise that an increased lack of job security, due to the trend towards outsourcing and fixed term contracts, would have a huge impact on people like myself with that mindset, having been brought up with those values.

In fact, psychologists rank job insecurity as the highest workplace stress. And this is due to the lack of job security pointing to an UNCERTAIN, ADVERSE future, that is OUT OF OUR CONTROL.

There is only one way out of worrying about the lack of job security. Embrace it.

The lack of job security pushes us outside our comfort zones, and forces us to look at things we don’t want to. We can either see the hopelessness in all of that, or look at it as an opportunity to start living life the way we determine.

I chose the latter. And I determined to remove my desire for job security by starting to live life on my terms. Yes, it would be uncertain in the early days, but so is that job without job security. I would at least be building my way towards certainty. And as I built my future, the future no longer looked adverse, and surprisingly, because things were now in my hands, the future no longer looked out of control.

And with financial security taken care of, you do not even need to defer all your priorities until retirement any longer.  You can start living your life, your way.

Start turning that lack of job security into a blessing.

If you are facing the lack of job security today, let me say that I understand what you are going through. Choose to embrace the lack of job security today, and take the first steps towards building your future.

Click here to watch a video by my mentor Stuart Ross on the opportunities that are available to you.

Allow us to help you, just as I have now helped so many others embrace their lives and their future.