Anatomy Of A Modern Layoff: The Specialization Paradox

 "Specialization is for insects.  A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly."
        - Robert A. Heinlein (through the character Lazarus Long)

Specialization is part of the requirements of a modern civilization.  At some point, things become too complex for the generalist to make and maintain the things that make our modern civilization go - not just complex things like computers and autos, but what many consider simple things like construction and plumbing.

Using yesterday's post as a leaping off point, I wanted to consider the idea of a specialization paradox in modern employment.  To use this example, I will start with myself.

As most readers know, the bulk of my post college working life has been in a single industry,  biopharmaceuticals/medical devices (88% if you were wondering, less 2% for layoff periods and 10% for non-related careers).   That has given me both a general set of skills as well as a very specific set of knowledge and skills for a very specific industry - not just practices and experience, but regulatory knowledge and industry knowledge.

One question that comes up from time to time is "Can you find work in other industries that have similar titles of work?"  The answer is more often than not, no.  I referenced this last week as well, but in point of fact "Quality Assurance" is a field that encompasses everything from airplane manufacture to cheese manufacture, from computer programs to automobiles.  In some cases there may be some similarities and some similar documentation - for example, the International Standards Organization (ISO) Standards - but like almost anything, there are significant differences in application (the same is true of project management as well).

Additionally, many companies are not that open to the idea of a "generalist" - for example, every food producer I have looked at is very specific in that they want previous food industry experience to consider you.  As in "Do not bother to apply if you do not have it".  Which makes sense, as it makes sense for almost any industry:  after all, they want to bring in individuals that have the knowledge base and just need the specific product and corporate base.  And given the current market, they do not need to lower their standards.

Could one start all over at one of these companies?  I suppose the answer is a qualified yes, given two points.  The first is that the company really needs a "Fill in the Blank" Level I.  The second is that the individual being hired needs to be able to live on the entry level wage. 

The other reality is that, from the corporate side, they do not need to hire the unqualified or generalists.  When I started in the industry, things like Biomedical Engineering was in its infancy.  Now, the ability to get a job in this industry in many functions (though not all) presume a Bachelor's degree or above, mostly in a scientific field - the path I took into the industry simply no longer exists.  Thus be default, more and more people are entering in this industry - and many industries - already heavily slanted towards "I am doing this for a career".

Can someone up and change careers?  Of course it is possible and people have done it.  But it requires a number of factors both personal and professional, including the ability to start over completely and - depending on one's age - acknowledgment of the fact that one may not rise to anything but a lower rung.  It also requires the ability to weather the financial loss of income.

All of that said, let us now apply it to many of the folks currently being laid off.

Like me (and most), likely they have spent a certain amount of time and education and knowledge specializing in a field. Now, they find themselves out in the wilderness of the unemployed, competing not only against others but in some cases their own previous friends and coworkers.  There are some jobs - there always are - but these (right now, at least) are contracting more than they are expanding.  

What to do?  Scrap 10 to 30 years of education and experience to start over?  Try to find a job in a lesser role in hopes that it turns into something more (knowing, of course, that entry level opportunity-hungry and less expensive employees are coming up after you)?  Hold out hope that there will be a turnaround in your industry?  Start your own business and hope it makes it?  Just continue to look for work until benefits cease and you have to take something?

This is paradox of specialization:  having created a civilization that essentially requires it, we are required at some level to invest our lives in some field in order to work in it.  And yet that specialization harms us when we are in a position where there are more people in that specialty than jobs - because many other industries also have that level of specialization which are required and they, in turn, have people that have specialized to that.  Perhaps a bit contrary to Heinlein's point, specialization is not quite a thing to scoffed at for insects only; we benefit greatly from it.

The third option, of course, is the one I have chosen on Produce (A)Isle:  the semi-skilled laborer.  Even less previous knowledge and education required, but must be willing to 1) Take a reduced salary; and 2) Be willing to step down in the social order of things.  

Even when I was working Produce (A)Isle and my day job, the reduced salary was not an issue as it was additional funds (less so now, of course - and it alone would not support us, even at full time).  And the social order of things has never really bothered me - as I have told all that I have interviewed with, I am at a point where I no longer care about what my position is or how I am viewed; I am not building a career or starting an empire or trying to rise through ranks.   I just want a job that pays the bills, lets me follow my hobbies, and allows me to deepen the knowledge of my inidustry.

But I wonder, especially for those that have never done such work or have spent the last years doing their dream jobs which they have specialized in.  Will they be able to pivot if necessary?  Can they flip the switch and re-specialize? Will they be willing to do less if that is what there is?

I do not have answers of course, and as I am in the latter part of my career am probably not the best example for them.   But it strikes me that we are either on the brink of simple destruction or a creative destruction and renaissance.  How that plays out will be fascinating to watch.