Relevance

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

I interviewed Fawn Germer yesterday, who recently released a book called “Coming Back: How to Win The Job You Want When You’ve Lost the Job You Need.” There is a link to the book on Amazon that I embedded. If you purchase it through the link, I may make $0.40.

One of her essential points is that as we get older, we lose relevance. Now, some of you may display the arrogance of youth and proclaim, “Duh,” as you read that.

Your time will come when this will be a factor for you, too.

I remember being in my early 20s, a relatively inexperienced headhunter, and asking myself the question, “What happens when they become 40? It seems like people disappear.”

The age may have shifted, but it is still happening. Part of it is societal. Part of it is individual.

“Complacency sometimes sets in for those who cling to the old way of thinking that the company will take care of its people until the end,” she writes. “You are deluding yourself if you think that what you delivered in the past should count for something. Companies are looking at your performance that way.”

“Your bosses are looking at you as a contributOR. Not someone who contributed.”

“Complacency drives elimination.”