Nowadays, risk-taking feels riskier than ever. 57+ million Americans have filed for unemployment since March. Companies have introduced pay cuts across the board. Several industries may never even recover.
As the world goes to hell in a handbasket, it’s basic instinct to want to retreat to safety, stick to your guns and choose the safe route. But as usual, I’m not here to promote the merits of “the safe route”. With crisis comes opportunity. If you’ve been laid off or are reconsidering your job prospects, now could be the best time to pivot careers. Here’s why.
It’s a Reality Check for your Priorities
COVID-19 has made us all more keenly aware that nothing in life is guaranteed. When it comes to our lives and our livelihoods, this year has been an opportunity for reevaluation and reprioritization of what’s most important.
Maybe that means finding a job that offers more quality time with loved ones. Or a career that plays to your innate strengths and aligns with your greater purpose. While this year has ripped away a sense of normalcy for many of us, it’s also been a chance to reconsider what was so great about “normal” in the first place. It’s time to decide what you want to focus your energy and time in the long term.
Several Industries are Thriving
As one door closes, another opens. While many jobs have unfortunately been lost to COVID-19, many opportunities have risen in fields like manufacturing, e-learning, healthcare and more. Fast Company has been tracking real-time skills demand and labor market changes since March, and they point to several growing categories of jobs, including:
- Cybersecurity
- App Development
- Specialist Sales
- Marketing
- Change Management
- Logistics
- E-commerce
- Healthcare Specialists
- Pharmaceuticals
- R&D
As we’ve discussed on the Highnoon blog , COVID-19 has accelerated changes in several industries. From low-to-no contact food service to growth in tech and marketing, these are changes that the market was bound to face eventually.
If you were laid off or belong to one of the 66% of people who have contemplated a career pivot as a result of the pandemic, now is a great time to explore what industries are predicted to grow over the next decade.
New Worker Flexibilities
Over the last five years, the number of people working remotely has grown by 44%. Additionally, 82% of U.S. businesses are using flexible work locations as a way to improve work-life balance. In other words, there’s never been a better time to start a new career from the comfort of home.
Whereas many jobs used to be limited by geography, today’s workforce has largely adapted to the remote/virtual office. So don’t limit your job search to your city, see what options are available out there in the great wide world.
How do you pivot into a new career?
Changing your career path isn’t easy, but the rewards can be immense. Plan your career pivot ahead of time by focusing on your why and how.
Start with Why
In the famous words of Simon Sinek, it helps to start with why. What is your personal why for getting up in the morning? Why do you like doing what you do? By defining what you hope to accomplish in your life, you’ll be better prepared to define the kind of work you want to do. It also helps to define exactly why you want to change careers in the first place. Understanding what you want to avoid can help ensure you don’t end up in the same kinds of situations.
Think Transferable Skills
Of course, starting with why doesn’t necessarily mean you need to start from the drawing board. Consider the ways that you can leverage your skills, contacts and experience to make a successful transition. It’s comforting to say “follow your passion and everything will work out”, but research shows that passion alone ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Finding happiness in our long-term careers is less about chasing happiness and more about finding what we care about and becoming good at it, happiness being a nice side-benefit.
A LinkedIn analysis of job movements from 2015 to 2019 found that people most often transition into roles that leverage the skills and expertise they’ve already built up over the years. For retail associates, for example, sales, account management and negotiation skills can help with a career pivot into corporate sales, business development and even operations. Draw upon your personal areas of expertise in new and creative ways to connect to the industries you’re interested in.
Online Learning
Online education has been growing significantly over the last decade, but COVID-19 has made widespread adoption the norm. Digital platforms such as Udemy, YouTube, Coursera, Lynda, Skillshare and Udacity offer courses in everything from the arts and sciences to burgeoning technical skills in fields such as artificial intelligence and data analytics. Major educational institutions including Harvard have even opened up online courses for free to help people learn new skills and subjects.
One of the biggest advantages to online learning is that most platforms allow you to work programs at your own pace and schedule. This represents a huge opportunity to fit exploration and education into your spare time while still making ends meet at your current job.
Make Your Career Pivot with Confidence
It’s natural for us to want to avoid the risk of the unknown. The unknown can be dangerous and in general, we’re all about self-preservation. But as we’ve seen, making the safe choice doesn’t always guarantee protection from the unknown.
I’m not here to argue that our instinct for self-preservation is wrong. Just that our perception of risk is sometimes skewed. With passion tempered by realistic expectations, calculated risks and hard work, you can discover a new and rewarding career, even in the midst of a pandemic.
For even more in-depth career advice, business development lessons and marketing industry know-how, check out more blog posts. If you like what you find, you can also book me to speak at your next panel/function/event.