The Brexit effect: What does it mean for your career?

The UK has faced its fair share of uncertainty in recent years. The financial crisis of 2008 and more recently the ongoing saga that is Brexit has caused a headache not just for politicians, but at some point, for one reason or another, pretty much everyone in the general populous.

Whatever your politics and whether you believe Brexit will ultimately be a good or bad move for the UK, one thing is certain. Brexit has caused uncertainty and has been blamed for a whole host of things that have happened or have failed to happen.

In my role, as an advisor to senior executives looking to transition in the executive job market, it’s often been cited as the reason for a perceived lack of job opportunities. If businesses face uncertainty, they are less likely to hire right now and more inclined to push hiring decisions further down the track, so the story goes.

But is this the real story or an imagined reality in response to a scenario we find ourselves in that very few really understand? 

A lesson in timing >

In 2008 I learnt a very important lesson. Two weeks before the financial crisis hit, I took the decision along with two colleagues to leave a safe and secure job and start my own recruitment company. 

Having written resignation letters, handed them in and now serving notice we were committed to a course of action that was impacted by a situation that even the experts failed to predict. Just when we needed a buoyant job market in order to secure new clients, the market took its toys and went home. ‘Recruitment freeze’ was all we heard and the future looked bleak. 

No one was hiring, so we had no client base, and if we backtracked to find employment for ourselves, we faced the same issue. Due to lack of demand recruitment companies weren’t hiring either. 

Over 10 years on the company we started is still going strong. I’ve since moved onto other things, but the growth and success of the business is a constant reminder of the importance of internal beliefs over external circumstances.

The external environment >

What I learnt at the hands of the financial crisis now shapes the advice I give my clients in response to Brexit.

External circumstances are where we find ourselves, but beliefs shape our future. Watch too much of the news or listen to the woes of others who are struggling to take the next step on the career ladder and it’s easy to join the club.

In the job market, doing what everyone else is doing and expecting to be the one to stand out and get hired is a low-probability strategy for success. What the majority do is obsess over their CV and react to opportunities advertised on job boards or positioned by recruitment companies. They get in the queue with everyone else and they wait. If they don’t hear back quickly enough or fail to get a response at all it’s easy to look to external circumstances to provide the explanation. 

The Brexit effect, or any other effect for that matter becomes the reason for their lack of progress. Their approach to the job market is never questioned or challenged, and down on their luck they give up their search.

Change your focus >

External circumstances will always exist. We have no control over them and as such it’s a pointless exercise to spend any length of time focusing our attention in their direction. It’s a waste of energy and effort.

Instead, to find success in the job market, in business or in any other walk of life, the focus must be on what you can control. You may not be able to control the job market, but you can control what you believe about it, what you think, and as a result how you choose to act.

Action is the critical ingredient to progress, but action is a fickle customer that can easily be knocked off its perch by external circumstances. If you believe Brexit is detrimental to your job search, you’ll think this way and pretty soon conclude that any action at all is a waste of time.

As human beings we like to be right, and confirmation bias kicks in to seek out information and explanations which support our point of view, even when our perceived view of the world has very little to do with reality on the ground. 

If everyone else perceives Brexit as a barrier to career advancement, isn’t this the perfect time for you to get on the pitch while others choose to sit in the stands?

The 'hidden (job) market' >

Organisations will always be in the business of seeking out new talent, and in times of uncertainty new talent could be just what they need. There will be organisations in your sector, specialism and region where you could be adding value right now. They may not be advertising and may not have engaged the services of a recruitment company but hiring decisions will be a topic of discussion around the boardroom table.

This is the ‘hidden (job) market’, which always exists, but very few know how to access. Combine an understanding of this and how employers make hiring decisions, with different beliefs about you and your ability to control your future, and any Brexit effect fades into insignificance.

Nobody knows what Brexit really means, how long it will last and the impact it will ultimately have on the UK economy. It’s out of our individual control. What Brexit means for your individual career comes down to you. What you believe, how you think and the action you choose to take.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please let me know in the comments below.

For support, training and coaching, please visit: https://careercodex.com

[This article is part of a series of blog posts I'm writing for AccountingWEB.]