Re-starting a career during the COVID 19?
I was one of those who got shivers down the spine at the high school when people asked me what I wanted to do with my life. It was the time to make the critical decisions – about the university, the major, and the profession I felt the calling for?
Truth was I felt no calling and I had no clue, so having to make this one choice felt like I was told to dismiss all other opportunities that life might bring to me.
COVID-19 Impact
Today in the middle of Covid-19, I see many people my age who struggle with the same dilemma but for different reasons. They are not 18 years old, the world economy just crushed and some of them have lost the jobs, that were supposed to guarantee a hefty pension and security for family. With this, the hope that life is ever going to be good again starts fading away while they have to act fast and make a decision about what to do next.
There are practically two directions to look at – find another job or start your own business. Both options are good but they both can be very challenging and take a very long time before any results. Meanwhile, bills keep piling up, mortgage is haunting the family, and the fear of unknown is growing.
So let’s have a look at both directions as plans. Let’s also remember that the best plan or a strategy must be followed by excellent execution to bring the desired results.
OPTION ONE – back to the corporate job.
Good news is that many companies have already adapted to new norm, started moving on with new strategies, created new divisions, new roles and begun hiring new people. Opportunities are there.
Bad news is that the market is now full of great professionals who are competing for these, still few, roles. To become one of the lucky ones who is offered a contract, candidates must not only present themselves as skilled and experienced. They also must be adaptable, empathetic and influential leaders. This means: Emotional Intelligence; knowing yourself. This means knowing your sources of strengths, motivation, ability to move forward in spite of setbacks.
In short, we are now expected to be our own experts, who are able to succeed at work and help others be successful. That is a tall order.
Being your own expert means knowing your purpose, your strengths and limitations, fully understanding why you want to do what you claim you want to do. Convincing others (interviewers)can only be easy when we have it “sorted out” internally.
As an experienced HR executive, who has interviewed hundreds of candidates in the last two decades. I can testify that motivation has always been a part of every single interview at every company I ever worked with. I observed that having a clear and compelling reasons for the careers we chose now is vastly more important than ever before. Therefore it is worth having it worked out prior to applying for any job, or going for any interview. If you feel you haven’t got your purpose or your why clearly defined – don’t make it up. It will sound and look fake, but stay calm, its ok! Keep reading – I talk about it later.
OPTION TWO – starting your own business.
Good news – this is also a great idea because after years of performing a job for one or more employers you are likely to be an expert. You may not feel that you are, but you probably have got enough to convert your knowledge and skills into a business. Top it up with your personality, individual approach to a particular type of a client who needs this expertise, some great communication and you have a unique (thus strong) idea for a new enterprise.
Bad news – it remains just an idea, until you commit yourself to start the work to make it a business. It is a hard, cumbersome, confusing, frustrating and often lonely months of work before the brilliant idea becomes a business plan, and before the business plan becomes a profitable enterprise.
To become one of the lucky ones who converted an idea into a great business the entrepreneur (because this is how you now call yourself) must not only start building on the skills and experience, but also, if not mainly, find empathy and influential leadership abilities that will impress your targeted clients.
Guess what ! This means Emotional Intelligence. This means, knowing yourself and that also means knowing your sources of strength, motivation, ability to move forward in spite of setbacks and having the will to help others for no reward. In short you are now expected to be your own expert, able to succeed by helping others to be successful.
If you think that I am repeating myself now its because I am. It is because no matter what you want to do next in your professional life, whether it is looking for another corporate job, or starting your own business, in order to be successful you should be able to build your next career foundation on your strengths, on the inner sense of purpose and understanding why you want to do the things you want to do.
MONEY IS NOT THE PURPOSE.
While we all need money to pay for our lives, we often confuse money with the main driver or motivation. Being clear about the reasons why you want to earn that money in a particular way, is the source of your strengths on the way to the desired wealth.
HOW TO WORK OUT MY PURPOSE, MY CALL, OR MY WHY?
I always avoided conversations about “what do you want” because it irritated me that I was expected to limit myself to just ONE thing. I went through various phases in my life when I was interested in many vastly different things. Every time it happened I would throw myself into it, learn it, start doing it. Just at the point when I felt I was, sort of, doing it well I would get bored and throw myself into something else.
Meanwhile I was always a dedicated, high performing executive in global corporations. Was that my call? No. Was any of my temporary fascinations my call? No.
So in a way my example shows that one does not need the full clarity about the why to have a good life. And yet I am now saying that we all need it.
It always mattered , but now it matters more.
If Covid-19 has disrupted your career and you want to bounce back and be successful, you need that strong self awareness. In order to start again, you need a source of energy, optimism, creativity, kindness and empathy that the business world is desperate for at the moment.
There are probably many methods to define your purpose and build your source of strengths, so let me just share with you how I did it.
I looked back at all the stories of my life that have somehow defined me. I took notes. I went back to the times when I was just 9 years old. When I had them all jotted down on a few pages I looked at them as a random mosaic of colours, I tried to find the dominating common theme. What I found out was a solid list of things I believe in, I prefer, I respect and I want more of in my life, as well as those I don’t want to experience again. And that unique blend started shaping into a clarity of who I am, why I am this way, and what makes me tick. It felt somewhat liberating, but no fireworks (yet), so I slowly started forming some plans and took new action to move on with my life.
SO HOW DOES IT END?
Very soon some new and wonderful people started approaching me, old friends, that I have not seen for 30+ years, reached out to me with offer of help, employers started replying to my job applications and my business idea started turning into a business.
And here is the BEST PART: I am a lot better prepared to talk to employers and the head hunters as well as working on my own future business. Whichever option works out for me I’ll be ready to move on because I’m in the place of clarity and confidence that I know my purpose, and I know that there are many different ways to get there.
COVID WILL NOT GET ME ANY MORE
So, as a project, why don’t you try to look at your stories and to connect the dots? Watch what happens. Lets hear your perspective.
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