In a challenging economic landscape, organizations are forced to make difficult measures to let staff go or issue redundancies. With mounting job insecurity or job loss prevalent across a displaced, global workforce, it’s a time where many of us are battling career uncertainty. But there’s always an opportunity to learn new skills that will help you future proof your employability.
Switch On Your Tech Brain
As the working world becomes more digital, the future of the recruitment marketplace requires that you’ll need a good level of competency in tech to succeed. Many industries including accountancy, investment banking, manufacturing and e-commerce are increasingly reliant on tech to streamline and automate processes. Expanding your technical skillset is recommended to give your resume a boost.
From marketing, to design, to project management, a basic knowledge of technology makes you a self-sufficient, integral team member. It also allows you to better understand and engage with technical stakeholders in your business.
Broaden Your Transferrable Skills
A strong spectrum of soft skills opens doors to new industries or alternative career paths. As specialist skills become obsolete, there will be core, practical and cognitive skills that will permanently be sought after. In fact, in Robert Walters skills research, 60% of employers demand professional business skills in the roles they recruit for, including problem-solving, communication, people management and innovation.
Review your current skillset and consider the soft skills that could boost your long-term employability. For example, where you may thrive in teamwork and generating new ideas, there’s opportunity to strengthen your confidence in leadership and communication. Once you’ve identified those areas of improvement, develop a personal learning plan to structure how you will gain those skills.
Networking and Commercial Awareness
Building your professional network helps you to learn tips and tricks from inspiring leaders, as well as boost your exposure for job referrals. Networking is a gateway to access new skills from outside your organization and collaborate, on top of giving credibility to your profile.
LinkedIn is a great starting point to join professional groups, access industry leading content and training webinars, as well as checking in with former colleagues. Networking also goes hand in hand with commercial awareness. An ability to engage digitally means you’re finger is on the pulse with the latest trends impacting on your profession. This will elevate your understanding of how industries operate.
Become Spreadsheet Savvy
From financial planning and project management, to data analysis and presenting results, an Excel spreadsheet will find its way into your working life, seen as a standard in the business world. Learning to extend your use of the platform could help you to progress from being an intermediate, to an advanced user. As a globally applied management platform, you’ll find no trouble in accessing online tutorials to help you.
Going further, platforms such as Excel organically help you to enhance your data analysis skills. A skill you can transfer seamlessly to other data or CRM platforms that you’ll no doubt encounter in your career.
Stay In Touch With Your Human Skills
Something automation and robotization cannot replace, is the value of human interaction. It’s important to grow your empathy and compassion for others. Whether your role requires customer service, or working within a team, communication built upon an understanding of each party’s needs is crucial for successful business relationships and a cohesive team culture.
Adaptability
Studies show that 65% of children entering primary school today will end up working in new jobs that don’t yet exist. Sticking to a set career path could limit your options in the future jobs market. You need to be flexible and adaptive as and when opportunities come your way. And it’s not just about keeping an open mind to alternative career paths, COVID-19 will have ramifications on our future ways of working. Demonstrating your ability to deliver and engage just as well in a virtual team as in an office, will be a key consideration for employers engineering the future, mobile workforce.
Want to avoid a career dead-end? Focusing on building a fluid professional skillset is the key to excel to the next generation of jobs and adapt to the ever-changing workplace. Whilst a period of time out of work is understandably daunting, capitalize on this time to prepare for the future.
