From the
1950's to the late 1980's, the concept of lifetime employment was
considered one's ideal career path, where seniority determined
career success.
Beginning in
the 1990's to the present, technological advances have sped up
market cycles, where companies started to go out of business,
reorganize, and re-emerge as new companies to meet new demands in a
shorter period of time. In response, the labor market had to become
more flexible, providing their talents where they were needed.
Workers were thus rewarded based on performance rather than
seniority.
The ability to
develop proficiency in transferable workplace skills has replaced
seniority as a measure of employability. They are necessary for
career success at all levels of employment.
|
Employment during 1950's-1980's |
Employability in the 1990's through the 21st Century |
|
Lifetime
job security |
Limited
job security |
|
Jobs are
permanent |
Jobs are
temporary |
|
Work
environment static |
Work
environment dynamic |
|
Well-defined boundaries |
Boundaryless* |
|
Company
manages career |
Self-directed career management |
|
Low
emphasis on skill development |
High
emphasis on skill development |
* A boundaryless career operates across
organizational and industry boundaries, not just within one company.
21st
Century Employability
Employability
refers to possessing a set of core skill groups that are
transferable from job-to-job and from industry-to-industry.
To address
what these skills are,
the U.S.
Department of Labor established a Commission on Achieving Necessary
Skills (SCANS) in 1990.
In their 1991
report, What Work Requires of Schools, the
commission's
primary
objective is to help teachers understand how curriculum and
instruction must change to enable students to develop the specific
foundation skills and competencies necessary for employment.
In their 1999
report, Skills and Tasks for Jobs: A SCANS Report for America
2000, the commission's primary objective is to expand on
proposing acceptable levels of these core foundation skills and
competencies. You can access full text versions of these reports
from the Resources section for this course.
SCANS
Foundation Skills and Competencies
SCANS determined that workplace skills
from job-to-job and industry-to-industry consist of a core group of
foundation skills and competencies.
Foundation skills are basic academic
and behavioral characteristics from which to build competencies. The
three SCANS foundation skill categories were identified as Basic
Literacy Skills, Thinking Skills, and Personal Qualities.
Competencies are a combination of
skills, abilities, and knowledge needed to accomplish a specific
task; they are more closely related to what people actually do at
work. The five SCANS competencies were identified as Resources,
Information, Interpersonal, Systems, and Technology.
SCANS
foundation skills and competencies are being integrated into
industry skill standards, educational learning standards, and
hiring/evaluation procedures throughout the
U.S.
What is
missing is the integration of these skills and competencies into the
job search, resume writing, and career development processes.
A lot of what you read and do on this site will focus on how you
focus on your core skills; this is the foundation for achieving
resiliency in your career.
NEXT STEP:
explore
more about your skills
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