Seven Career Mindset Shifts For A Turbulent World, Day 6-Shift 5

The back-story? That's here.

• Shift 5: From 'corporate umbrella' to 'long-term hire'
  

1. For our grandparents: the paternal employer. Training, security and pension.
   
2. For our parents: the disappearance of the 'job for life'. But the pension and opportunities still exist.
   
3. For us: we are simply-at best-on a long-term hire. We need our own plans and importantly our own funding for the future.

Let's be clear. For most of us, the best mindset is: we run our own business and we have a long-term contract with our current employer. That's it. No more and no less security than that. Employers simply cannot afford it any more. We are expensive: we want laptops and holidays and pensions and training and air-conditioning and....bonuses....and salaries.

Thus:

1. Don't be a commodity who can be 'chipped' nor outsourced. Be remarkable i.e. worth remarking upon. Receptionist or CEO. Be remarkable.
2. Build your brand. That's what people say about you when you are not present.
3. Create your own training budget. Pay for your own training.
4. Always have a business book on the go. Learn, learn, learn.
5. Set up a learning team: three people, 1h per month dedicated to this stuff. Share ideas, coach and cajole.
6. Create your own back-up/support plan for retirement funds.
7. Constantly ask: what value am I offering? What's my RoI?
8. Review your CV every month. Just 10 minutes. Am I employable?
9. Act as you wish to be perceived.
10. Start.