The past two years has been a tumultuous time for many. Everyone’s habitual routines has been abruptly halted, with a majority of us being thrust far outside of our comfort zones. Consequently, many people have been forced to reconsider their way of life – finding out what really matters, and by extension, what work feels meaningful and worth doing.
However, despite the definitive change people want as a result of this, the pandemic has caught everyone unprepared, with millions being put on furlough or being let go altogether. People have also had to care for loved ones, and fear and uncertainty around job security has meant people haven’t been ready psychologically, financially or infrastructurally.
Furthermore, many people are just grateful they’ve managed to hold onto the jobs they have, where possible. And so, how possible is it to forge a successful career path in this climate?
What employees should know
Despite the pandemic, employees are in fact in a great position to begin crafting out the career they really want.
Organisations are experiencing skills gaps, and a need for people who are proactive in developing themselves and becoming lifelong learners.
Therefore, taking the risk-averse approach to careers is the opposite of what’s needed if you’re considering changing careers. Rather, if you’re to structure a meaningful career path, now is a crucial time to dive into reinventing your career.
Our Career Planning Beyond The Pandemic session enables individuals to do this, giving them time to connect with their goals and learn to use their ‘career cornerstones’. These are the foundations that – no matter how uncertain the environment – will propel their career forward. It captures learning from the pandemic and creates certainty and accelerated progression. Find out more here.
In the meantime, here are 3 key things you can do to start planning your career post-pandemic.
Start a project
By investing time into cultivating knowledge and new skills, you’ll not only be able to use those to broaden the scope of your own role or find a new one. You’ll also demonstrate your drive and ability to continue developing yourself. You could take part-time course on evenings and weekends, do pro-bono work or even take time to develop new start-up ideas.
In the process of doing this, you could also end up developing new relationships that open up room for collaboration, new projects, more visibility in your organisation, or simply building up your network.
Some questions to help pinpoint the best projects most suitable for you are:
- Who am I?
- What do I want for my career?
- Where can I best contribute?
- What do I need to learn to do so? Where is a good place to start?
Be more visible
Visibility in your organisation will not only help companies to see how much value you’re already bringing, but it will also help you develop more confidence in the knowledge that you are a significant team member with much to offer. Become more visible by identifying new solutions to problems at work, taking on additional responsibilities and generally being more proactively engaged.
Essentially, you will be building your own personal brand in the process. Your colleagues and managers will be able to see what your personal qualities are through your positive work and actions.
Simultaneously, you’ll develop the skills that will significantly aid you to progress in a competitive environment.
Become a culture maker
Take the opportunity to try things outside of your comfort zone.
One of the challenges that organisations are trying to find solutions to right now, is ways of establishing new working cultures as we emerge from the pandemic.
This is a brilliant opportunity for you to take a lead and help to co-create the working environment you and your colleagues, will truly want to be a part of in this new era of work.
If you would like you, your colleagues or your team would like a to learn about career planning beyond the pandemic, sign up for our free webinar on 28th September 2021.
View the Blog