Are you preparing for your next Career?

I have been working with executives in over 25 organizations in the last 12 months. All of them working in India. Many of them are professionals with over 15 years of experience.  We discussed many drivers and catalysts that would impact their career. Somehow it was difficult to penetrate the veil of comfort that a majority of them surrounded themselves in.

1. There seemed to be an almost “hope-it-is-minor” mindset to the changes that will hit us in the coming decade.
2. Most assume that professional life as-is will somehow continue. Despite all evidence to the contrary – there was an almost “Maslovian” need that one’s job and kind of role will continue to be constant.
3. While life spans are increasing – people seem to still believe that they can retire at 60. Not realizing that they are likely to live for close to another 40 years after that, due to improvements in their standard of living and advances in medical sciences.
4. If the change happens, they believe that their company will provide the required training and equip them to take on the new roles. 

What’s changing? Actually Life as we know it. 

1. More and more jobs are being automated. What is the risk to your job? In the IT industry, mundane technical tasks such as regression testing are already amenable to a fair degree of automation. But this is becoming increasingly true of Project Management as well. This trend will accelerate - and across industries and roles.
2. To build a career, one has to move from one S-Curve to the next. People understand that everyone’s career tends to plateau over a period of time. Do they really appreciate the consequences? Will an organization pay me an inflated salary for a job that my junior can do at a fraction of the cost? How much am I responsible for finding my next job? And what do I need to do to make myself ready to take on that new job?
3. Many of the current jobs and roles will disappear. And new ones will take their place. Over the last 5 years, we have already seen a host of new jobs appear e.g. in the area of Data Science. Academicians are worried about what they are preparing their students for – given that over 70% of the jobs that will appear over the next decade have not even been invented yet.
4. The change in technology is only accelerating. While some of the older technologies, tools, and platforms may last a few years longer, new ones are appearing every day as we speak. The world of SMAC powered by IoT is an example of this. The incumbents will have to work twice as hard at forgetting some of the earlier paradigms while learning newer ones.

Choose to Change

Senior professionals have to choose to face the changing realities. It is not going away – in fact it will only accelerate. In my opinion, perhaps the only way to keep oneself relevant is by redefining one’s professional goals, and acquiring new areas of competence. Many professionals have surrendered their life to their job. Ignoring several other important things like deciding on the larger goals in life, giving back to the profession,  and building on one's strengths.

How can this be done?

1. Choose to Learn : Many executives tell me that the last time they did any structural learning was when they were still fresh out of college. It is not possible to keep up with the changes happening around us if we do not choose to learn. It is not about want of time, it is about attitude to learning and prioritizing it.
2. Choose to Learn to Learn – if one has more than 5 years experience, it is unlikely that someone is going to sit with him/her and handhold till they have learnt the “next new thing”. Understanding your preferred learning style and putting it to good use is important. There are any numbers of resources online that help one understand his/her learning style.
3. Choose to take risks. Asking to work in projects that stretch one is very important. Replaying the same role (job) for 5 years, is not gaining 5 years worth of experience. It is merely getting better at a job that you have been doing over the last 5 years. My mantra has been that approximately 30% of your job content must be different over a period of 3 years. And remember always to play to your strengths. If you take risks while playing to your strengths there is a far higher chance of success.
4. Choose to plan your Career. Ask yourself how long you will continue in your current career. Think about your life goals. If one plans to retire by 75, it is important to think of at least 3 career shifts over this period of time, perhaps 4. By career shift, I am saying for example from being an engineer, to working for an NGO to becoming a farmer. Moving across roles is another, e.g. from engineering to marketing to HR. I know some professionals who moved from engineering to management to starting an ashram. 

The important thing is to keep oneself relevant. The train is leaving the station. It is our choice to get onboard.