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Could your job be leaving the country?
Morgan Stanley estimates that as many as 2 million US white-collar jobs will shift to low-cost centers within 10 years. What's more, an October 2003 report by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley concluded that offshoring could leave as many as 14 million service jobs in the United States vulnerable.
In light of this trend, here are five ways you can offshore-proof your career.
Work for the Government
It would be bad PR for our government to offshore many of its jobs. As a result, government jobs tend to stay in the US. And the government is hiring. More than 17,000 current federal openings are listed on the USAJobs Web site. Another 10,000 openings are listed on individual federal agencies' Web sites.
Don't forget about state and local governments. For example, California alone employs 150,000 people. For job openings in that state, visit the California State Personnel Board. If you live in San Francisco and would rather work at the local level, the Association of Bay Area Governments is a good portal to the Web sites of Bay Area cities, counties and agencies.
The Library of Congress Internet Resource page has a list of other state and local government Web sites.
Work for a Government Contractor
Government agencies hire contractors to do everything from providing desks for the Army to evaluating ways to improve education in inner cities. To identify such contractors, look in the blue-tipped government section of your White Pages. Call any agency you find interesting and ask for the list of companies the agency contracts with. In many cases, this is public information.
Train Offshore Workers
Offshore workers often need training in how to work effectively with American supervisors. If you have good technical and people skills, consider working for a company, such as Infosys or Wipro, that provides American firms with offshore workers.
Be an Intrapreneur
No matter what your job, a key to keeping it from being offshored is to be an intrapreneur. Intrapreneurs see new ways to strengthen their employers' bottom line and has the moxie to persuade higher-ups to support their ideas.
How do you develop your intrapreneurial skills?
- Keep your radar tuned for new ways to improve the bottom line. If you merely keep your nose to the grindstone, you're a worker bee -- and good worker bees can usually be had for much less in Mumbai, Macau, Manila or Moscow.
- Figure out the problems of most concern to key managers and employees, and think of ways you can help solve them.
- Learn how to pitch an idea. Practice with a friend.
If your current job is unlikely to provide a good vantage point for spotting intrapreneurial opportunities, ask for a change of position. My daughter's first job in the White House was answering letters sent to Socks the Cat. After her first day of doing that, she approached her boss and said, “I'm happy to pay my dues, but I'm a pretty good researcher and writer, so I think I can contribute more.” Her boss responded, “Well, Hillary is meeting tomorrow with the Sultan of Oman. Could you develop a one-page briefing on him?” Amy stayed up all night to come up with the best one possible. Soon after, she became responsible for writing Hillary's briefing every day.
Lesson: When you start a new job, your feet are in wet cement. Don't let the cement harden.
Work for Yourself
If you run your own show, no one can ship your job to Bangalore. Among the most offshore-proof businesses are the dull-normal ones: transmission shops, power-washing businesses and the like. In fact, many of the 750 multimillionaires surveyed in The Millionaire Next Door are owners of dull-normal businesses and are not only wealthy, but also happy.
Other jobs that look to be offshore-proof: nursing, counseling and social work, teaching K-12, selling to US companies and marketing to US companies. In addition, since most companies prefer their high-level managers to be based in the US, senior executive positions are less likely to be offshored.
[Dr. Marty Nemko is a career coach in private practice and coauthor of Cool Careers for Dummies. His radio show airs Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon PT on KALW 91.7 FM. Look for 200-plus of his articles on Marty Nemko's Web Site.]