Looking at Your Career from a Turkey’s Perspective

Careers and Turkey?

The turkey metaphor comes from the book, End of Jobs by Taylor Pearson. I reviewed this book a couple of months ago in the post, The End of Jobs – A Book Every Boomer Should Read.

Taylor compares our careers to turkeys. Taylor wrote in his book:

A turkey is fed for a thousand days by a butcher; every day confirms to its staff of analysts that butchers love turkeys ‘with increased statistical confidence.’ The butcher will keep feeding the turkey until a few days before Thanksgiving…[The] turkey will have a revision of belief—right when its confidence in the statement that the butcher loves turkeys is maximal and ‘it is very quiet’ and soothingly predictable in the life of the turkey.” N.N. Taleb

From the day a Thanksgiving turkey is born, everything about its life indicate that things are only going to get better. It’s hatched in a safe, sterile environment. It’s cared for and fed daily.

Every single day, this pattern happens again. It wakes up to find plenty of food and a place to live.

It is at the moment when the turkey has the most historical data to show that its life is likely to keep improving, on the 4th Wednesday of November, that it realizes — It’s not so good to be a turkey.

Since writing the review, I have been asked multiple times to talk about being a turkey. Last month, I was on Thom Singer’s Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do podcast and the title of the session is Marc Miller – Career Pivot…..Don’t be a Turkey. A few weeks ago, I spoke to the IIBA Austin chapter on the topic “Looking at Your Career from a Turkey’s Perspective and What To Do Instead.”

I’ve never seen a metaphor resonate with people so quickly.

Thank You Taylor!!

A Turkey’s Perspective

In 1978, when I was right out of Northwestern, I went to work for IBM. I was a turkey.

No worries. I would always have a job. Well, until January of 1993 when IBM nearly filed for bankruptcy. I then realized it was not so good to be a turkey at IBM. IBM discontinued the full employment policy. They had their first layoffs in history and closed multiple locations. A lot of my colleagues were blindsided by what happened. They were not prepared financially or emotionally.

Prior to October of 2001, Enron was a great place to work. Their stock was soaring. The company executives encouraged everyone to invest in Enron stock. Of course, October of 2001 came, and the rest is history. Many Enron employees lost everything, as they had all of their retirement savings in Enron stock.

One year ago, if you worked in the oil industry, it would have been easy to be a turkey. Oil prices were over $100/barrel. Fracking had revolutionized the industry. All things were great. When prices dipped below $30/barrel early this year, it was not so great to be in the oil industry.

It is easy to be lulled into being a turkey when things are good.

Have you been a turkey? My guess is that many of you will say yes.

More: Are You an Excellent Passive Candidate or a Turkey? [Infographic]

Gig Economy

We are rapidly moving to a “gig” economy. There are many projections that, by 2020, almost half of the people in the United States will be contractors, freelancers or consultants.

You can not afford to be a turkey. You always have to be looking for your next gig. I know this is not fun for most of you. You want to get into a position, do a good job and stay there for a while. For some, that will be possible. Today, the average job lasts a little under 5 years. If you think you will be in a job for the next 10 years, it may be possible…but not likely. You have to be prepared to move on at any time, or you will be a turkey.

More: How To Not Be a Turkey in the Gig Economy

I developed the Targeted Job Search process so that you are always looking for your next gig, whether you are an employee of a company or a free agent.

Are you a Turkey?

Looking at Your Career from a Turkey’s Perspective was originally posted in April of 2016 on the Career Pivot blog.

Marc Miller is the founder of Career Pivot, which helps Baby Boomers and others design careers they can grow into for the next 30 years. You can follow Marc on Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn. 

 My latest book is "Personal Branding for Baby Boomers - What It Is, How To Manage It, And Why It Is No Longer Optional"