What the Pandemic Has Reminded Us About Professionalism

• Publication year: 2022
• Pages: 0022

What the Pandemic Has Reminded Us About Professionalism Vol. 28 No. 3 Pg. 22 Georgia Bar Journal December, 2022

Feature

While there might not be a general consensus as to the greatest threat to a chosen career path, this article will explore some potential avenues.

BY KENT E. ALTOM

What is the greatest threat to the upper trajectory of one's career path? And, is this threat made even more likely by the COVID-19 pandemic? Many views have been expressed as to the first question-some complementary, others contrasting. Some people believe this greatest threat could be a lack of knowledge, skill or experience whereas others would contend that it is a professional lapse. However, although a lack of knowledge, skill or experience could "trip up" some people, we must remember that most are hired based upon the actual—or at least perceived— knowledge, skill and experience they possess. Similarly, a professional lapse almost certainly would threaten—and could possibly derail—a career when it occurs. But, in reality, how often does such an episode lead to the demise of someone's career? Not that often, I would think.

Still others would argue that the greatest threats to one's career are artificial intelligence as well as other forms of automation and outsourcing. I cannot dispute that argument, especially as it relates to certain—but not all—industries. Depending upon which cable news channel you watch, talking heads may complain that the greatest threat is immigration. Here is not the place to debate that notion, but to acknowledge that it is at the forefront of some minds.

Here, when I ask, "what is the greatest threat to the upper trajectory of one's career path," I am speaking of an unexpected event, something occurring that is beyond one's control. A need for greater knowledge, skill and experience can be recognized, and then they could be sought and gained. After all, it generally takes the one doing the hiring awhile to admit that a mistake in the hiring process was made and, assuming the one who was hired can "read the room," that person can develop additional knowledge, skill and experience in the interim—perhaps turning things in the right direction.^[1] A professional lapse, with the proper insight, could be avoided. But, what about that which is unexpected, is beyond one's control?

I am also not speaking of what may be years in the making such as increased development of automation that could render the worker a nullity. Similarly, I am not speaking of what one's speculation might cause one to conclude would result in job loss such as immigration. Here, I am attempting to draw attention to a "clear and present" threat, over which one has little to no ability to control—a threat that is largely unavoidable; a ubiquitous threat, in fact, ever-present; a reality, the product of neither speculation nor happenstance.

I would contend that the greatest threat to the upper trajectory of one's career path is the corporate downsizing.^[2] Employment data for the time period commencing in late Q1 2020 show more than mere cyclical ebbs and flows; there have been wild swings up and down.^[3] The current state of nervousness during the COVID-19 pandemic among business owners, managers and employees alike is compounded by the fact that just a decade ago many of the same ones weathered an economic recession brought on by the "mortgage market meltdown" that was similarly marked by workplace instability and massive job losses, which, in turn, led to historically high rates of unemployment followed by tepid year-over-year job growth as well as a systemic drop in home values and widespread financial hardship.^[4]

Before concluding that here I am speaking of sectors of the American economy exclusive of that which provides legal services, I am not. To state the obvious, and despite our puritan attempts to claim or suggest otherwise, law firms—small ones, mid-sized ones and large ones alike—are businesses.^[5] Their owners, lawyers and staff are not inoculated from this same threat: downsizing that is caused by the loss of a large client or numerous smaller clients in close succession or an unexpected, significant shift in the larger...