Super meets Krumboltz: The Sweet Spot

When I look back to employment history, from when I started working to the current labour Market, I see that the dynamics of employment have changed and I can’t help but notice these changes daily while working in Employment Services. I see baby Boomers trying to expand their skills. Coming from long term employment they were hoping for the retirement. The baby Boomer generation was in alignment with Super’s Life Space Life Span theory, but with changes in the economy and in their physical abilities suddenly, so close to the Disengagement stage, baby Boomers caught themselves having to go back to Growth and Exploration stages. As Peter Armstrong puts in his article, as the population’s lifespan increases, the employment stages and the population over 65 years of age has to quickly adapt.

I agree with Deborah MacNamara’s who beautifully explains the current labour market here. There’s a huge discrepancy between Boomers and Millennials (Gen-X’s are caught in between). Whilst Boomers are struggling to adapt to a new labour market, Millennials are being trained for an idealistic world where the virtual reality does not align with real life. There is too much training and too little practice. Working in the education field I have also seen undergraduate and graduate level students who excel in theory and are completely unprepared in the real world, or that depend on their parents for managing their life while studying to get the paper needed to prove they have skills. The Generation X, me included, have grown in a period of change. Compared to previous generations, many of Gen-X’s are transitioning careers at a slower rate of 5-10 years on the same position. However D. MacNamara's manages to clearly explain the current labour market by redefining Super’s stages as a state. If you are comfortable on you job, you still need to maintain a level of Super’s exploration and opened to Krumboltz’s happenstance. My belief is that the new generation of employers, as they hire new staff, will have to learn to balance the benefits of hiring youth and innovation the Millennials have, with experience and stability the Boomers offer as they need to supplement their retirement income, or lack of, with a new career. At the same time, Boomers will need to learn the Millennial flexibility and Millennials the Boomers dedication.