'I'm starting to wonder if, in this day and age, there really is such a thing as a "career job."'
Stop wondering. There is not.
In fact, arguably, there almost never was. I live in Michigan, and a lot of "career" people are currently staring down losing their retirement in the last 5 years of their expected productive life, or losing their pension after retirement, or similar things. Some "career", some "guarantee". Even many of those "careers" may turn out not to have been, post facto. (Yikes!)
In my opinion, anyone under 40 (conservatively) should be planning on there being no pension for them and no social security.
Good luck with that last bit. Remember that the closer you get to it, the greater the concentration of scumbags (check my profile if you don't believe me).
Stop wondering. There is not.
In fact, arguably, there almost never was. I live in Michigan, and a lot of "career" people are currently staring down losing their retirement in the last 5 years of their expected productive life, or losing their pension after retirement, or similar things. Some "career", some "guarantee". Even many of those "careers" may turn out not to have been, post facto. (Yikes!)
In my opinion, anyone under 40 (conservatively) should be planning on there being no pension for them and no social security.