In today's stressful and complex work environment, many professional workers suffer burnout that is, dissatisfaction with their high stress jobs, lack of fulfillment in their professional lives, and increasingly a sense of restlessness and regret as to the professional careers they have chosen.
Marketing studies and polls consistently show that these professionals, especially many attorneys and healthcare workers, desire less stress in their work and would change careers if they could. The same problems afflict recent graduates. Among law school graduates in 1996, 10% did not pursue jobs in the legal profession, according to the National Association for Law Placement; and the trend is pronouncedly upwards, as less than 5% of law school graduates eight years earlier in 1988 did not seek legal careers. Approximately one fourth of law school graduates now work in employment positions where a law degree is not required.
One result of these frustrations centered around stress, boredom, and burnout is that an ever growing number of professional and technical employees are entering the temporary employment market as an alternative. Combined with the professional and technical employees who are involuntarily downsized and outplaced, these highly trained professional and technical employees are the future of the staffing services business. Many of them can be placed by staffing services in their field of expertise where they continue to practice law, medicine, accounting, or architecture. At the same time many other professionals can and will be placed in executive positions such as human resources management, administration, or planning so as to utilize their talent and experience but in a different outlet so as to rekindle their performance.
Meteoric advances in information technology and communications now create opportunities for work and employment that were not available to our parents and grandparents. In an earlier generation, the progression was clear and rigid: You went to college, obtained a professional degree, interviewed, and immediately went to work for a law firm, medical clinic, doctor's practice, engineering or architectural firm, or other business. In those days you probably worked all your life for that same firm or practice since lateral transfers were almost unheard of.
The Changing Business Office
Now, however, instant communications and a mobile society mean you may change careers several times and may change employers dozens of times. In fact, many professional and technical temporary employees often work out of "alternative offices," which were pioneered by accounting firms in the late 1980s. With the use of computers, e mail, laptops, ISDN lines, docking stations, cellular phones, and faxes, such workers can analyze, advise, and report without ever using a traditional office. Many companies increasingly provide offices for executives to store their records but expect them to be working outside that office and spending their time at clients' businesses or at the company's factories. Such alternative offices save large sums of leased space money for companies and allow the employer to fit three to five executives into one traditional office.
Alternative offices are well suited for professional and technical temps who will not be concerned with territoriality and corporate political issues such as whose office is bigger or prettier or has the window view. These types of offices allow temporary employees especially to have greater flexibility and maximize their productivity for the employer. A recent survey by Hewlett Packard Company documented that 99% of its alternative office users are satisfied and want its use expanded.
Personal Contacts
The people closest to you, your family and friends, can be very helpful. They may be able to answer your questions directly or, more importantly, put you in touch with someone else who can. This networking can lead to an "informational interview," where you can meet with someone who is willing to answer your questions about temporary staffing jobs and who can provide inside information. This is a highly effective way to learn the recommended type of training for certain positions, how someone in that position entered and advanced, and what he or she likes and dislikes about the work.
Professional Societies, Trade Associations, Business Firms, and Educational Institutions
Professional and educational organizations provide a variety of free or inexpensive career material. Consult the Internet or directories in your library's reference section for the names of staffing services. You may need to start with The Guide to American Directories, The Directory of Directories, or The Internet Yellow Pages. Another useful resource is The Encyclopedia of Associations, an annual multi volume publication listing trade associations, professional societies, and fraternal and patriotic organizations.
