How To FutureProof Your Career
We have all witnessed a sea of disruptive changes that the recent pandemic has brought to our environment, our lives, and our workplaces. A lot has been written and spoken about these changes, which I don’t intend to repeat. However, I would like to point out that the pandemic has certainly made us aware (or more aware) - of what ‘uncertainty’ means!
However, if you look back at any business landscape of the past decade or more, you would see that, even without the pandemic, we have witnessed some overwhelming transformations in the way businesses interact with customers and suppliers and react to competition.
Rapid transitions have been happening in the internal terrain too. We have eliminated, reduced, or added a bunch of changes to the work environment and the expectations around almost all the job roles. We should all accept that it is going to continue. More changes, more uncertainty!
At this point, you should ask – Are you doing the right thing? Do you know what your jobs will be like in the next 10 years? Do you know whether you shall be fit for those new demands? If any of these answers is not a clear ‘YES’, then you should adapt to thrive during these changes. We all should.
We at Medline India, focus on employee skill development and enhancement to support organizational growth as well as employee’s individual career growth. Our Self-nomination policy at Medline India encourages employees to acquire and enhance their skills supporting their career growth in the organization and beyond.
I would like to talk about more such opportunities and some well-researched strategies and tips to help you get career-ready even during the uncertainties.
Be a knowledge worker
Read, read, and read more! Nothing beats the knowledge and skills about your core function. Learn more about the domain and the environment you work in very well. This is equally applicable to all who are preparing for a career progression in the current organization or looking out for prospective employment.
Here are some tips:- Set up some time every day, maybe an hour, to read. You can subscribe to newsletters, online magazines, live feeds, or any other means, which are related to your work, domain, and business. You can follow the leaders in your industry and gain new insights from them. The good news is – you can start with this small habit of reading regularly, and soon this will build up!
- Be aware of the new tools and technology shaping up your workspace. Penetration of newer technology is the most instrumental in the way changes are happening at workplaces. It could be directly related to your core job function or maybe an operational tool to help perform your job. Knowing and adopting the right technology early or timely is the key.
- Invest in skill development. Thanks to the same technology, today we have numerous opportunities for structured learning and development that help us to learn at our ace. Look out for those online courses. Undertake these training courses periodically to add to your technical, soft skills, and digital skills. Those skills would add value to your resume too. Trust me – these small and regular learning bytes are fun and refreshing boosts!
- Acquire Green Skills. Though it is similar to the above, but is worth a separate mention. Check the new tools and upcoming technologies. Learning them early would definitely give you a sustainable advantage.
Be Ready to Sell Your Skills
If you are seeking a new job, then you should know many factors and practices, which are in trend now. Following them well and creating distinguishable advantages should be the objective. Though the market is competitive, you can make small changes and adjustments and it will have a large cumulative impact on differentiating and projecting yourself and your resume.
Here are some tips:- Build the resume well with the right keywords. While the fundamentals of developing a good resume are – to make it concise, well-formatted, tidy, and legible; an additional thing to note is the inclusion of the keywords relevant to your role and position. Place those as verbs, examples like ‘Driven’, ‘Lead’, ‘Motivated’, ‘Played’ etc. Use more keywords that are pertinent to your core job and technology functions.
- Make the resume ATS friendly. Most organizations nowadays use application tracking system (ATS), which would automatically scan and shortlist resumes. This is very important to understand how to write the resume to pass this selection process. a. Keep the content in simple sentence format having the keywords. Use as few bullet points as possible. Most ATS do not consider keywords in bullet forms. b. Stay away from creating fancy objects and tables. Texts are not read well by scanners in such formats. c. Make your resume a simple doc and pdf.
- Use Resume Builders. It is not a bad idea to use resume-building services. It helps you identify the keywords, their placement in the resume, and makes the representation more effective.
- Create a video resume. Many organizations refer to online portals and gather as much information as possible even before the actual interview. Job portals now have the provision of uploading a short video, which will showcase your ability to communicate, present, articulate, and body language, etc.
- Be prepared for Asynchronous Video Interview. This is a new method that many companies are trying to adopt as the first round of selection. These are automated interviews, which would happen with pre-structured questionnaires. Get ready for such evaluation and practice to be authentic in delivering your narrations and answers.
- Build and rebuild your network. This is a very crucial aspect. Use professional platforms and forums to build your connections with like-minded people and leaders. This will benefit us in enriching your knowledge and insight into the domain. Secondly, it will help you gain the right visibility.
- Think of creating blogs/vlogs and adding them to your profile. If you have a good understanding of any particular subject, you may choose to create blogs/vlogs. For that, you can register to specific platforms to create content and share information to contribute. These are subtle but effective vehicles to demonstrate your expertise. It will expand your own learnings also. However, one word of caution. The online world is getting cluttered with such posts. Make sure you are authentic, meaningful, and relevant in your content.
Be a Change Agent
In today’s business landscape, change readiness is a valuable skill. Originations are also looking at employees and new joiners who can adapt to change, drive innovation, adopt new technology, and implement best practices. Be sure that you nurture this ability genuinely and demonstrate that both in your current organization and to your prospective employer. To respond quickly and positively to change, you’ll aid your career success.
I would encourage and urge all to be always alert and curious! Embrace the changes and have a proactive mindset. You should always look out for opportunities to bond, discuss ideas, and be open to being mentored by anyone unexpected. In this way, you not only benefit yourself but overall help in developing a culture of a knowledge-centric, flexible community of professionals.
Authored by:
Tirtha Dasgupta, Development Shared Services & PMO – Information Systems