when reading/ hearing (business) text:
What issues are at stake?
Who/ what/ where/ who?
What does this text assume the reader knows?
Whose viewpoints are being reflected?
1.Employment
When the economy is doing well, many people are in work. In times of
stagnation or recession, however, more and more people lose their job and
have a hard time finding something new. They are out of work.
Job titles:
A data-analyst job data wrangler
Executive
Vice president
Human resources
Head of people
Customer service ninja
Sales rock star
Developer evangelist
Senior vice president of human resources
Recruitment evangelist
Growth hacker
Shine artists
Public-relations ninja
The value(s) of job titles.
As the workplace changes, more companies are sprucing up job titles as a
way to attract talent in a tight labor market (= short supply of employees).
Companies use titles to attract prospective employees. Firms are using
titles to show “you can have an impact or make a difference” especially
for younger workers.
Some argue that rethinking titles can give jobs the dignity they deserve.
Expect more companies to allow employees a say in what their titles
ultimately look like, experts say. “If you define your own title, you start
taking ownership a lot more immediately.
Attractive job titles are a form of motivation and so they influence how the
work is experienced. People with a spruced up of made-up job title are a
lot more satisfied with their work. In addition, they feel more valued and
they feel they are making an impact or difference.
1.1. Portfolio workers
Portfolio worker:
A person who works for several different companies or organizations at
the same time; a portfolio worker may have a variety of different clients
that they offer different services to, or they may work part-time for a
company and have their own business as well.
, The next generation of jobs won’t be made up of professions. Prepare the
next generation for a career in the future, which for many will be made up
of numerous micro-jobs aimed well-paid skilled workers, and not a single
boss and company. Deciding the skills you want to use leads to a career
that’s more targeted and thus more likely to bring you satisfaction.
Ultimately, developing precise goals helps teenagers plan for what many
call a ‘portfolio career’. This type of career is made up of somewhat
disparate projects or roles and will be more prevalent in the next decade.
They are going to have to carve out a niche that’s more specific than it
once was.
Instead of identifying your job role or description, you will be constantly
adding skills based on what is going to make you more employable. If
you’re younger, this will likely mean the ability to pursue flexibility and
passions rather than enter into a more traditional role.
The idea of building a portfolio career has been around since the late
1980s, tapping into the dreamy interest many of u have in forging a one-
of-a-kind career path. But, until recently, the idea has been more theory
than practice since a lack of technology made it time-consuming to find
out about new opportunities. Now that the technology has created more
opportunities in the gig economy, the micro-job concept is making its
way up the professional rank.
More traditional companies are catching on and offering freelance-like
project opportunities to their own employees. Instead of continuing in one
department under a single supervisor, workers are encouraged to choose
their next project based on their skills, or skills they want to develop,
which can mean working in a different part of the company. The biggest
barrier to adapting is mindset
Drawbacks to creating a portfolio of work:
If you constantly hop from one project to the next, the change can
be jarring and leave you without a clear path to benchmark success.
With fewer promotions and changes to job titles, it can be more
difficult to feel like you’re succeeding even if you’re regularly
completing projects.
Our identity is often wrapped up in the type of work we do, which
doesn’t really fit the micro-job collecting life.
Gig economy:
In a gig economy, temporary, flexible jobs are commonplace, and
companies tend to hire independent contractors and freelancers instead of
full-time employees. A gig economy undermines the traditional economy
of full-time workers who often focus on their career development.
Gig refers to a one-off job that someone gets paid to do on a casual basis.
(Airbnb, Uber, Deliveroo, … Get paid by task)
1.2. Grammar
In English, job titles are preceded by an article as in
I am a portfolio worker