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Diane Webber runs a successful employment agency that advises clients to keep their career options open. She believes the modern job market requires flexibility and a willingness to change jobs multiple times to gain new experiences. While this lack of continuity was once seen as unstable, companies now value the new ideas and solutions that come from a dynamic environment with people regularly entering and leaving projects. Diane argues the best employees are risk-takers willing to take on fresh challenges, not mediocre staff who only want to stay in one place. She encourages people to view every new opportunity as a potential career move.

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50 views1 page

Tapescript Listen 1

Diane Webber runs a successful employment agency that advises clients to keep their career options open. She believes the modern job market requires flexibility and a willingness to change jobs multiple times to gain new experiences. While this lack of continuity was once seen as unstable, companies now value the new ideas and solutions that come from a dynamic environment with people regularly entering and leaving projects. Diane argues the best employees are risk-takers willing to take on fresh challenges, not mediocre staff who only want to stay in one place. She encourages people to view every new opportunity as a potential career move.

Uploaded by

Linh Trâm
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Listen 1

Interviewer: Diane Webber, you've switched careers more than once during your own working life,
and you now run a highly regarded employment agency for media high-fliers, where, above all, you
advise your clients, both companies and applicants, to be fully flexible. You seem to see this as a
fundamental principle, if your agency slogan - Keeping your options open - is anything to go by. Is that
a fair assessment of how you operate?
Diane Webber: Absolutely. I know that not so very long ago we used to see jobs for life as the norm,
with unquestioning company loyalty, and a golden handshake at the end of it all - which, nine times out
of ten, probably wasn't in actual fact deserved - but things are very different now. And yes, there does
seem to be something positive in all this, despite the obvious question mark over security. Successful
players in the current job market cut their teeth in one firm, and are willing to step sideways more than
once to gain fresh experience. Unlike their predecessors, they may only progress up the rungs when
they land their third or fourth job, or even later in their career. This increased movement brings
benefits, not just for them, but for the companies they work for, too.
Interviewer: In spite of the instability? Surely it's important to have some continuity?
Diane Webber: Well actually, it's a mixed blessing. Individuals can get terribly stale if they stick in one
place for too long, especially if they report to managers who fail to challenge them. That implies a
hierarchy riddled with complacency and under-achievement, which can no longer be tolerated in today's
fast-moving, dog-eat-dog world. Also, much of today's work consists of fixed-term projects, done in
teams, and if one or two members drop out along the way, it really doesn't matter, provided that the
team remains an entity. The one exception to this is the team leaders themselves , who are not only the
driving force, but the guardians of the project, who hold important historical detail in their heads, so
yes, continuity is important there. But even then it's a clearly defined cycle. We're frequently approached
by highly experienced team leaders who, having completed one project, decide they can't face even the
slightest whiff of repetition and so come to us seeking fresh challenges.
Interviewer: And they manage to find work?
Diane Webber: Oh, they're snapped up! Because generally speaking, a project-based job can easily
demonstrate a track record, it's there in the successful completion of the project.
Interviewer: And these people would have no problem getting references from the employers they're
essentially walking out on? I would have thought that that could be an issue ...
Diane Webber: Employers don't view it like that at all. Their mindset is different now, as I said earlier,
and companies actually take steps to foster a more dynamic environment, as they feel this yields better
productivity, though the jury's still out on this, in my view. Nevertheless, with a flow of people, there's a
quantum leap in terms of the ideas generated, not to mention the chance of new ways of problem-
solving imported from elsewhere. These effects are tangible and they're often very attractive because
they're perceived as lean and efficient, instant solutions, even if they generally turn out to be only quick
fixes which later have to be reversed.
Interviewer: Ah, but isn't that the nub of it all, that this shifting and fragmented approach leads to
poor decisions? Of course, the perpetrators are never taken to task, as they've already made a quick exit
and are knocking on your door for another job!
Diane Webber: That's a bit unfair! For one thing, there have always been bad decisions. No company
can rely on its personnel to make the right choices one hundred per cent of the time - even with the
help of highly-paid outside consultants, staff will continue to get it wrong from time to time. However,
I'd argue that it's the mediocre employees, who just want to keep their heads down, who are far more
likely to cause problems than the risk-takers, who, don't forget, are only as employable as their last
success.
Interviewer: Ruthless ...
Diane Webber: Pragmatic!
Interviewer: Which brings us neatly back to your slogan, doesn't it? Keeping your options open. How
far do you encourage people to go in this?
Diane Webber: With new opportunities opening up all the time, the sky's the limit really. It's certainly
never too late to contemplate a move, and so the maxim has to be, don't rule anything in or out.
Interviewer: We'll end on that positive note. Diane Webber, thank you.
Diane Webber: It's been a pleasure.

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