Several years ago a young woman called me to discuss her career. She worked for a large mutual fund company as a contract worker. The company had its own temp agency and brought in people to work on short-term projects. She was working steadily, had interesting jobs, and she was able to broaden her skills at the same time. She came to me because she was interested in finding full-time employment and felt stuck.

As we move into the 21st century there is a shift in the job market that is taking place. To keep their bottom line in check companies are hiring people to do one project and giving the employee no guarantee of future work. In an issue of the Kiplinger Letter the editor says that employers in the future will be relying on "armies of freelancers, temps, independent contractors, and consultants" rather than a full time workforce.

What will the impact be on you if companies need more and more temporary or contract workers? My client was sure she wanted full time employment but when she considered fully the flexibility of the job she had, and the life style she wanted she realized that this way of working was best for her. Today she would not be alone. A Radcliffe Public Policy Center study found that for 84% of workers in their 20s and 30s, a family-friendly work schedule was a priority.

The Kiplinger letter also says that workers now are anticipating a longer work life. Because of that employees will be changing careers and jobs many times. Kiplinger says it "Won't be unusual for workers to change jobs 10 or more times, take up a whole new career two or three times in their lives." Free-lancer or not most of us will be changing jobs fairly frequently.

So how does this affect you and your career plan. Clearly all of us are going to be responsible for managing our own careers. It might be helpful to think of ourselves as being self employed even when we work for a corporation. Remember if you are self employed you are not going to wait for your boss to do a career planning session with you. Your career is your own and you will want to have the flexibility to plan for moves beyond your current employer.

An important part of your career plan will be your description of what you have to offer? The first step here will be to get very clear about what it is you do or want to do, what your skills are, and why someone would want to hire you. Putting that down on paper can help you to think through what you are currently doing, what you would like to be doing and how you are going to get there.

If you are going to run your career as if you are self-employed then training is your responsibility not your employers. As you write down your skills for your current job make of note of skills you will need for your next job. Now the challenge is to get the training you will need in those new skills. Some employers offer training but as US News and World Report says in their Career Guide 2001, "When the boss won't provide training, free agents add skills on their own."

Job security is a thing of the past so it is important for all of us to be prepared to move on. What are the steps you are taking to insure your success?