Job for Life - Definition, Importance & Example

Published in Human Resources Terms by MBA Skool Team

What is Job for Life?

Job for life means a job which a person sticks to for all of his working life. Job for life is a concept where an individual commits oneself to working for one company for their entire career. Job for life gives stability, recognition in one organization but can also lead to loss of career development & monotony.

This concept of job for life as we all know does not hold so true in today’s world. Earlier, especially the gen X people had this concept much in built in their times. They had a craving for Government sector jobs, they used to get into that and would stay there for the rest of their life until they reached the retirement age of 60. Privatization and focus on quick career development were not so prevalent. Money making craving was there but was not so prominent.

In the early 90s or say 90s, when the IT sector started booming especially in India, the job for life concept started fainting from the market. People started finding better opportunities with an attractive package when they switched to companies, their experience in the previous company started mattering a lot. Job for life concept would slowly become nonexistent as the millennials wholly occupy the market.


Importance of Job for Life

The job for life concept holds a lot of importance as it shows the real picture of globalization and post industrialization phase of India. It highlights how the organizations have changed to adjust with the philosophy of the people of the country. Public sector companies, which earlier never faced attrition rates problems, have started facing it, because of the increase in the rate of establishment of the big multinational companies and boom in the private sector. Indian minds are a need to other bigger companies in foreign countries. Brain drain is a direct result of people not wanting to stay in a particular company.

Attractive packages, better living style these all factors cumulatively have wiped off literally the concept of job for life. The craving for more has obviously led to the advancements in technology and has created space for many more advancements and upliftments. This concept helps us to study the differences in various generations. Like millennials always love challenges and they love change. Gen X people wanted peace and stability in life. Gen Y people are a mixture of both the generations. They love stability but are always keen to know the advancements in technology as they were the first generation which faced technology in workplaces.

Job for Life

Example of Job for Life

An example can be cited like, a person passes his B.Tech from an engineering college. He gets a placement from the campus in of the IT sector companies. Works there for two years and meanwhile starts preparing for MBA entrance exams. Gets through one of the MBA colleges and starts pursuing MBA in either finance or HR. he works hard for the two years of his MBA life and gets a campus placement with a handsome package. He starts working there, gets an increment there and stays there for like 2 years. In the meanwhile, he gets an offer from another good company who offer him a better profile to work at with an attractive offer. He switches to that company. At the age of 28 / 29 the person is already in his third company! Now we know how job for life concept is slowly wiping off from the market.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Job for Life along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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