Jun. 18, 2018 "The age of the side hustle": Today I found this article by Virginia Galt in the Globe and Mail:
Inadvertently, Catherine Maybrey found herself ahead of the times when her side gig as a career coach developed into a successful business. She had initially hoped to become a history professor, but academia is a notoriously precarious profession for young entrants and Ms. Maybrey could not find secure work in her field.
“I became interested in career coaching several years after I graduated with my PhD, when I was completely lost as to what I needed to do to find a job and what that job should be,” she recalled in an interview. After earning a postgraduate college diploma as a career development practitioner, Ms. Maybrey landed job at McMaster University as the alumni career coach.
When her hours were cut to three days a week owing to a budget shortfall, she formed her own side business and eventually struck out on her own.
When her hours were cut to three days a week owing to a budget shortfall, she formed her own side business and eventually struck out on her own.
So now, in what LinkedIn workplace researchers refer to as “the age of the side hustle,” Ms. Maybrey has plenty of experience to draw on when clients come to her Hamilton-based practice worried about their prospects in the emerging gig economy.
“Your first position out of academia is not likely to be your dream job,” she advises them. “Focus on the practical. Do what needs to be done to make sure your basic needs are met, and then focus on what you want to do and how you are going to get there.”
Volunteering or landing a second, part-time job in one’s area of interest through a temporary employment agency is important for making connections. If you have expertise to share, post it on social media, she tells job candidates. Attend conferences. “Make yourself visible.”
In a guest post for University Affairs magazine on PhDs and the gig economy, Ms. Maybrey wrote that “academia has, in effect, been sort of a test market for the gig economy and the picture isn’t pretty.” But outside academia, as well, contract positions have been growing at a much greater pace than permanent positions.
While many private-sector employers might operate with 80 per cent full-time employees and 20 per cent contract employees, the ratios can be 50-50 in “fields such as technology, where you might be developing new products, or a creative environment where you are pitching for new work all the time and the work flows aren’t constant,” said Pina Nicoli, Toronto-based Metro market manager for Robert Half Technology.
For entry-level candidates and people between jobs looking for full-time work, a contract position can be “a good foot in the door,” Ms. Nicoli said.
But she has also seen a significant increase in the numbers of “interim professionals” who do contract work by choice rather than circumstance. It gives them the flexibility to run their own businesses on the side or expand their skills and expertise through a range of postings.
Ms. Maybrey said that, for the most part, her clients would prefer secure, permanent work “and they would be willing to sacrifice to have that stability.” If offered the choice between a lower-paying “continuing job” or a higher-paying 10-month contract, most would say, “I will take less money, thank you very much, so I can breathe, so I can make plans.”
Harley Finkelstein, chief operating officer of Ottawa-based e-commerce platform Shopify, wrote in a recent article published by Forbes that “the emergence of the gig economy is a seismic shift in the world of work” and it is inevitable that more and more jobs will be done by freelancers, independent contractors and side-hustlers.
“From many corners, we’ve seen concern and lament for the loss of good jobs and steady income,” Mr. Finkelstein wrote. Still, he said, “in unprecedented numbers, people from all backgrounds have shrugged off or supplemented uninspiring corporate jobs by taking their livelihoods into their own hands … . For many people, it has instilled the tenets of entrepreneurial hustle and introduced the idea of being your own boss.”
The researchers at LinkedIn have also noticed a shift in attitudes about what constitutes a successful career. A recent survey of 2,000 LinkedIn members in the United States found that “the corner office is out and the side hustle is in.”
Only 4 per cent of those surveyed regard advancement to the corner office as the pinnacle of success, LinkedIn reported in a blog posting.
Oh, yes. Side hustle. Right.
Side hustle in a place that is brimming with radiation that is killing me. Just as the bullies would like it to.
Borrow $300,000 to start a business and find that everything goes wrong. That's how the global effing networks of bullies work. Borrow $300,000 from Staples and find your life goes down the tube.
These gangs murdered my father, did their damage with my mother through intimidation and so on and can see the same being done to me. These people are monsters beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
I'm not speaking "in reverse".
Side hustle in a place that is brimming with radiation that is killing me. Just as the bullies would like it to.
Borrow $300,000 to start a business and find that everything goes wrong. That's how the global effing networks of bullies work. Borrow $300,000 from Staples and find your life goes down the tube.
These gangs murdered my father, did their damage with my mother through intimidation and so on and can see the same being done to me. These people are monsters beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
I'm not speaking "in reverse".
Side hustle to no employer benefits
Job: Community engagement manager
The role: Often found in organizations with a strong social mission, community engagement managers are responsible for mobilizing supporters and facilitating opportunities for them to participate in furthering the organization’s cause.
While similar roles existed in the past, the responsibilities of a community engagement manager have evolved dramatically with the rise of social media. Today many spend significantly more time engaging with communities online than meeting with people face to face.
“We’ve got over a million Facebook fans, tens of thousands of people signed up saying they want to help, and we don’t have any way to integrate them into a concerted effort to work together,” said Kevin Thomson, chief operating officer of Plastic Bank.
The Vancouver-based startup seeks to rid the oceans of plastic waste by monetizing its collection and proper disposal, and is currently hiring a community engagement manager to collaborate with its large international network of supporters.
“We just want to find a person that has the interest in helping us as their full-time work, has some digital skills, has some experience in gathering people together for a cause, is creative and wants to unleash an idea to the masses,” he said.
“There’s many aspects to this, including sales, understanding personalities and cultures and geographies, technical skills in order to do communications online, which will be the primary connection point, and then face-to-face and public speaking skills.”
Salary: According to online career resources Neuvoo and PayScale, the average salary of a community engagement manager in Canada is approximately $75,000 a year, with entry-level employees typically earning between $45,000 and $55,000 annually. Both also suggest there is the opportunity for senior-level employees to earn a salary in the low six figures, though Mr. Thomson points out that social-media platforms are too new for community engagement managers to have significant experience in that domain.
Mr. Thomson adds that compensation in this field can depend on employer and location, with those working in larger metropolitan areas and for larger brands typically commanding a higher salary.
Education: While an educational background in communications, project management or international relations could be of value to employers, Mr. Thomson says there really aren’t any educational standards for the industry at this point in time. As a result, he suspects many will learn on the job.
“It seems to be a high-energy, intense opportunity with probably a lot of travel, probably a lot of time on digital platforms, lots of organizational skills, and I’m not sure the training for all of those things are really effective,” he said.
Job prospects: The need for community engagement managers is increasing in Canada as consumers become more conscious of the impact their purchasing decisions can have on the world.
“Buying from a company is buying into an ideology as much as it is buying into a product,” Mr. Thomson said. “We have the opportunity through our technology to engage people with meaningful dialogue, and work with them to turn the vision into reality.”
Challenges: As the primary point of contact between the public and the organization, community engagement managers contend with the challenge of representing both groups fairly and accurately to the other.
“It’s an interpretation of data, the mass communication made personal, those are both very difficult things,” Mr. Thomson said. “And then figuring out how to apply that to make meaningful sense out of the engagement that is available.”
Why they do it: As a role that typically exists to further a social mission, community engagement managers often derive a lot of meaning from their work and enjoy the opportunity to make a difference.
“It’s the opportunity to travel, get in front of people, explore new cultures, and to be surrounded and embrace the enthusiasm of people around the world, and then channel that energy into some meaningful collective result,” Mr. Thomson said. “That gives me goosebumps.”
Misconceptions: Mr. Thomson says many mistakenly associate the role with communications or marketing, adding that in those industries the information typically flows in only one direction.
“Many people think engaging the community means I have something I want to say to them,” he said. “This is more of a reactive role; it’s taking the energy that is being directed towards us and working with it so that we can shape it into something that can produce results.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/career-advice/article-i-want-to-be-a-community-engagement-manager-what-will-my-salary-be/
My opinion: I really like the last line:
“This is more of a reactive role; it’s taking the energy that is being directed towards us and working with it so that we can shape it into something that can produce results.”
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