How many jobs have you had?
Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 09:10AM The Department of Labor projects that people will hold on average 10.2 jobs between the ages of 18 and 38... Fletcher, An Eye on the Future, T.H.E. Journal, July 2007.
Fletcher is only the latest in a long line of futurists, change advocates, school reformers, journalists, and other individuals of shady character to quote the statistic above.
Personally, I don't find it shocking or all that meaningful. While flying here to Portland, I reflected on how many jobs I had the first 20 years of my non-farm working life. I think my first job was gathering eggs at about age four - a terrifying experience which made me work-shy to this day but which gives me a sense of revenge each time I eat a chicken nugget. They are made out of chicken, aren't they? Anyway, here's my list:
- Seed corn plant laborer (Mostly stacking 60 lb bags of chemically treated field corn seed.)
- Dishwasher at the university food services (All you could eat, too!)
- Silage truck driver (Only four days before I crashed a truck and was fired.)
- Hod carrier (The guy who mixes mortar and humps bricks and block for masons. Lost 20 pounds first two weeks on the job and made college immediately more important.)
- Furniture deliverer (Almost fired for starting a fire in the packing blankets in the back of a moving truck with an errant cigarette.)
- Laundry worker (More familiar with dirty diapers from nursing homes than anyone ought to be.)
- Surveyor's assistant (Light, outdoor work. Great summer job.)
- High school English teacher. (World's worst. I still owe those kids an apology.)
- Gas station attendant. (Supplemented my big $7,600 a year first year teaching salary.)
- Hospital worker (Central sterilizing from 3-11PM working through grad school. Autoclaves and endless 3-gown surgical packs.)
- Junior high librarian and English teacher. (First job I really, really enjoyed.)
- Motel clerk. (11PM to 7AM - teaching income still needed a boost. Pretty interesting people who inhabit the wee hours of the morning. Learned to sleep sitting up.)
- Library media specialist, K-9. (Working for the Aramco Oil Company in Saudi Arabia. Sweet income!)
- High school media specialist. (Good job.)
- Writer. (I started getting paid for my work when I was in my late 30s so I'll count this one.)
Summer jobs, part-time jobs while in school. Really only two professional jobs in four different schools.
Were transferable skills important? I suppose. But they were "soft" skills - reliability, cooperation, communication, strong back, high tolerance for boredom, etc. - not really job-specific.
How many jobs did you have from 18-38? Is this a statistic that has any meaning? How should it be used when we talk about school reform?
Reader Comments (11)
I have been wondering about the statistics that are incorporated in the “futurist” talks I have been seeing. I know that my current job was something that was only on cartoons when I was a young child. The Jetsons were one of my favorite shows, but I never dreamed that I would grow up to be doing what I am doing. When I began this job, I had no idea that it would be the dream job for me and that I had the perfect skill set for it. (Well, I sorta got to make up my job because no one else really knew what it should be either!)
Here is my list of jobs to date.
1. Hostess at a full-service restaurant.
2. Server at a full-service restaurant.
3. T-shirt painter (I worked in a room with two other people and we assembly-line painted t-shirts…think “color-by-number” type stuff. One day, all I did was paint little yellow brushes on shirts. This was the main motivator to go back and finish my degree.)
4. Bartender (Yes, I finished my degree, but it is in English Literature!)
5. Substitute teacher (No, I did not think to go ahead and get certified to teach while I was getting my undergraduate degree. I was NEVER going to be a teacher )
6. Elementary Teacher (Loved it!!!)
7. Program coordinator for a teacher preparation program
8. Special education/inclusion trainer (During this time I earned my masters degree from Pepperdine in the third cadre from OMET.)
9. Technology Planning and E-Rate Support system (This was my first experience with assisting in the development of a large (statewide) electronic planning system. I also learned that I hate doing HelpDesk-type work.)
10. Distance Learning Coordinator (I did not even know what video conferencing was when I began. I quickly learned and now I work with K-12 schools using the “talking TV” from the Jetsons in educational ways.)
The main difference from my current job and all others is that my current job feels so much FASTER due to the exponential growth of our student projects and the interactions with so many different colleagues in different locations. It feels that our work never stops.
The best piece of advice that I ever got was from a professor during my senior year in college. One day he sent everyone except the seniors out of the room so he could have a few minutes with those of us about to graduate. I will always remember his closing words, “The most important thing for you to do when you graduate is to do something!”
Maybe that should be the message to our students.
1) Environmental Door-to-Door Fundraiser (College Summer)
2) T-Shirt maker (college summer)
3) Dorm cleaner / Furniture mover (college summer)
4) Penn Student Agencies Operations Manager / Graphic Designer (college during year)
5) PIRG Fund Raising Office Assistant Director
6) Research Analyst US Federal Bureau of Prisons
7) Freelance Web Designer
8) Teacher / Technology Coordinator / Coach
9) Dean of Students / Tech Coordinator / etc...
10) Principal
Doug,
You ask the questions that some of us only briefly consider. I've often wondered the meaning of that statistic.
I had five jobs my freshman year of college alone and that was back in the 70s - college switchboard operator, dining hall worker, waitress, worked for a catering company and babysitter.
I think the point is we have a variety of jobs in our late teens and twenties - I wonder if this generation will actually have fewer jobs than we had as we felt more financially responsible (or am I just generalizing?) and substantially contributed to college expenses and after college.
Hi Roxanne,
Thanks for sharing this list. A number of us, it seems, have a checkered past! I liked your professor's advice.
Doug
Karen,
I was thinking the same thing. My 21 year old son has had only three jobs (and he has been working since age 16) - dishwasher, convenience store clerk, and salesman at a game store. He needs to work for spending money and some college, but he doesn't earn his whole keep. But then he has a pretty mean old dad! I also wonder if the immigrant workforce may be doing some of the tasks teens did in my day.
Doug
I posted a more elaborate entry on my blog at http://cliotech.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-employment-history.html
Here is my employment history:
* tobacco picker at Christian Brothers Tobacco Farm in West Suffield, CT
* sales associate at The Athlete's Foot in Hartford, CT
* sales associate at Thai One On in Enfield, CT
* secretary at The Travelers Special Investigations Division in Hartford, CT
* subrogation adjuster at The Hartford Insurance Company in Hartford, CT
* tour guide at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA
* social studies teacher at Holicong Middle School in Doylestown, PA
* PRAXIS NTE question generator at Princeton ETS campus
* staff development facilitator in the Central Bucks School District in Doylestown, PA
I actually started to put together an article about the warnings offered by these futurists, especially the one that says that our kids will have jobs that haven't been created yet. Using a very small sample (my extended family) I discovered that all the 20-30 somethings currently hold jobs that have existed for years. Some have been to college, but not all. They seem to be clustered around those Thomas Friedman suggested are indispensable--local and service-oriented. Not gardeners and hairdressers, but restaurant servers and managers, human resource folks, office managers, teachers, librarians, and parents.One is a software developer, so theoretically he might do his job anywhere. Without fail the skills they all claim are most important (for themselves as well as for those they hire) are flexibility, reliability, and organization.Maybe we should worry less about which jobs they'll have and make sure they have those "soft" skills to apply to them.
My career also began on the family farm at age five, which, by the way, taught me more about an honest day's work than any class in school. But, beyond those days of mutton bustin' and feed tossing, I have an interesting career history. Many of these positions were held in tandem, and it is interesting to see where one led to the next...
1. Baker at local bagel shop
2. Convenience Store Clerk
3. Technical Director in High School Theatre
4. Mobile Disc Jockey
5. Health Club Member Services Clerk
6. Church Sound Engineer
7. Restaurant Waiter
8. Customer Service Representative (inbound call center)
9. Recording Studio Production Assistant
10. Mobile Phone Salesman
11. Middle School English Teacher
12. Small Business Owner
13. Graduate Teaching Assistant
Great conversation topic! I look forward to reading more.
I had 21 jobs before I was 25. I worked as a seasonal park ranger and went from job to job for quite awhile. It was great fun, but it made my application form for federal jobs long since I had to have an entry for each job. After grad school, I held one job for 13 years, then went on disability, worked for 6 months at social security reading for a blind person (an extremely boring job), then became an ELL aide, then a high school librarian, then an online reference librarian, a substitute teacher, and an adult ESL instructor, after which I returned to the high school library. But I'm surely not typical.
I find the lists quite interesting! I'm a 38 yr old mom of two and hadn't considered how many jobs I've had! Here's my list:
1. cleaned offices for a family friend at 15
2. after school program supervisor /summer camp coordinator
3. preschool teacher
4. waitress at a pizza joint
5. sold shoes at Payless
6. sold ice cream at Strawberry Hill
7. worked the front desk of my residence hall in college
8. preschool director
9. nanny
10. small business office manager
11.accounting clerk
12.freelance writer for a local publication (when my kids were babies)
13.started a non-profit for area mothers
14.substitute teacher (when my children were all in school)
15.middle school English teacher (still going strong)
Im 18 and have had more labor jobs than most kids my age that I know.Not much to be proud of since I couldnt hold them for very long without pissing them away to support my habits. Nonetheless I know a thing or two about hard work so I ain't trippin.
1. Gardener with Landscaping company
2. Cook at fast food joint.
3. House frame construction worker
4. Laborer with a traveling carnival (ran away from home and joined in desperation)
5. Metal factory worker (longest I've ever held any job [2 months])
6. Fast food joint again
7. Pipe layer
8. Various temp jobs for a month. Warehousing, factories..
9. "Carnie" again and still at it. One of the lowest paying jobs these days if not THE lowest paying job but I love the life