More on deleveraging jobs and salaries

In yesterday's blog, I failed to touch on two other important elements that are drastically changing the new job market. While not quite new, they're now more terrifying than ever; they're age and computer literacy. With age comes bulging salaries that quickly become a dead weight to carry the day one's job happens to disappear. Sure, experience counts, but it often becomes too expensive for any company to afford and it's also suspect, because it's synonymous for out of touch. The executive who used to make in the $200,000 range, can easily be replaced with two young ones, energetic, filled with ideas, much more willing to work long hours and take less time off and can still afford to work for no more than $75,000 each.

The other problem is the technical divide. Sure there are folks, born before 1950, that master word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and email, but they are not able to go beyond these computer skills and are totally lost when it comes to “Web 2.0...” Those born between 1951 and 1960 are a mixed bag in their relation to technology and many of them are swimming against the technological tide, making them less desirable to an organization that must survive in a fast changing world. While we've lived with it for almost two decade, the old divide between the “tech know” and the “tech not” is more cruel and unforgiving than ever. It now spells the difference between keeping and finding a job - or not.