Permanent jobs may disappear in future.

Get ready to look for another job! That advice comes from management consultant Robert Barner, who believes that stable jobs will disappear in the years ahead. "Over the next 10 years, continued cost pressures and the need for fast market response will force employers to build workforces that are extremely flexible and cost-effective," he told the World Future Society.

Barner believes that the traditional organizational structure, with its large permanent employee base, soon will be replaced with a more adaptable way of doing business. It will consist of three groups: core workers--a small, relatively permanent group of employees with broad skills who can tackle a variety of jobs; supplemental employees--a larger group who can be added or eliminated as needed; and outsourced workers. Outsourcing will become increasingly popular because it allows companies to farm out entire product and service functions, avoiding long-term personnel costs.

To meet the demands of the future, workers need to give up the notion that they can succeed by carefully planning their careers. Instead of charting a rigid career path toward a single, long-term goal (becoming vice president of the XYZ company by age 50), they must remain flexible to avoid being caught off-guard by disruptive...