What do you call a person who has a great job and has been there forever? A slacker! That's right. According to many experts, "the average U.S. worker will have many careers -- seven is the most widely cited number -- in his or her lifetime."
Or so writes Carl Bialik, aka The Numbers Guy, in The Wall Street Journal.
The Numbers Guy isn't certain that seven is the right number, and he is backed up in his uncertainty by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As the Bureau states on its website, "no consensus has emerged on what constitutes a career change."
Nor, may I add, has any consensus emerged on what constitutes a career, though it probably isn't what you are doing right now -- hanging on to your miserable job by your fingertips, waiting to be flung out into the black hole of unemployment.
The experts do agree that the time when most people rack up the most job changes is when they are young. Remember those wonderful days when you could jump from a top management spot soaping tires at the car wash to an executive position behind the fry basket at McDonalds? Today, it's not quite as easy. Today, if you want to work the fryer at Mickey D's, you have to compete with a bunch of Ivy League MBA's.
Another factor adding to the confusion, reports Bialik, "is that workers sometimes take on enough new responsibilities to meet a technical definition of a career change without leaving their general field." Of course, this is not likely to have affected your career number, since you've made it a policy to not only avoid new responsibilities, but also to ignore the few responsibilities you already have.
No matter how many careers you have or haven't had so far, don't waste your time wondering if you'll hit the national average. Instead, waste your time wondering why you haven't consulted Sue Frederick, the author of "I See Your Dream Job."
Unlike ordinary career coaches, Frederick is an "intuitive." That's the name for people who can see the future. These people used to be called "mediums" or "psychics." They were also sometimes called witches and were burned at the stake, but we live in more enlightened times now. Now, they get book deals.
Having no psychic abilities myself, I had to find Sue Frederick on the Fox Business website, where she is the subject of an article by Nancy Colasurdo.
"If you're inclined to watch the show 'Medium' and are constantly fascinated by its messages and miracles, you have a bit of insight into Frederick's gifts," writes Colasurdo. "She sees things, things that can help clarify thoughts you've been having, or put you on a whole different path that feels much more natural."