Guest post: What Ferris Bueller can teach us

In this guest posting, recruiter David Jackson argues that we have a lot to learn from Ferris Bueller.

OK, it looks like the worst is over. Whether it’s the stimulus levers the government pulled, the ingenuity of all of us hard-working Australians, or just plain luck, we have so far avoided a recession, and after a disastrous year for the digital job market, things appear to be on the upswing.

If you’re an employer, you’ve no doubt promised yourself you’ve learned your lesson and will only hire people who tick all the boxes from here on in. If you’re an employee, you now realise that even digital jobs don’t grow on trees and finding a company with a good cultural fit is important. So how can you make sure you make the most of the recovery and cushion yourself against the next downturn?

You can find inspiration in seemingly odd places – like, for example, Glenbrook, Illinois, home of fictional folk hero Ferris Bueller. I’ve been thinking about Ferris lately, because his creator, director John Hughes, died this month. Growing up in the 1980s, Hughes’ films, most notably Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, formed part of the soundtrack of my life.