For people who entered the workforce in the late 60s and the 70s, careers were pretty predictable i.e. you'd join a company, promote through the ranks, and stay until retirement. Today, this is no longer the reality.

Miller Dallas Inc., a career transition company, highlighted the following changes in a recent article *

• Organizations have streamlined their operations and there is a larger pool of candidates for a reduced number of available positions.

• It's rare that anyone spends their whole career and work life at any one organization.

• Recognizing that their skill sets are transferable, many job seekers have widened their range of employment targets. Mobility is accepted more by employers than in the past.

• The executives who used to offer time, advice and guidance to up-and-comers are working so hard they hardly have time for their own interests and families. This applies especially to middle managers.

• It's very important to take the time every once in a while to sit down and understand what you really want out of your career - what it is you're good at and enjoy - and then be the one who moves yourself in that direction because no one is going to do that for you.

• More people are making deliberate lifestyle choices in pursuing their careers. Many people are rejecting "tournament" career paths, refusing to work 80 hours a week under a lot of stress for the one in fifteen chance they might make it to the top level.

• While compensation and the ability to move up the corporate ladder were the most important considerations 25 years ago in employee satisfaction, this is no longer the case.

• Important are the abilities to make value and integrity -based decisions, and to provide leadership in a highly ambiguous and complex environment, which is characterized by the speed of change.

* Mentor , vol. 2, issue 1

COPING WITH THE RAT RACE ... RELAX IT'S ONLY LIFE

(The following column contains excerpts from a Toronto Star article (April 23/99) by William Bedford)

"Practically everyone I meet now complains about the extra workload they have to should. Older employees tell me they hope to be offered early retirement with a good severance package. The younger ones, from schoolteachers to nurses to janitors, work under increasing stress as they worry about being laid off from jobs they no longer like, or, in many cases, now hate.

Over and over I hear them whining the same old about winning a lottery and kissing the rat race good-bye. While winning a big lottery would, no doubt, solve our financial problems, we know in our hearts it's not going to happen. So we must learn to cope with the so-called "rat race".

A respite from the madness of the marketplace is much simpler than that. While there may be little chance of escaping the din of the workplace on company time, there's nothing stopping us from finding peace and quite in old-fashioned hobbies and pursuits on our own time. Here are just a few of the wonderful things that have defied the winds of change: gardening, fishing, cookouts. There is bicycling, swimming, horseshoe-pitching and kite flying. It doesn't cost a penny to sped an afternoon in the park watching the swans and smelling the flowers, or watching exotic games like cricket and bocce. When summer's done, you can take in an amateur play in a neighbourhood theatre.

Or try cooking a meal from scratch for a change, instead of plopping one in the microwave. Rent an old movie. Read a few chapters of a good book, in bed, before you go to sleep. As you can see from this partial list for easy living, anyone can move over into the slow lane on their own time. You just have to slow down.

USEFUL WORK PHRASES:

• Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.

• I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.
• I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid.
• I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant.
• I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
• Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
• How about never? Is never good for you?
• I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to worship me.
• You sound reasonable: Time to up my medication..
• I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter.
• I 'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.
• I don't work here. I'm a consultant.
• Who me? I just wander from room to room.
• It might look like I'm doing nothing, but at the cellular level I'm really quite busy.
• At least I have a positive attitude about my destructive habits.
• You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
• I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.