Gone are the days when you’d land your first job out of high school or university and stay there until you retired. Today, most adults work at 5 to 7 different companies throughout the course of their professional careers, and often through multiple industries.
With the rise of companies like Uber and AirBnB, the ‘gig economy’ is beginning to offer lucrative, alternative job options. More and more people are opting out of conventional 9 to 5 jobs in favour of ‘gigs.’
Welcome to the Gig Economy
What it the Gig Economy?
Gig Economy is the general term for employment that focuses on short-term, temporary, or freelance positions rather than more traditional long-term roles.
What Does the Gig Economy Mean for Employees?
The gig economy is offering employees, previously locked into repetitive jobs, more variety and flexibility. Employees have more choices not only in what they do, but where and how they do it.
For example:
New parents now have options when it comes to returning to the workforce after the birth of a child. Previously, once the allotted maternity or paternity leave was exhausted, parents had to go back to work, often shelling out thousands of dollars monthly on childcare. In a gig economy, the option to work from home becomes a very real possibility. With a variety of digital positions, such as:
- Virtual Assistants
- Customer Service
- Medical Transcriptionist
- Translator
- Web Developer
- Call-Center Representative
- Bookkeeper
The idea of having a home office with room for a sleeping child can become a reality.
Shore Up Employment Gaps
Short-term gigs fill employment gaps on a resume. If you have a lull between professional assignments, freelance or contract assignment can keep you relevant.
Other Benefits
There are some obvious pros when it comes to short-term work assignments, like earning money, and a few less obvious benefits, including:
- Learning new skills that can translate into a better job
- Networking with people
- Finding hidden (not advertised) job opportunities
- Securing excellent references
- Improving your outlook (looking for a job can be very draining)
- Finding undiscovered talents or abilities you didn’t know you had
What the Gig Economy Means for Employers
Perhaps the biggest impact of a gig economy is the disappearance of the traditional employer/ employee relationship. More and more workers are opting for careers built across multiple organizations and roles.
For example:
The once full-time consultant might choose to work on a single project at a time, with different companies, or multiple short projects with various agencies.
Purpose in the Workforce
Gallup recently conducted a poll that found only 35 percent of all professional employees reported feeling ‘engaged’ at work. That means an alarming 65 percent of all workers are merely going through the motions; they aren’t invested in their job or the company.
The evolutionary antidote to this dissatisfaction?
The gig economy.
By offering variety, providing the opportunity to mix up advisory roles, contracts, or board-level consulting projects, employees are eliminating the mundane day-after-day aspects of their old jobs. Workers become engaged. And engaged employees make better career choices leading to more professional and personal fulfillment.
Are you unemployed and interested in exploring contract positions? Check out our job board today. Are you a full-time freelancer looking for a new assignment? Submit an application and let the specialized recruiters at Employment Professionals Canada help you land your next great gig.
