A common meme that you find in any discussion of long-term unemployment is that over time critical job skills deteriorate. This is used to explain why people have a hard time finding a job if they’ve been unemployed for a while.
I was in an interview with a job placement firm a couple of weeks ago when the interviewer raised this question, since I’ve been pretty much unemployed or underemployed for close to 22 months. He implied that my skills were growing rusty with disuse. “Nonsense,” I bristled. “I mostly write for a living, and have done for many years. Did someone change the English language when I wasn’t looking? A coherent English sentence is written the same way now as it was when I was laid off.” I further pressed him that my management skills weren’t rusting, since they include basic people skills I have to use every day. He then suggested that software might evolve, but I countered that in my case, that software was going to be a word processor and even in the unlikely even that some new WP program sweeps the internet, I’ve seen so many word processors that I could certainly figure out a new on in very short order. Besides, I continue to write a little every day anyhow.
I can see where not being up-to-date would be a problem for people who must deal with things like a changing regulatory or procedural landscape, but that’s about it. And seriously, how long would it really take for people who’ve been out of the game for awhile to get back up to speed? I’m guessing couple of weeks, maybe a month at most. Seriously, how hard is it to get caught up in a field you worked at for years?
Now I will concede that skills can get lost if you have to take a that doesn’t use them, for instance if a systems administrator had to get a job bagging groceries. But that’s a different case altogether.
Long, long ago I worked at a cannery and after several summers I had enough seniority to snag a job as a forklift driver. That was a very fun job and paid well. It’s been over thirty years since I sat in the driver’s seat of a fork lift, but I have little doubt that I could pick it up again in no time. Most skills are like that. Besides, what really counts is not just these discrete task skills, but an understanding of what you are trying to accomplish. So someone who used to do taxes for people might need to brush up on changes in the tax law, but those changes would not be nearly as mystifying to him as to the average layperson. This also applies to software. If you understand the process the business wants to accomplish–something that is unlikely to change much or become totally unfamiliar–then mastering new software should be a breeze.
In my opinion, the “deteriorating skills” meme is largely bullshit. It’s a myth we tell ourselves to justify how so many millions of perfectly capable workers remain on the sidelines for so long. The truth is probably less pleasant, less comforting to those of us who cling to certain myths about how we do business in America today.
If a potential employer confronts you with this, be prepared to push back. Think of questions they might ask you and prepare a response in your head. If you are a professional in a field that changes, make a point of reviewing the literature regularly. Just being able to say that you do this can make you look good, especially considering how many employed professionals in such fields don’t keep up with the latest developments.
