Reunions: Alumni discuss trends in the modern job market

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At a panel titled “21st Century Careers: Think Globally, Navigate Locally,” moderated by Wilson School professor and former director of foreign policy planning for the State Department Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80, alumni gathered to discuss strategies for understanding and adapting to the changing economic landscape.

Participants in the panel, which was held in Frist Campus Center on Friday as part of Reunions programming, included Robert Hugin ’76, the chief executive officer of pharmaceutical company Celgene Corporation, Alexandre Mas GS ’04, a Wilson School professor and former chief economist at the Department of Labor, and Lynn Tetrault ’84, an executive vice president for human resources and corporate affairs at pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC.

“Starting in 1980, we saw important structural changes in the U.S. economy,” Mas said at the discussion. “Production in trade has become fragmented, which has been facilitated by communication technology.”

According to Mas, expansion in technology and trade has made more jobs transferable, which presents both opportunities and risks for U.S. workers.

“For example, for an architect, these changes can mean that he can design a building in China but it can also mean that he now has competition from architects in Germany,” Mas said. “How it plays out depends on how talented you are.”

Tetrault said her company is hiring more employees overseas in places such as China and Brazil. She added, however, that building up talent bases and stemming attrition rates in foreign workforces could take years. However, the “returnees,” Chinese locals educated in the United States who return to their native country, could be a threat to the U.S. economy, she said.

“There will be some turbulence in the job market,” Mas added. “Wages will go up, but there are winners and losers and people need to adapt, so finding ways to facilitate people jumping from one career to another is going to be increasingly important.”

Hugin said that he had changed his career three times in a span of about 30 years, starting in the Marine Corps and now working as CEO of Celgene.

“It is invigorating and liberating in the U.S. that you can change, but you need to understand the underlying economic trends,” Hugin said.

According to Slaughter, young college graduates are no longer thinking about 30-year careers, but are now more often only thinking about the next five or six years.

“My advice is to cross as many sectors as you can,” Slaughter said. “People who are boundary-crossers are much better equipped over a lifetime to solve problems, so find your passion and then pursue it in multiple sectors.”

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Slaughter defined the perfect career as spending time with a non-governmental organization, a private company and the government to have links to as many different communities as possible. She advised people looking for jobs to ask for names of people who might help, rather than outright asking for employment, to build a lasting network.

According to Tetrault, companies want to hire people with adaptability, global experience and learning agility.

“We look for people who are curious and interested in appreciating different cultures, people who can be successful in other cultures and have the agility to understand and sense cues in new environments,” she said.

Slaughter agreed that cultural competence is a key quality for employees.

“It requires risk acceptance, an embrace of change and a mindset closer to Silicon Valley: ‘Have you failed yet?’ ” she said. “If you haven’t failed, you haven’t tried and you haven’t learned.”