10.

Adapt to Technology

Technology was supposed to make us more productive—and it has. It was also supposed to allow us to have more leisure time. Well, not so much.

Are you working more but finding that you're not being paid any more than you were when you put in less time? As with a lot things in life, one thing was promised but the opposite came to pass. Smartphones, laptops, iPads, and other forms of technology have become hi-tech handcuffs (or electronic leashes, if you prefer). From a company's perspective, technology means it can get more out of its workers for less money. It's very efficient and cost-effective to have workers electronically chained and available for work 24/7.

We've gotten busier—so busy that traditional forms of communication have broken down. In the working world, that means if you're sending your résumé in response to a job posting, it's probably not getting read. You'll need to find alternative ways to connect with people you want to work for or with.

Back in the olden days—say 20 or 30 years ago—there were a couple of job titles called “Assistant” and “Secretary.” These people would do grunt work for managers and executives -the typing, filing, etc. Today, thanks to technology, we're all doing that work for ourselves. And because of technology, we're available to work more hours. Employers are only too happy to take advantage of this fact—and of you.

We all are doing the work of at least two people—and your boss is, too. If you work for a company that has had layoffs and you were lucky enough to keep your job, you've now taken on the work of those who were let go. You may well be doing the work of three or four people, being paid for just one, and grateful to have a job at all!

Let's set the scene, as they say in Hollywood. Suppose an employer has a job opening and posts it. In response, 500 or 1,000 résumés will likely flood in. That figure is not an exaggeration. A colleague of mine who is an executive with the Walt Disney Company was amazed to receive 500 résumés for a single assistant position. Human Resources told him, “That's nothing. The record for a job opening at Disney is 14,000 résumés!”

I was involved in digital media for about 10 years, starting in the early 1990s—even before there was a World Wide Web. We early adopters felt that digital media would change everything, and so it has. Many things that people counted on as the foundations of their lives in the mid 20th century are becoming unrecognizable or have simply disappeared: commercial radio, newspapers, magazines, phone books, the Big Three auto makers, the dominance of the three television broadcast networks.

All of this is due to technology—and technology has changed the workplace, too. You have no choice but to adapt—or die.