Getting Back to Basics

During the big downsizing spree of the 90s, the evening news was full of human interest stories: the family struggling to make ends meet, the former middle manager living in his car, the job hunter sending out hundreds of resumes. I don’t watch television news any more, but I’m sure the same stories are running. It would certainly make a realistic counterpoint to the political hot air that consumes everyone’s attention these days.

One thing about the 90s stories that really fascinated me was the number that focused on people’s attempts to find new jobs after they had been downsized or outsourced out of their supposedly secure positions. They talked about the number of resumes they’d sent out, and how long they’d been at it, but one thread that ran through the stories was that they were looking for exactly the same kind of job they had lost. Somehow, it hadn’t penetrated their consciousness that if their particular type of work was proving to be something less than essential to the world’s business, it might be time to think about developing some new skills, some job qualifications that met changing demands. They kept running down the same track, wearing the ruts deeper, and never once considering the possibility of trying another track that wasn’t so worn.

And I wonder how many of today’s job refugees are repeating that pattern. “This is what I’ve learned to do to earn a living. This is what I have to do to earn a living. Surely, all the jobs can’t have gone away. I guess I’ll just have to keep trying. Send out more resumes tomorrow… and the next day… and the next day.”