What’s your career plan for 2021?
New Year – What’s your career plan for 2021?
This time last year no one in their wildest dreams could have imagined how drastically the world of work would change. The spread of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns meant that the vast majority of individuals and organisations had adapt to remote working with very little preparation. And adapt we did! The landscape of employment became precarious for many forcing people to make difficult adjustments and decisions around their career. Apart from the practical implications of inevitable job losses and change for individuals, living through a global pandemic has made many people reflective on aspects of their lives, career included. Coping with uncertainty in the workplace has been difficult and forced us all to build our resilience in relation to changing work environments. It hasn’t all been negative. In some cases being able to work from home has brought greater balance with reduced travel time and with extensive use of technology came opportunities to work with wider markets and customers. Words like ‘career transition’ or ‘pivot’ became part of our vocabulary in a way like never before. For some, the time to reflect brought the realisation that in fact they didn’t enjoy the job they were doing, the company they worked for or the working environment and for others it was the catalyst to make a change into a new role, area or business that had maybe been pushed aside previously.
Career Satisfaction Audit
If you have been feeling unsure about what 2021 holds for you in terms of career or if you have been considering a change now is a good time to reflect and make a plan to go forward. It is not something to rush into for lots of reasons including the practical matter of needing to maintain an income but it is really worthwhile to come out of auto-pilot and to do a ‘career satisfaction audit’ to consider your options. On completing it you may even feel that you are happy to stay where you are but look for different working conditions or fulfil needs by working on a side project of interest.
Look Inwards – Use the following questions as prompts
· What are my career needs? Are they being met in my current role/company?
· What have I liked and disliked about my previous and present jobs?
· How has my life changed personally in the last 5/6 years and am I now looking for something different? More flexibility? A sense of purpose? More money? Greater balance? A change of location?
· What do I have to offer? What are my transferable skills-set, interests, competencies, qualities, ambitions, values, experiences, knowledge, qualifications? Map all of this out – it is part of your personal brand!
Look Outwards - Consider the following
· Who is in my network personally and professionally that I can discuss my ideas with? Talk to those that you know about their jobs.
· What is happening in the workplace currently? Educate yourself on what is out there. Read the online jobs boards and research the job titles that interest you, focus on the key aspects of the job that you like.
· What companies or organisations do you want to work for? Start looking at companies’ profiles on social media, LinkedIn in particular.
· Are there opportunities for me to up-skill or retrain that might re-energize me in my current role or facilitate a change into something new?
· Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Answer that question for yourself instead of an interview board.
Work is a big part of our lives. If we are unhappy at work it can impact greatly on our personal lives and our own health and wellbeing. The thought of career change can make people feel fearful and sometimes overwhelmed which can hold us back. But not all change has to be big, it just has to be the right fit for us at the stage we are at in our lives. Giving yourself the time to reflect on where you are at in your career, where you have been and where you think you might like to go will help you to formulate a personal career plan that works best for you!