Mastering Resilient Career
By Dr Alicia Karwat, KeySteps Pty. Ltd.
Skill Shortage – What skill shortage? What does it mean to be career resilient?
Media would like us to believe that our labour market experiences skill shortage. This is true in some sectors, such as mining, engineering and trades; however, in fact most other sectors experience a rise of redundancies and retrenchments, in particular at more senior levels. Recruiters complain that their business is down because there are not many new vacancies coming in. I have seen many good candidates in my practice recently, who have been looking for jobs for more than six months. Age seems to do quite a lot with it; perhaps because older people are looking for more senior positions than the younger ones and there are not so many senior positions advertised. Turning 40 appears to be a magical age, although one recruiter told me that in their circle mature age workers are those over 36. “This position is too junior for you” – you can hear their response, and “I do not have anything at your level right now”.
