Career Re-Invention

Thriving in the Future World of Work

A recent article by April Rinne in the HBR provided an interesting perspective on the future of work. Changes in the global employment market over the past decade have been significant, in my view the most important and consistent factor will continue to be that of change itself. We have seen remote work, hybrid work, quiet quitting and the recent developments in Artificial Intelligence. Conventional approaches to career planning have been totally disrupted. We need to be willing to do the deep mindset work required to survive and thrive into the future of a constantly evolving employment landscape.? Are you prepared to think differently about the workplace and your career?

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Make Friends with Change

I think it’s safe to say the most people naturally either fear or are at least somewhat resistant to change. When it comes to our livelihoods and careers, probably even more so, we tend to be risk averse. In business we recognise the need for agility in the constantly changing environments where we operate. Businesses that are slow to adapt to changes in market conditions will probably fail. It stands to reason that the employees of such organisations will need to adopt a similar mindset. It is not enough just to adapt for survival, which is already a tall order, this would be the bare minimum. If you want to thrive, you must keep abreast with changes in order to identify new opportunities as an early adopter, and innovate your way to better outcomes. The successful career mindset of the future accepts that change is an inevitable reality, and knows that resistance or denial will be career suicide. Ways to embrace change or career re-invention include, just being interested in new developments and being open to or even excited about learning new skills. Participate in industry or professional communities, read cutting edge leaders in your field and have something new to talk about! This will get you moving in a positive direction and you can start by taking action today – follow someone new, join a group, or subscribe to a newsletter.

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Re-imagine the Route to Career Success

Rinne suggests that future career paths will be less linear than they have traditionally been, becoming more multi-dimensional, as we are already seeing. There will be less climbing of corporate ladders and more curating of portfolios. This scenario will provide more diverse and interesting growth opportunities and will require more agility from candidates that want to navigate this new job market. Growth becomes synonymous with learning, expanding your skill set in order to add more value, opening possibilities for new roles and opportunities, as opposed linear promotion up the hierarchy in specialist roles. Flatter structures have also become more common in modern organisations, replacing conventional hierarchical structures, and further supporting the idea of non-linear career progression.

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Become a Life-long Learner

Portfolio expansion requires development of new and diverse skill sets. You won’t be able to lean on your university degree forever. For example, Accountants in the private sector are already having to acquire advanced spreadsheet skills, coding capabilities, or even harnessing Artificial Intelligence applications, to meet growing data modelling and visualization expectations, and in order to remain relevant by adding value in new and different ways. This expanding portfolio of skills also opens the door to Financial Analyst roles and other opportunities beyond conventional career paths.

Do not limit yourself to traditional thinking when it comes to career growth. Be open to exploring alternative and unconventional opportunities, often created through organizational change.

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