The 3 Big Reasons Why You Should Stop Worrying About a Linear Career Path

I know, if you are 35+ and have “breathed” the corporate world like myself, you’ve probably heard it like a mantra: “Be careful not to stay for a short time in your jobs!’” or “You got to be careful with your next moves in your career” or even “You have to hide this off-track period in your resume; otherwise, it will not be looked upon well by recruiters.”

Well, fortunately, this mentality is old school in the workplace life. We are now living in a world where the competencies of the past no longer define the executives who will thrive in the future and make a difference in organizations. Curious to know why? Here are the mains reasons:

?1.?????Taking risks is a key attitude for the new economy, and that includes your career path

Comfort zones are heaven for our threatened minds. However, organizations need employees who are capable of quickly evaluating changing scenarios and taking risks in order to keep up with the new realities: competition, consumers, disrupting technologies. Therefore, the ability to take risks is something that needs to be exercised, as you start learning about how to deal with eventual losses in order to achieve a higher goal. There is no success without the willingness to try, and if it fails, learning and overcoming challenges will build a new and greater journey ahead.

Obviously, taking calculated risks is always important. Balancing the eventual losses and gains, and being aware of possible outcomes, is of great importance in your business or personal decisions in life. Taking ownership of your own decisions and focusing in what you’ve learned are signs of maturity and make us more equipped with even better decisions in the future (so, blaming is not part of the game).

You can walk by what you preach if you demonstrate those abilities, not only in specific tasks in your job, but also in the way you moved the parts in your career pathway. How different did you become after each experience? Which new assets/abilities do you carry as a result of those moves?

?2.?????Adaptation is a must

If there is another important keyword for fast-paced markets, the word is adaptation, which means breaking old habits and adjusting to new environments, new opinions, and new cultures. In a new company or a new job endeavor, you are forced to get together all your expertise, and shape it in a new format, new language, and new strategy.

Hiring managers want leaders who will help them navigate through the constant changes without being paralyzed by fear. The individuals who face different companies’ structures, cultures, and challenges are definitively more equipped.

3.?????Soft skills over technical skills or “years of experience doing the job”

Information is now much more accessible and unrestricted to a company’s hierarchy than before. The amount of time you spend in a single position or job does not necessarily give you the right tools to thrive, and technical skills are being quickly replaced by automation.

Therefore, the real assets an employee can bring to the table are much more related to the famous “soft skills.” The most important ones are creative thinking, crucial thinking, communication and collaboration. They are gold for the companies because they include the human ability to lead, to work as team, and to constantly generate innovation through the advancement of technology.

Think about what you gain if you venture into an entrepreneur experience: an owner’s mindset, hands-on experience, problem-solving skills, etc. Or, even if you took a sabbatical to travel the world, what about the adaptation, multi-cultural experience, communication, respect with different perspectives, and points of view you would gain?

In a nutshell, I just wanted to encourage you to change. Try. Fail. Try again. Succeed. Fail again. Stop worrying about totally predictable movements that prevent you from different pathways in your career. Interrupt what is not adding more value to you in order to be a much more interested and well-equipped version of yourself. Be proud of your story, focus on your leanings and move ahead.

Modern-minded companies would love your uniqueness, and I believe it’s those kinds of companies you want to be working for.

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About the author:

After many years in different Executive Positions, Erica founded LIOZ because she firmly believes executive search services must be disrupted to improve the reality of many businesses and senior professionals, by enabling them to change their organizations.?

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