(2-minute read)
These are the first days of our new reality. Over the last 12 weeks, many organizations have had to re-envision how they operate.
Vodka companies’ retooled factories and are making hand sanitizer.
Clothing companies are keeping staff employed and staying afloat by reimagining leftover fabric into masks for healthcare workers and consumers.
Virtual platforms are adapting their technologies, becoming invaluable tools for remote learning and communications.
The organizations that didn’t wait; those that looked critically at the market, determined where they could create new value-even if that value had no relationship to their core businesses- then acted quickly on their ideas, are helping move our country through this crisis.
These same principles and actions hold true for you and the future of your career.
This period of flux and uncertainty provides a rare opportunity to think more expansively and imaginatively about your career.
It’s a time to look beyond the title on your business card to leverage what you KNOW, then think differently about where that knowledge can be applied.
If you work at a nonprofit organization, you KNOW exactly what every business cares most about today- how to do more with less.
If you are in advertising sales, you KNOW how to sell in a competitive, fast moving market.
If you work in hospitality, you KNOW how to create a positive customer experience.
If you work in retail, you KNOW how to communicate with the public.
If you sell tickets for a sports team, you KNOW what constitutes brand loyalty.
If you work in insurance, you KNOW how to assess risk.
Determining what you know creates your baseline for looking differently at your career. Figuring this out won’t come to you in the shower. It requires dedicated time each day for thinking about where you are now and the new avenues you want to explore. View this time as training camp for your brain for increasing the mental agility you’ll need to spot new opportunities. This can be difficult to find during days of back-to-back Zoom meetings, but it is time well spent.
Looking beyond the roles and responsibilities of your current or most recent position, to your practices that increase efficiency, performance or understanding of customer habits, is highly translatable. The ideas you bring to a new organization are where your value lies. These are your points of leverage.
Yes, the employment market will be competitive, but people will be hired. Business innovations, accountability to organizational values and wholesale adoption of new technologies are changes not likely to disappear when a vaccine becomes available.
Organizations will be looking for people who are flexible, able to problem solve and communicate; in short, collaborative people who bring a fresh point of view.
When you position your narrative around what you KNOW rather than what you DO, you give employers the tools to see beyond your business card to your real value and future potential.
Be well and stay safe
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