The Portfolio Career

Susan P. Ascher, Founder, President and CEO of The Ascher Group, a contract staffing firm headquartered in Roseland, NJ, was a guest on News 12 New Jersey, “It’s Your Money.” The show aired various times throughout the weekend of October 24th and 25th.

Susan spoke on The Portfolio Career – a career option where a person combines their skill sets and passions with part-time, contract, e-lance and free-lance positions. As she stated on the show, “The portfolio career model lends itself to the younger generation as well as the Baby Boomers. The Millennials -- teenagers and young people in their 20s – know how to deconstruct the work they have done and the skills they have. They also see their outside activities as potential income generators. They are young and wary of the corporate world. The Baby Boomers find the jobs they have done are outdated. They are facing tremendous competition from Generations X, Y and the Millenials. We can call it discrimination or we can call it reality. Boomers can also look at their interests and the things in their lives that they are passionate about and re-invent they way they make a living. For reasons of need and for reasons of desire, people are going to continue to work well beyond their normal retirement age.” As she stated emphatically, “This is a new segment of the work-force of the future.”

Since opening her doors in 1981 as an executive search practitioner, Susan has become an expert on every aspect of labor market and work/place issues. She is a labor market futurist and a successful, award-winning entrepreneur.

She has weathered four recessions, and this recent economic aberration, and has advised numerous people on how to look for a job- no matter the state of the economy.

Susan is a huge proponent of the Portfolio Career and has spent the better part of her time speaking about its merits. She spoke at Lee Hecht Harrison, Somerset, NJ, to their downsized employees on how to search for a job in this economic climate. In February, Susan was a featured speaker at Colorado Mountain College, Edwards, Colorado, where she addressed "The Entrepreneur Fitness Center," in March she was a panelist for the North Essex Chamber of Commerce "Women in Power," series, in May she was a guest on My9 television to discuss the labor market and career options, in June she was quoted in an article "Reinvent Your Job," in Forbes magazine, in July she was profiled in New Jersey & Company magazine, in August she was highlighted in the Business section of The Star-Ledger, and in September she was a speaker at “Laid-Off Camp”, a workshop for the unemployed held at William Paterson University.