Position Yourself for Success in 2007

The coming year looks to be another period of cautious optimism, with U.S. economic growth expected to be slightly lower than in 2006 (i.e. about 3.2% in 2007 versus about 3.6% this year, according to most forecasters). That's the product of a mixed bag of good and bad trends. On the plus side is continuing robust gains in the productivity of the American worker coupled with surprisingly aggressive business investments. On the down side, we face rising interest rates, a slowing housing market, high oil prices and geopolitical uncertainty over the war on terror and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bottom line for job seekers? 2007 will be a year of calm waiting, with neither tantalizing opportunities to create a feverish gold-rush mentality like during the tech boom of the late 90s nor the panicked crash-mentality of the early 00s. Employers will use the time to evaluate their work force against opportunities they foresee developing down the road. Basically, that means weeding out those stick-in-the-muds who are likely to hold the company back while hiring and promoting those with the forward-looking skills and mindset that will be solid assets in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

So while there won't be much downsizing, and even healthy hiring, employers will be grading each employee with an eye toward strengthening their organizations. In general that means more of what has been happening during the past decade — more overseas outsourcing of production and even some customer-service functions, more aggressive automation of administrative support functions to enhance productivity and responsiveness to the market, and tweaking the brand name and positioning through investment in the marketing side of the business.