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At a very early age, we are expected to pick a college major or vocation or trade that will define what we do as a career. But the truth is, most people don't know exactly what they want to do. And once you do decide on something, you may be stuck on that for quite a while.
Furthermore, even if you do find a field that meets your needs, and skills, you are further pigeonholed until you are expected to primarily perform that task ad nauseum.
For example, say you decide to major in civil engineering. Even after making that choice, tou may be interested in building structures, transportation and environmental, but you are only going to be performing one. Sure, you could switch to another sub discipline after 10 years, but then you are losing 10 years of experience. Not many people are willing to lose that salary and bump themselves down.
Or you are an 'IT' person. Switching from databases to software programming after 5 years experience of the former does not seem easy either.
Personally, from being out in the work world, I feel most people could do most other people's jobs with a year (at most sometimes) of training.
Yet, job descriptions ask for people with 10, 15, 20 years of experience doing one particular thing? And it prevents people from getting a broad exposure to their field that I feel most people would prefer. At least I would.
The hiring process has become a very 1 dimmensional proces. We want to hire a Chemist to analyze alkaloids by HPLC so we program the ATS or tell HR to find a Chemist with 10 years experience, running an Agilent 1290 system testing for Alkaloids in the food industry on a Thursday and they get insanely frustrated that such a specific chemist doesn't exist. It is like people are a one size crescent wrench only capable of one specific job with no capacity to learn or adapt. It never occurs to many places that A chemist running a Water HPLC to test for PCB should be able to learn the Agilent instrument and test method protocol very quickly and that they are simply being rediculous.
It is like a pizza place placing an add for a delivery person with experience driving a Ford and rejecting anyone who drives another model car.
That's a major issue. My spouse is searching for a job, and often encounters employers who are essentially looking for such a specific set of skills that it makes it almost impossible to find a new position. And then they complain about not being to find any one qualified.
It is very specialized these days. I work in IT Sales, and I need to have both technical skills and "soft" (selling & communication) skills in dealing with prospects. The technical skills take months (sometimes years) to learn and develop and they constantly change, due to the rapid changes in technology.
sometimes it does feel a bit rushed. I remeber entering college at 18 and all of a sudden I was suppose to know with pin point, laser like clarity what I want to do for the rest of my life. Are you kidding me? At 18 I really had no idea, I was between: marine biologist, working in the video game industry, weapons designer- yes I know i was all over the place, but I was 18 I really had no idea.
Looking back now I envy those who knew exactly at 18 what he/she wanted to do. i.e... I want to be a nurse, a doctor, a clincal lab scientist etc... they had a path they had a plan an 18, I sure as hell did not.
Or you are an 'IT' person. Switching from databases to software programming after 5 years experience of the former does not seem easy either.
Opinions?
Totally agree! Being an IT person, especially. I feel that I'm so "niched" that it is almost impossible to switch fields without losing at least 30% of the pay. My husband, who is in IT as well, feels the same. Also, he is at a point now where salary increase means that he has to move into management, and he absolutely despises it. He is at the top of the pay range as non-managerial employee in his niche.
Sorry if I'm talking more about advanced careers, and you are mostly discussing initial career paths.
Most jobs today are hyperspecialized with a litany of "required skills," many of which don't correspond to day-to-day duties, can be learned quickly, or are skills based one of a kind software or tools designed specifically for one function at one firm.
I'm also in IT and the field is particularly harsh with specialization. I have worked at three different companies and the software I've used at each company is completely different in the same job role. The product and vendor may be different, but the tools do very similar things, and a person can get to a functional level in these tools in a week or so, provided they've used similar systems. My first employer was a Fortune 50 that had an expensive, custom designed ticketing system. It's a one of a kind product, but they are requiring candidates outside the company to have three years experience in this software! In this case, it is actually impossible for outside candidates to have experience in this product, as there is nowhere else to acquire experience as it's used nowhere else.
Many hiring managers feel that because someone has not performed a role for many years, that they are never capable of performing that role. In a sense, the people currently in a position are the only ones ever able to fill vacancies, because they are the only ones with the current experience. What used to have been a career ladder from truly entry level, then junior, then mid level, then to senior level roles has locked people into whatever "rung" they're currently on, and those out of the job market or the industry can never get on the ladder.
Most jobs today are hyperspecialized with a litany of "required skills," many of which don't correspond to day-to-day duties, can be learned quickly, or are skills based one of a kind software or tools designed specifically for one function at one firm.
I'm also in IT and the field is particularly harsh with specialization. I have worked at three different companies and the software I've used at each company is completely different in the same job role. The product and vendor may be different, but the tools do very similar things, and a person can get to a functional level in these tools in a week or so, provided they've used similar systems. My first employer was a Fortune 50 that had an expensive, custom designed ticketing system. It's a one of a kind product, but they are requiring candidates outside the company to have three years experience in this software! In this case, it is actually impossible for outside candidates to have experience in this product, as there is nowhere else to acquire experience as it's used nowhere else.
Many hiring managers feel that because someone has not performed a role for many years, that they are never capable of performing that role. In a sense, the people currently in a position are the only ones ever able to fill vacancies, because they are the only ones with the current experience. What used to have been a career ladder from truly entry level, then junior, then mid level, then to senior level roles has locked people into whatever "rung" they're currently on, and those out of the job market or the industry can never get on the ladder.
That or they think they can find the exact person they want and will not settle for anything less. Not that I blame it with the amount of the unemployed workers but when your position is unfilled for months, maybe you can strip a way at some of the like to haves you want "required" for the job.
This thread reminds me of all the unrealistic "many years" experience many job ads post for many job requirements and even for some entry level jobs as well.
IT, and many other sectors at that, has so many niche areas that you can feel trapped after working with similar skill sets for years.
I would say there is way too much specialization and it can be difficult to switch careers for some. Career switching does happen more frequently than it may have in the past, and sometimes it does sound daunting to have happen due to this premise of too much job specialization in my opinion and observation anyway.
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