Good afternoon, friends. It's Rohan with the latest edition of Coached — your personal mentorship email that takes a few minutes to read, but speeds up your career by years. |
In today's Mentor's Corner, I'm tackling a tough truth: the idea that job security isn't what it used to be. Remember when landing a job meant you were set for life? Not anymore. |
So, it got me thinking — how do we get ready for this new reality? That's what I'll cover today. I've come up with a few things to focus on to make sure you have 'career security,' even when things get shaky. |
To my loyal readers: I've been writing bite-sized career strategy on LinkedIn, stuff I don't cover in these emails. People tell me it's making their feed more productive and helping them think about their career differently. Don't want to miss out? Follow me there. |
New here? If you like the sound of getting free career coaching every week — the kind people usually pay a lot for — get my next email by signing up at Coached.com. |
Estimated read time: 6 minutes 22 seconds |
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📈 Mentor's Corner Insights put together by me or coaches who usually charge $750+/hour and mentor senior execs. One practical lesson a week that will make a measurable impact on your career, delivered right to you — for $0. |
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How to build 'career security', in a world where job security doesn't exist |
Once upon a time, there was such a thing as an IBM "man" or an HP "man". |
You'd have 50 comfortable years ahead of you, working with the same people, after which you'd retire with a pension and a watch. |
Fast forward to 2024… |
And thanks to tech change, those jobs are looong gone. |
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Nowadays? |
It's not even that employees don't last long (which they don't). It's that companies, and even entire industries don't last long. |
I mean, listen to this: |
In the 1920s, the average lifespan of a company included in the S&P 500 (a list of the biggest 500 companies in the US) was 67 years. Today, it's 15 years. |
So what does this mean for our careers? |
Well, unless you want to work for the government or learn a trade, chances are that "job security" will be a pipe-dream for most. |
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But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. |
The way I see it, if the job market is the ocean, then aiming for job security is like aiming to cross the Atlantic on only calm seas. |
IMO, a more "anti-fragile" approach is to learn to sail (and enjoy sailing) in stormy weather. |
What does this look like in practice? |
Well, after some head-scratching, I've come up with 5 goals that – in my opinion – are better than chasing job security in 2024. And, even better, will give you 'career security'. |
Here we go. |
🧠 "Ultra-learning" beats job security |
A quote (wrongly attributed to Charles Darwin): |
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What does "adaptable to change" mean? |
It means learning quickly. Yes, job security is nice. But being able to quickly master new skills so you can thrive in whatever economy is better. |
→ It's not what you know. It's how fast you can learn what you don't. |
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Here's a practical takeaway: |
AI is a big change happening in all kinds of work. The people who will do the best are those who can adapt to this change. This means getting familiar with these tools and using them where you can at work. That way, you're better prepared and likely one of the few people in your industry who know their way around AI in your field. |
| | | | …by the way, if you use LinkedIn, go to my profile and hit the 'Follow' button. I share a mix of practical career strategy and mid-week motivation — stuff that makes it easy for you to keep your career on track.
Topics coming up: how to get better feedback, how to disagree with people at work (without burning bridges), and how to sound more confident (even if you're an introvert). See you there. | alright, let's get back to my essay… |
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🧎🏻 Focus beats job security |
As the world gets faster, crazier, and ever-more hooked to technology, people are only gonna become more addicted to virtual dopamine drips. |
Which, in a weird way, is great news. |
Because if you can cultivate the focus necessary to do "deep work", you'll be an extremely rare commodity in the marketplace. (Not to mention happier, healthier & more content, too). |
I'd encourage you to practice this. Try turning off your notifications for a couple of hours each day to work without interruptions. And if you want to dive into this a little more, here's a previous 'Coached' essay I wrote about how I maintain focus and avoid procrastination. |
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🍀 Coach-ability beats job security |
Steve Kerr once shared a story about being Michael Jordan's teammate. |
So the story goes, Kerr was on the bench, and noticed a minor thing that Jordan could do to improve his game. So when MJ sat down, Kerr told him. |
What happened next astonished him. |
Not only was Jordan - the best player in the league - listening to him, but he applied what Kerr told him. |
That's why many say that Jordan was the most "coachable" player in the league. |
 | Jordan has said on numerous occasions how him being coachable was his biggest skill |
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Applied to your career? |
No matter what field you're in, whether in 2024 or 2044, there's always going to be a wealth of knowledge and experience around you in the form of other people. |
But are you curious enough to seek it out? Are you humble enough to use it? |
Personally, I used to always shy away from asking for feedback. "What if they say something I don't want to hear?" was my subconscious thought process. Maybe you can relate. It took me a while to really internalize that I need the feedback or I'm never going to improve. |
(In a future edition of Coached, I'll break down how to actually get the feedback you need to improve. Until then, here's a short tip I wrote in a LinkedIn post.) |
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🕸️ Network beats job security |
I once heard a man who helped multiple millionaires run their businesses say, |
"All things being equal, people like doing business with their friends. And all things being unequal, people still like doing business with their friends." |
In other words: |
The connections you make and keep can really shape your career and give your career security. |
You don't have to be sleazy to build your network. It's simple things like helping out people you know, connecting people, or just staying in touch with folks you got along with. |
For example, if you move on from a job, keep in touch with those you respected or liked working with. It's easy to lose contact with former coworkers, but making the effort to stay connected is worth it. You'll not only keep a friend but also someone who might tip you off to a new opportunity. |
 | (kinda unrelated but it made me smile so it made the cut for this issue. a useful lesson though: keeping in touch can also just mean exchanging fun stuff with ex-colleagues — it doesn't always need to be work-related) |
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💎 Knowing how to sell yourself beats job security |
A mentor once told me, "if you're good at 'selling' yourself, you'll never have to worry about finding a job". I'd generally agree. |
Most of us already have the skills we need. We just suck at communicating our value to our audience. |
From a job search perspective, your resume is obviously where it starts. Showing you how to sell your experience and skills is at the crux of our Score My Resume tool (…if you've not tried it yet and are job searching, what are you waiting for). |
But from a career perspective, learning how to sell yourself involves more than your resume. It's about: |
Making a great first impression in every work situation. Constantly hone your elevator pitch so every new person you meet knows what you can bring to the table. Improving your online professional persona. These days, we look people up on LinkedIn before we even meet them. So, make sure your profile is communicating your value and selling you effectively. A good way to check and fix that is to use this LinkedIn optimization tool. Learning how to position yourself as an authority in your field. More on this another time.
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 | 🤣 literally what I mean when I say "we have the skills. we just suck at communicating them." |
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Phew, that was a little longer than usual, but I feel it was an important one. I hope this helps change the way you look at job security in the traditional sense and encourages you to start building habits that will give your career security. |
These emails take a lot of time and $$ to put together. But I keep them free, because that seems like the best way to help the most people (and makes me feel a little more useful to the world). |
In return, here's my ask: |
If an email changes the way you think, opens your mind to a new perspective, or gives you an insight you get value from, do one of these: |
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It really does help — thank you. |
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From Our Team Tried all our AI tools? | Want a better resume? Upload it to Score My Resume and get expert feedback, instantly. You'll find out if and where your resume falls short. Get your resume review |  |
| Want to make your LinkedIn profile work for you? LinkedIn Review will show you how to optimize it so you get more leads, jobs and opportunities through LinkedIn. Optimize your profile |  |
| Want to get past the ATS? Targeted Resume will check if your resume has the right keywords. Target your resume |  |
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🔎 Speed Up Your Job Search One actionable piece of advice to help you hack your job search. |
How many jobs should you apply for in 2024? |
Read the full article here. |
A statistic that's often passed around is 1 callback for every 50 applications. But we've found that this isn't accurate — you can 5x the number of callbacks by making a few tweaks to each application. |
🗣️ Avoid resume bombing. Quality over quantity. Avoid sending out applications to jobs you might not be qualified for at all. Make sure you apply to jobs in your niche — e.g. those related to your major, industry, skillset, or level of seniority. |
🎯 To make sure your resume is effective, upload your resume to this tool. It'll analyze each line on your resume and tell you how to improve each one, so you'll get past the resume screeners and hiring managers. |
🧐 Targeting your resume does not mean you have to rewrite your resume for every single job. Just tweak the skills section of your resume at the minimum — this resume targeting tool will help. And use this cover letter generator to create a unique cover letter per job application. |
📈 Use niche job sites: Avoid the Indeeds or Monsters of the world. Niche sites have less competition. |
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If you're new here, let's get the intros out of the way. |
I'm Rohan. Six years ago, I found myself frustrated with the sea of misleading career advice online, so I started Resume Worded. The goal was simple: provide guidance that actually works. |
But resumes were only the tip of the iceberg. There was a lot of clichéd, generic career advice out there. So, I started this email series, Coached. Each week, I talk about real career strategy, informed not only by my experiences but by my conversations with industry leaders, senior coaches who train CEOs, and people with way more experience than I have. |
Every email you receive is written by me, not a ghostwriter. I'm here, on the other end, reading your replies. |
Until next time, |
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Rohan @ Resume Worded |
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What'd you think of today's edition? |
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Here are some reviews of last week's email. Leave one here. |
 | Thank you! :) |
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 | Really appreciate it — particularly comments on the humor, it can be so hard to get right especially with a topic as 'serious' as careers |
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P. S. To make sure your career never goes off the rails, don't miss my future emails. A simple way to make sure you get each email is: |
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