The Portfolio Career era

Looking back at the holiday snaps, the feeling is bitter-sweet. Oh why does the summer passes so quickly, the brief bathing in the sun and careless days replaced with go go go..!

Nearly 20 months into my (mostly) working for myself, I seem to be living the dream of a typical 20-something. Gone are the days when a young graduate would step into the office, which would only be vacated some 40 years later, accompanied by a "happy retirement" celebration.

No, today's young professional has an obligatory side hustle.

"My boss doesn't get that for me this role is not the only way to realise my professional ambitions", says my new Gen Z friend Mabel. "When I leave the office or shut my work laptop, I am immediately re-focussing on my graphic design freelance job - I have been doing this work since my first year at uni, and it's just as important to me as my day job at the marketing agency".

I get her.

I, too, have a busy and much-loved 'day job' as a Notary Public. Although I now work as a consultant, for 22 years previous to that I was either an employee or a partner of big businesses in their field. I understand corporate culture - and I don't miss it. Working for myself means that I have more time to dedicate to my clients and to the job itself, without getting entangled in soul-sapping office politics.

Instead, when I am not engaged on client notarial work, my time has been freed to do the other thing that I love: presenting masterclasses and talks on networking, intergenerational connections-building and engaging with Generation Z.

The third brick of my portfolio career is the work on the UCL professional postgraduate course - together with my colleagues, we prepare the next generation of notaries in England and Wales. The university work is as challenging as it is rewarding: seeing our former students graduating a few weeks back and now practising was an incomparable high.

With the world changing at the pace at which it is, is the job-for-life even a realistic aspiration for those who are about to enter the professional world?

"I categorically reject the idea that I can only have one job to achieve my life goals", states Mabel, "I love having a portfolio career and, frankly, I need it right now to finance my lifestyle!"

And so to really engage with Generation Z, the time is ripe to face the facts: we do not own their time, beyong their contracted duties and hours.

I remember that, as a trainee, the expectation was that I work long hours, weekends and holidays if the job required - it was the norm. The money, of course, did not nearly compensate the effort but at the time we all belived that we were investing in the career that would give back to us for the rest of our lives.

How naive we were!

Engaging with Generation Z means that we accept that the job is here and now, and not the be-all and end-all for as long as we envisage the future. That it's far more transactional than it has ever been, and that both parties should derive value and invest fully. But not beyond the contracted hours. "No, no, no", says Mabel.

For masterclasses, talks and 1:1 coaching on networking and engaging with Generation Z go to www.alisagrafton.com