This is the era of the free agent.
Even when employed in the full-time position with benefits and bonus, alert professionals always focus on The Next. At any time they can be cut from the team. With new leadership or less business coming in conditions could mutate into unbearable. In addition, they might recognize they are not learning the new knowledge base and skills which are becoming the most marketable. Therefore, they have to scan the horizon for a new kind of opportunity.
So, the reality is: We are all looking for work, even when we are working. Therefore, the issue embedded in the Lyle Silva lawsuit of Cleary Gottlieb is how to increase the odds of getting work. In her coverage of this litigation in Abovethelaw.com, Alex Rich points out that having a drink at the end of the day with the professional in charge of assignments can mean the difference between being cut from the team or not, and/or being moved on to the next project or not. In short, the game involves how to identify and nurture useful relationships.
This isn't new. That's what attending elite schools has all been about. A gold-plated network is the objective of much of formal education as well as many of those informal activities such as volunteering.
What is new is that, with a scarcity of well-paid professional opportunities and such rapid change in the employment marketplace, relationships are not a welcome addition. They are necessary to remain employed. The trick is to figure out who counts in this process and how to go about bringing those into one's networks.
That's difficult. There are so many "types" out there of professionals with influence and power. From trial and error, I know now to interact with Millennials much differently than Silent Generation, Baby Boomer and Generation X prospects and clients. That involves everything from the tone and language of the pitch to accommodating how they prefer to get jobs done. Incidentally, that learning curve has been slow and brutal.
On the other hand, the same applies to me. In my professional interactions, I run across myriad free-agent opportunities I am not equipped to pursue. The question is: Whom do I recommend and/or inform that such work is available? That happens frequently with marketing gigs.
Of course, I don't bring into the loop anyone who has annoyed me, not referred business my way, has not done me any favors, or messed up on a previous referral. They are totally shut out.
In short, added to our job description has been the need to cultivate sources of future work. That process is usually highly subjective. We better pick up on those intangibles. That's exactly why soft skills can mean the difference between always landing work effortlessly and becoming embittered and suing former employers.
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