You know how they used to have a civil service exam you take to determine placement?

They replaced it with a monster.com-like job board.

It’s a pretty handy method to ignore the majority of their applicants.

Germany has managed to avoid the increasing unemployment that has hit the US, despite also being hit by the economic crisis, in part thanks to its pro-employment laws.

I’m well aware of the downsides in the French model, not just to those who get screwed by it, but also to the quality of the service provided by people who can’t be punished, or by the inflexibility of people who don’t want to cross lines at their employer that, being a life job, will screw them forever. (See, it’s even bad for those with lifetime jobs, and their customers… although less so than for those without good jobs.)

Pandemic Studios, apparently.

Makers of Battlezone 2, Star Wars: Battlefront, and the Mercenaries series.

Anglo-saxon model = moderate insecurity and suckage for everybody.
(continental) European model = good news for some and a royal screwing over for others.

Matter of personal preference which system you think is worse.

And certainly luck plays a large part.

You define job security as your employer not being *able* to fire you?

I didn’t mean to imply that you should be able to get away with murder, but rather that today’s corporate management policies are such that job security is an illusion.

So long as they are able to fire you without repercussions, what guarantee is there really that you would make a lifetime career at one company? You can find examples of people whose careers turned out that way, sure, but what proof do you have that you’re not simply nitpicking the lucky out of the unlucky?

Maybe I’m biased because, everywhere I turn, I’m being taught that the modern worker does not bank on keeping any job for long. I think a person who has been more fortunate in their job opportunities would hold a contrasting view.

Interesting fact, though: in Germany, there *are* laws that make it less desirable to lay off workers, and encourages them to keep them on as part-time workers if they really need to save money. Companies in France are also far less likely to lay off workers. This has benefits to international divisions of certain European companies located in the US.

Industries where you are less likely to be fired due to the size of the organizations are typically industries that depend on large government contracts, such as aerospace, defense, and infrastructure. Infrastructure should do well now, since stimulus funding is easiest to justify for large government-funded infrastructure contracts, which are always useful (especially considering the US’s infrastructure, of any kind, be it roads, bridges, or electrical grids, are long overdue for overhauls). These fields are all far less volatile than, say, the gaming industry.