I have bad news, although the good news will soon follow.

The good old days of job security are gone. In the past, an employee would be hired by a company and work for it for the duration of his or her career – employment would be a life-long relationship.

In return, the company would pay a good salary, take care of the training, and provide health insurance and other benefits. At the end of his or her career, the employee would retire with a comfortable financial package. Employed people hardly thought of losing their jobs. They were secure for life.

Times have changed. You can no longer expect the security of life-long employment. Nowadays, employers hire employees on a need basis for short periods, and will terminate employees as soon as company profits decrease or they no longer need the employees’ services.

Now for the good news.

As an income earner, you should not think of “getting a job” and in turn “collecting a salary”. Instead, you must think of providing much needed services and value to the organization from which you want to earn an income. You will get paid only in return for the services you provide.

Work as if you owned the company for which you are working for.

In this new paradigm, consider yourself an “entrepreneur” who offers one or more services that organizations need and for which they will pay. As a service provider, you can have several clients.

As an entrepreneur, you want to gain the competitive edge by offering services of higher quality than others. You can also consider offering unique and creative services that few others offer.

You need to create a demand for your services.

This is similar to a shop owner selling clothing or other merchandise. In order to succeed, the store offers quality products that are in style, in demand and are unique. Customers who receive superb service will walk away from the store feeling good. People will want to buy from that particular shop.

Consider your employer as your customer.

In this modern age of constant change and technological advancements, your only source of income security is your ability to provide high quality services that are in demand, for which your customers (employers) are willing to pay.

Here are some practical considerations.

  • As a job seeker, think of the services that you can provide which will help the employer meet his or her objectives. Then make sure you understand the employer’s objectives to match yourself to the organization.
  • As an employee, think of ways in which you can increase the quality and effectiveness of the services you provide, thus helping your employer increase his or her profits and better meet the organization’s objectives. When the organization succeeds, so do its owners and employees.
  • As a service provider, think of ways in which you can diversify or even modernize the services you can provide. For example, while you may not personally enjoy social media, is your target market so enraptured with it that you need beef up your knowledge and skills to reach your audience in a way they will respond?

Companies and organizations have objectives. When you can learn what they are and help them meet those objectives, only then will you have a job that lasts for life.

Harout Nercessian
AMAA Armenia Representative