The current employment environment has been through a great deal of change since the late 20th century, this report aims to identify the main trends that characterise the current employment environment and discuss the implications theses have for employees, and determine what skills, knowledge and abilities employees require in this day and age. The report will go on to examine an advertisement for a graduate position at Radio Rentals. Job information such as job description and job specification will be discussed as well as a brief overview of the organisation’s culture and future goals. To follow this, a career plan will be presented for a hypothetical student from Malaysia. This will include her plans to apply for the position at Radio Rentals and her future goals in career development including networking and joining professional associations.
PART ONE
The current work environment has experienced huge changes compared to a more traditional work environment of past generations, which Defillippi and Arthur (1994) suggest emphasized stability, hierarchy, and clearly defined job positions for career progression. Globalisation is one trend that is having massive implications on the current employment environment, employees now have career opportunities that extend internationally, and they need certain skills to be successful in coping with this. Another trend in the current employment environment includes de-layering and downsizing of companies, due to the effects of globalisation and rapid technological advancements and the current economic downturn. Due to this no longer are employees remaining with the same company for life, and this brings about the idea of boundaryless careers. This affects what kind of knowledge and skills they need to develop during their career, skills and knowledge can no longer be solely company specific. The final employment trend to be discussed is workforce diversity, including things such as ethnicity, gender and