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Some Great Career Advice, Courtesy of Hollywood

January 25, 2009 | Author: Jessica Howard | Filed under: Setting Goals

Once upon a time, you could entrust your career to your company. People got good corporate jobs, keeping their heads down and their seats warm until retirement. Ah, the benefits, the salary, the security.

Anyone nostalgic about those “good old days” can get a reality check by watching the movie Revolutionary Road. Pamela Skillings, author of Escape From Corporate America, wrote a super post on the film, which is about a man (Leonardo DiCaprio) slowly suffocating under fluourescent office lights in 1950s corporate America. Despite the fact that his wife (Kate Winslet) is also suffocating in her job as a housewife, they are afraid to abandon their comfortable routine.

Job security is not the be-all end-all; it doesn’t translate to fulfillment or happiness. And, these days, it’s not even an option. The average person may change jobs 10 times in their career. Managers are not surprised when workers in their 20s and 30s decide to move on after 2 or 3 years.

It’s good to keep this in mind as concern over job losses mounts. Sooner or later you’re going to have to move on, anyway. Whether by choice or by layoff, you’ll have to plan your next act. You have to take ownership of your career. It’s not about changing jobs for the sake of changing jobs. It’s about staying aware of where you want to go, being in a position to receive new opportunities, and being open to change.

While opportunities to job-hop are shrinking in this economy, Gen Y writer Rebecca Thorman takes on the notion that people shouldn’t even think about it. That it’s time to take what you can get. Thorman argues that performance trumps everything, saying, “Really, we’re not surprised. We saw all this growing up– lay-offs, bankruptcy, politicking - and it’s exactly why we wanted to change the workplace in the first place.”

According to self-described “career owner” Silvana Avinami, it’s all about creating choices for yourself.  We’ll post a full-length interview with her on Wednesday. Avinami has had 12 jobs in the last 10 years, increasing her salary substantially along the way. Born into an entrepreneurial family in Barranquilla, Colombia, she launched her first business - a mango stand - at age 5. Now living in Australia, she’s working on her next project, a book.

Stay tuned for Wednesday’s interview!

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 and is filed under Setting Goals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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1 person has left a comment

Very timely post around Oscar time! I’m really looking forward to seeing Revolutionary Road.

Neha wrote on January 28, 2009 - 1:48 pm | Visit Link

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