Generation Gap Again? Interesting article about Linear or Non-Linear Careers

Hi Dave,

Seeing no responses yet, i'll respond. I agree with the article.

One point in particular:

"But modern career trajectories are rarely so cut-and-dry. They often involve quickly adapting to new roles as they develop, and for many people, it’s normal to switch companies or even industries several times in a career."

This in part relates to the post i made about your 1st 3 months on the job.

And also relates to shorter tenures in companies as compared to our parent's generation (I'm a Gen X'er). The shorter tenure are not only linked to "self-entrepreneural" behavior - i.e. move on once there's nothing else to gain but also linked to how corporations are today, there is no loyalty and there does tend to be a trend to hire more externally than to grow internal talents. So its a landscape where you need to put yourself first. I can go off but I do think in coporate, there is more tribal behvior than social but I'll stop there..but that is also underlying the non-linear career environment today.

Unfortunately, as hinted to i the article, alot of companies and hiring-managers still have very old fasion views regarding the need to have a linear path - Big Pharma is gulity of this one, and even in interviews they all want a nice linear story.

My career i think has been fairly non-linear. I've been in a few companies - even made a jump to another area of expertise, learned alot but found nothing in the longer-term there so i jumped back to another path. The funny part is, in interviews i tell a linear story (the back story i leave out).

I have been lucky to find hiring managers with non-linear paths - open to folks like me. So in those interviews and my most successful interviews, when I feel comfortable to tell the back story, I do. i.e. Family. Job environment, personal choices. etc. And its where in generally i'v gotten the job.

I guess the other message i emphasize from the article, is today I don't think we map careers, I do think we are more reactionary, I think we're working more opportunistically, and we're more non-linear, i also like to think of non-linear career folks as more flexible and apt to change. Which are all advantages in my opinion.

DX