Reinventing Work: Choosing a career, training, hiring, taxing, offices, creating jobs

Many people who have been in a career for a while have ideas on how to reinvent it. I am no exception. I’ve been a career advisor for more than 30 years. In addition, I've long enjoyed talking about work with friends and colleagues.

So, here are my thoughts on how the world of work might be reinvented or at least significantly improved. Yes, I'd be pleased if any of you ran with one or more of these ideas, but my other purpose in writing this is to trigger your own big ideas, perhaps in an area that you know a fair amount about.

Choosing a career. Whether you’re choosing a career by yourself or with the help of a career counselor, the conventional model is too-often ineffective. In that model, people search for a career that amalgamates their skills, interests, and values. The problem with that is that too many people end up wanting to be in one of just a few career areas, for example, entertainment, media, or the environment. So the competition for good jobs is fierce.

For most mere mortals, it's wiser to merely identify your one or two best abilities: words, people, investigative, artistic, entrepreneurial, or office detail/computer data. Then, identify your career non-negotiables, for example, for- or non-profit sector, mainly solo or team work, etc. Then scan the careers in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (free online) or in my book, Careers for Dummies to pick careers to investigate with a Google search, including videos. The old-fashioned informational interview tends to be both hard to get, and if you get one, provides a too limited slice of what the career would really be like for you.

Career training. Too much university-based career training is dispensed by academics, who are longer on theory than on practical knowledge. Most training for the professions should be done by master practitioners, who know not just the facts but the nuance. For example, a physician must go well beyond the blood tests, the facts of the patient’s self-report, and research findings. The good doc needs refined clinical judgment based on, for example, how the patient walks and breathes, the tone of their skin as well as of what they’re saying and perhaps not saying—The fine physician has the ability to quickly engender enough trust that the patient will reveal what s/he may be scared to. In addition, the trainer of professionals must not only know all that nuance but be able to develop students’ ability to learn and use it in the real world.

Hiring. Too much hiring is based on candidates' resume or LinkedIn, answers to stock interview questions, and a couple of references. Those are too subject to invalidity. For example, some terrible applicants, on their own or with a hired gun, concoct a resume and answers to stock interview questions that paper over weaknesses. And dishonesty is rampant among job applicants. That may be worse today in light of the COVID-caused increase in un- and underemployment. As a result, candidates may feel more desperate to stand out above the increased number of applicants for most jobs.

The candidate who in fact is mostl likely to do a good job is most likely to be the winning applicant if the employer prioritizes referrals from his/her network, asks questions that simulate common difficult problems the applicant would face on the job, and asks the finalist candidate for five references. The employer should email all five explaining, "Mary Jones is being considered for an important position that requires (Insert the key abilities and attributes.) If you think she would be excellent, I’d appreciate a call. If not, no need to respond.” It’s a good sign if at least three of the five respond, of course, positively.

Income tax. We spend much time and money in income-tax recordkeeping and tax preparation. And despite the tax code’s substantial progressivity, the rich can afford accountants who can work the system. Better to replace the income tax with a revenue-neutral value-added tax (VAT), which is used in 160+ countries on most products. To ensure progressivity, basic items wouldn’t be taxed and luxury items heavily taxed. A VAT brings the side benefit of discouraging excess consumption, which would be bad for the environment.

Offices. One of the COVID lockdown’s silver linings is that employers and employees are learning that many workers are happier and productive working at home. I’d imagine that’s especially true for workers who had a long commute into a cube farm, where you can’t hear yourself think. It’s already widely predicted that many companies and non-profits will shrink their headquarters. But an ever more dramatic change would be to shut them down completely, perhaps replaced by a small office(s) in the locale(s) where most of the employees live. That would provide space for the occasional meeting, in which in-person is wiser than yet another Zoom meeting.

Creating jobs. A K-20 entrepreneurship curriculum would create a large number of good jobs. It would start in the first grade with the kids running a lemonade-stand-type business and, in higher grades, businesses of greater complexity and ethical challenge. Students would learn to develop antennae for unmet needs and the skills to cost-effectively meet those needs, while keeping ethics primary.

Also, the federal government might encourage an Assistance Army: Wage a public relations campaign to encourage people to hire assistants, from post-birth doulas to homework helpers, tech tutors to persons Friday to elder aides. True, such jobs wouldn’t pay much but could provide ethical work for millions of people who aren’t competitive for high-paying jobs.

The takeaway

Care to run with any of these ideas?

Do you have any Big Ideas of your own that you’d like to trot out to your friends and maybe even tackle?

I extemporize on this on YouTube.

You can reach career advisor Dr. Marty Nemko at [email protected]