Walter Orthmann was a brilliant and dedicated student, but his family had fallen on hard times and as the eldest of five it was his duty to provide for his siblings. So, on the 17th of January 1938, 15-year-old Walter Orthmann left school to begin working for a Brazilian textile company. 84 years and 9 days later, on the 7th of February 2022, Walter got into his car and drove to the same textile company to start his workday re-writing the history books as the person with the “longest career in the same company”.
Mr Orthmann’s longevity seems almost fanciful when compared to the latest job mobility research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Over half of all working Australians have been in their current role for less than 5 years. The days of one career, one job for your whole working life has all but evaporated, with Australian businesses now experiencing staff turnover above 20%, the highest proportion since records began according to Scale Suite. This generational change in how we approach our careers has even prompted calls for an overhaul to long service leave entitlements, which in the public sector has been set at 10 years continuous service since 1862.
Walter Orthmann did not remain a shipping assistant for 84 years, he worked his way through the administration, taking on higher duties, travelling as a sales manager then finally settling into his role as mentor. A role where he quietly guided his younger colleagues until his passing in 2024 at 102. In an interview from 2022, Orthmann said his best advice was to work for a good company in an area where you feel motivated, with his key takeaway being “staying curious, learning constantly and really doing what you love.”
I think this concept of doing what you love is one of the drivers behind the generational shift in how we approach our careers. Older Generation Alpha’s (born between 2010 – 2024) are about to join the workforce, alongside their Generation Z counterparts. It is predicted that this next generation will have 3 different careers within their lifetime and at least 10 different employers. Retention and stability will no longer be motivating factors for a generation predominately favouring autonomy and diversity of skills. The leaders of tomorrow are more likely to have non-linear career paths with a cross-pollination of industry skills, with experts predicting this will create a more resilient workforce.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Tim Duggan stated in his 2025 opinion piece ‘Gen Alpha are entering the workforce. Here’s what they want’, that businesses need to prepare for Gen-Alpha’s who will be expecting “entrepreneurial, flexible and mental-health aware workplaces”. Not every workplace will be ready to accommodate these expectations but equally how do we as educators prepare our students when traditional career advice no longer applies?
Perhaps the answer lies in changing the question we ask our young people. Rather than asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, we should be asking, “Who do you want to become, and what skills will help you get there?”
As educators, our responsibility isn’t to simply prepare students for their first job. We need to prepare them for a lifetime of learning, reinvention and possibility. That means giving young people the confidence to be curious, the resilience to navigate uncertainty and the ability to recognise opportunities when they emerge.
The careers our students will enter may look very different from those available today. Some roles will disappear, others will be transformed by technology, and many of the jobs our students eventually undertake may not currently exist. What will endure is their capacity to learn, adapt, collaborate, think critically and remain open to change.
After over three decades in education, I believe this is one of the most important shifts facing schools. We should not be trying to predict the future for our students; we should be equipping them to shape it.
Perhaps that is the real lesson from Walter Orthmann’s extraordinary career. Longevity was not about staying still, it was about continuing to grow, staying curious and finding new ways to contribute. For the next generation, that may be the definition of a successful career.
By Donella Beare - Principal St Stephen's School
