In this paper, I will be using information from the interview and references to reflect on the interviewee’s work or employment experiences based on concepts and empirical trends of employment security, employment status and what employers/organization want from employees, referring to skills and occupation. In this paper there were questions that arise when researching journal articles on skills and occupation, and security of employment, which was, was my interviewee’s experience typical? Was my interviewee’s experience what I expected? And did my interviewee’s experience lead me to understand module 3 and 5 better?

Summary of Interviewee’s Story

My Boss in the interview explained his experience of meaning of work which that My Boss finds work addictive as he uses to work as a sales agent in Real Estate there were a lot of competition to see who can sell more houses, see who gets promoted first and who earns more money every year, so he enjoys work. When My Boss was looking for a new job, he took an interest in Real Estate Sales Agent, he explained that to be a Sales Agent you need these skills, fast thinking, problem solving, desire to provide outstanding service to all clients, highly organised and high attention to detail, knowledgeable with various computer software programs etc. Which explains the theme of skills and occupation by the effects of changing occupation which both are “white collar” occupation and demonstrating knowledge of soft skills, hard skills, technical skills and enterprise skills. The importance of employee voice it’s to establish, maintain and integrate employee’s voice within the workplace and employee voice is often a key element of increasing organizational performance, higher employee satisfaction and subordinate relationships.

My Boss was JUST a Sales Agent, imagine a hierarchy of working in Real Estate, My Boss was on the bottom, meaning that he had no voice and no opinion in any matter and also at the time all real estate agents was discriminated towards as Real Estate Agent’s ego were out of control, con artist, dishonest to clients and was underquoting clients. My Boss wanted this to change so My Boss discuss these issues to his union. My Boss started out as a part-time accountant earning appropriately $42, 140 per year when he noticed other workers exiting the business he knew that his job was not secured so My Boss left and relocated into a full-time Sales Agent appropriately earning $47, 880 per year, demonstrating the theme of employment security and occupation, ones guarantee that the employee will keep their job without any discomfort of knowing that they will eventually be unemployed and when comparing the two “white collar” occupation My Boss benefited from the change in occupations and over the years working My Boss has a secured job as his employment status changed from full-time to permanent and received a promotion from sales agent to real estate manager as he’s a loyal and experience employee.

Employment Security and Employment Status

Job security is the guarantee that the employee can and will keep their job without any discomfort of knowing that they will eventually be unemployed, the individual worker can have a sense of security where if a job you know has a high level of job security the person with that job has a small chance of unemployment. There are different types of employment status there are casual, temporary, contract, permanent, fixed-term, etc. It’s important for workers to know their sense of security, regularity of income and working hours etc. During the interview with My Boss he stated that he completed university in business and he achieved a job as a full-time accountant with that status, full-time means by the Fair Work Ombudsman that My Boss will work on average 38 hours per week or more, but the hours are negotiated between the employer and the employee or set by an award or registered agreement. When My Boss worked as an accountant in the interview he described his compensation and benefits, that was the glory of being a full-time accountant, they were base salary rate commensurate with experience, $300, 000 retirement savings plan and receiving medical and life insurance.

During the interview, My Boss explained to me that it was an unreal moment for him to read and hear all of these compensation and benefits of his brand-new career. Back in the 1970s, My Boss said that accountants were in high demand and as My Boss had all the certification and meets all criteria for his job he thought that he was secured, he wasn’t expecting to get fired or change status. My Boss during the interview explained that when he was an accountant he knew that his job was secured, he explained a few signs that he knew that his job was secured, which are when you are regularly being ask for assists and input on a particular task or project, managers rely on you, this is where your skills in the industry proves that you are invaluable and another sign that your job is secured is you’re getting a promotion. While studying employment status and security and reviewing journal articles there are a few signs stated by the journal article that states that your job might not be secured, and the signs are, if you receive a poor performance review or you’re in a meeting with your boss relating to your poor performance review, rumours within the workplace, the benefits will reduce or completely disappear, the expenses are being scrutinized and lack of communication between employee and employer. My Boss has experienced a few of these signs, he notices that the business wasn’t performing as well, and he notice that some of his colleagues was exiting the business and being let go by the boss, at that moment in time he knew that his job was insecure and was in risk of unemployment, but My Boss had no choice but to give his boss a 30-day notice and he was on the hunt for another job. My Boss’s accounting expertise, a good eye for detail and problem-solving skills landed him a job as a part-time real estate sales agent.

The difference between a full-time status compared to a part-time status is the number of hours actually working and the regular or irregular hours each year. In the year 1997, My Boss’s employment status has changed from a part-time real estate sales agent to a permanent real estate agent, permanent employment status gives more guaranteed hours of work and regular hours, receives entitlements like paid sick and/or annual leave and being permanent your job is very secure until either the employer or employee ends the relationship. The interviewee’s experience in changes of security of employment and changes in employment statues is somewhat typical, dare to say the interviewee was very lucky in his 45 years of employment security, I would have expected my interviewee’s experience to be worst due to the evidence and reading from the articles, comparing my interviewee’s experience to the concepts and evidences I have a better understanding of what is security of employment, employment statues and signs that either your job is secure or not.

What people/organisations want, occupations & skills

The meaning of skills is the ability to perform any task well and with some expertise and with determined results often within a given period of time, energy or either both. There are different types of skills, enterprise skills, technical skills, soft skills and hard skills, skills which attracts employers. My Boss explained in the interview that he changed occupation and skills from an accountant to a real estate sales agent which both are “white collar” occupations. My Boss explained what skills accountant needs during his time working as an accountant, they are able to organize, time management, adaptability, communication, openness and leadership, those particular skills are called “enterprise skills” or “technical skills”. Enterprise skills are skills that are required in many occupations, to possess this skill you need to be able to problem solve, communicate, competences in literacy, financial literacy and critical thinking. Technical skills are very specific to a task, role or industry, technical skills include qualification such as licences, certification and or degree which My Boss have. My Boss learnt “soft skills” when he was an accountant, soft skills are a combination of people skills, social skills, communication skills, social intelligence, emotional intelligence etc. Soft skill is a desired quality and knowledge to have in the workplace and to employers. At the time that’s what his employer wanted in a potential accountant, it was important to have all the qualities that was listed above. But unfortunately, My Boss left the accounting job and relocated into real estate which the skills required to be a real estate sales agent is quite different. The skills needed to be a real estate agent is to be able to think fast, problem solve, perfectly presented, need to have brilliant verbal and written communication skill, ability and desire to provide outstanding service to all clients, highly organised and high attention to detail, knowledgeable with various computer software programs. Which the level of competencies from accountant to real estate agent is different the skill type is called “hard skills”, hard skills are competencies that employees should have such as numeracy, literacy and specific job-related technical abilities which are operating machinery, creating spreadsheets etc. The concepts and evidences during my research of skills employers want is employers want positive attitude, communication, teamwork, self-management, willingness to learn, problem solving, decision making and resilience, relatively easy skills to measure so to technically label the specific skills they are “hard skills” and “enterprise skills”, that is generally all the skills that employers are seeking for in an employee.

At the time for My Boss changing occupation was difficult as in the 1970s accountant’s average salary was $42, 140 per year and during the 1980s My Boss found a job as a real estate agent and the average salary was $47, 880 per year so he actually benefited from leaving his old occupation and going into a new occupation. In my research there are a few advantages and disadvantages of career change, as explained above how my interviewee experienced a career change he actually benefited from that change but there are a few disadvantages of career changing by first the advantages are, you’ll be more likely to engage in your new career has you have a high level of interest in it and it allows you to use your specific set of skills, changing your career can assist you gaining expertise in many new areas and that can help you become more desirable to employers for any job opportunities in the future and working in a unfamiliar industry can give you an opportunity to bond with a whole different crowd of people and expand your career network. Now for the disadvantages of career change, is due to so many career opportunities available you’ll be tempted to change job roles too frequently. This has a negative effect in the long-term as employers may be concern that you won’t stay in your new role for very long. When you change career, you need to start from the bottom and need to be ready to face that getting promoted or moving up the career ladder within your new industry it will take longer than it would if you stayed in your original career.

When comparing my interviewee’s experience with the main concepts and trends of work and employment it is evident that my interviewee’s behaviour and actions towards changes in skills and occupations is typical and forward thinking, when comparing my interviewee’s experience to journal articles I asked myself, was my interviewee’s experience what I expected and the answer is yes as any person would of done what my interviewee did and that was exit the failing business and find another job. Overall, when reviewing weeks 2-7 content and comparing my interviewee’s experiences I understand the concepts and trends of work and employment.