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New Era and the NEWORKer

Even when employed, everyone's a "temp" in today's job marketplace. In the new era of work, every worker --even the CEO -- must show that he or she creates enough value and gets sufficient results to be "rehired" each pay period or for each project. To be successful in being rehired, you need to be an "E3" employee:

entrepreneurial,
excellent and
engaging.

It used to be enough just to be employed and employers were expected to provide for career advancement. Now that jobs can disappear in the blink of an eye – and companies and even entire industries can fade just as fast – everyone, including the CEO, is in effect a free agent.

In this new era of work, every worker must show that he or she creates enough value and gets sufficient results to deserve to be ‘rehired’ each pay period or for each project. Failing that, you almost certainly limit your career options, and may be among the first to go when a company needs to downsize.

The NEWORKer is well established in this regime of delivery, showing that they can perform to create value to the client's business in the work that they are carrying out.

The NEWORKer/Portfolio worker like everyone else knows what it takes to land a great new job. There's the

need to be sufficiently entrepreneurial to go after it
the need to have the skills and abilities to match the job description
the need to demonstrate potential for excellence in handling the workload, and
there is the personality factor; the need to show you’re likeable and engaging.

As a Portfolio worker, convince the prospective employer that you’re sufficiently entrepreneurial, excellent and engaging and you’ll likely get the offer. Then, you can relax. Right?

Wrong. It turns out that even after you get the job, you have to keep working on all three attributes. Why? Because you are likely to change jobs, working for many different employers over the course of a career as a Portfolio worker. The best people will always be first in line for the best jobs.

"E3" is the term Hanratty and co-authors Ron Biagi and Tresa Eyres in their book "Career Continuation: Make It A SNAPP" use to describe employees and effective career managers who exhibit entrepreneurial, excellent and engaging attributes. These are the star performers who habitually rise to the top of their professions, enjoy the widest range of career choices and typically find the greatest satisfaction in their work. The NEWORKer/Portfolio worker has to be a star performer to compete in the project market.

There will always be employers willing to purchase E3 services each pay period and each project. But the life of the E3 employee isn’t easy. E3's must constantly update skills and abilities and market their actions as part of a conscious career development plan. In this way, they are active career managers as well. The NEWORKer/Portfolio worker must be an E3 Worker.

Perhaps the most important reason to actively increase E3 attributes and manage ones own career is that NEWORKer/Portfolio worker wants choices that lead to greater control and satisfaction. Most of NEWORKers are happiest when they have some control over what they do and don’t do. When they’re happy about what they’re doing, the NEWORKer/Portfolio worker is generally are more productive as well. This leads not only to greater job security, but to positive recognition and the opportunity to make the kind of difference we want to see in the world.

For the NEWORKer/Portfolio worker who has a growing family, the challenges greater because for those people the focus is on family career and their business, all at the same time.

The family

Parents working as NEWORKers/Portfolio workers seek a healthy, reliable home environment for children to grow in. These parents are finding out that they can merge traditional family values with progressive career goals to enjoy a lifestyle rich in both emotional and financial security.

The Internet/Information Age has ushered in a whole new era of work-family unity — not seen since the Agricultural Age over a hundred years ago. As a new generation, we certainly have our share of new workforce worries in this new age of work, but we also have outstanding opportunities! By sharing information, experiences and resources through such a global connection as we have, we can work together to realise the dream every parent, throughout history, has strived for.

The Career

Ever get tired of people asking you what you "do" for a living? It's like asking a ring master how he runs his circus. A working parent and a ring master could struggle with similar thoughts to come up with an answer.

It's easy for a NEWORKer/Portfolio worker to stumble with career clarification. After all, the moment a NEWORKer becomes a parent they inherit a second job that will come in natural and constant collision with whatever employment course you've been on! Face it — you, your spouse, your house and your career will all be in a tailspin for the next twenty something years.

So what are you supposed to do in the meantime, put everything on hold? For most of us, this is just not an option. Life goes on, and so do careers. However, for the NEWORKer/Portfolio worker, parenthood and the paid vocation are ever-interwoven now. We need both to thrive, and both need our focus, commitment and faith to survive as well. A feat, without doubt, worthy of a ring master!

The Business

It's a new age — of global connection, high-tech income, virtual offices and family at the keyboard! As you lean forward in your office chair, tuned in and attentive to the revolutionary opportunities of the computer age,

little hands are spinning that chair around, giving you, The Entrepreneurial Parent, a wonder to behold!
the student is competing for time on the computer or on the internet - wanting to use the best PC in the house - yours - to complete that assignment
the teen wanting to link to her friends on messenger - again your PC must be used

Today home businesses are enabling the NEWORKer/Portfolio worker to forge ahead professionally while staying behind domestically, where you can care for, teach and enjoy your children on a daily basis. While we may not at first consider yourself cut out for self-employment, you may very well find that parenthood itself has in many ways prepared you for this work option.

New Era of Work

The NEWORKer/Portfolio worker with the support of family, the community around them is well positions to respond in this new era and to prepare for the future.