{"id":364,"date":"2020-05-24T05:26:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-23T19:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/?p=364"},"modified":"2020-05-25T15:02:20","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T05:02:20","slug":"making-career-changes-covid-19-and-the-future-of-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/?p=364","title":{"rendered":"Making career changes \u2013 COVID-19 and the future of work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I was on Australian Channel 7\nSunrise television yesterday talking about the future of work, and what it\nmeans for career changers \u2013 thinking about where the opportunities are, and\nwhat can people do to make the most of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I only had a few minutes on TV and I\nhad a lot more to share, so I\u2019ve written up this blog post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The topics I\u2019ll cover in this post\nare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Why is it that so many people\nthinking of changing careers?<\/li>
  2. Where are the job opportunities\nright now?<\/li>
  3. How do people maximise their career\nadaptability in order to successfully change careers?<\/li>
  4. What will work look like in the\nfuture?<\/li>
  5. What about career opportunities\nbeyond the immediate future?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Why is it that so many people\nthinking of changing careers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    According to survey\nresearch<\/a> conducted by ING Future Focus, about 3 million people in Australia\nare thinking of changing careers post-pandemic. The research found 35 per cent\nof surveyed Australians wanted a new job after COVID-19, and 17 per cent were\nrethinking their career path entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I think the reason for this is\ntwofold. First, the ABS reports that about 1 million Australian jobs have been lost\nsince the beginning of the pandemic, affecting disproportionately hospitality\nand retail jobs, casual workers, young people, women, and minorities. The rest\nof us are working differently than ever before \u2013 as businesses have moved their\noperations online, many of us have been working from home. New roles have also\nemerged very quickly. Back in February, I\u2019ll bet no one would have guessed that\nthey\u2019d be undertaking tasks around crisis management, staged return to work\nmanagement, or working from home co-ordination. I think working from home is\nset to continue, as businesses and organisations reinvent themselves permanently\nas more online and less \u2018bricks and mortar\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The second reason is that while we\u2019ve\nbeen experiencing this instability, we\u2019ve been at home with some time and space\nto reflect, and to think about what our options could be. Some will be\nprioritising financial safety in their reflections, and others will be thinking\nabout where the opportunities are for them in the new world of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Where are the job opportunities\nright now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At present I\u2019d describe the job opportunities out there are being about core needs \u2013 safety, food, health, and entertainment while at home. The opportunities are what you\u2019d expect \u2013 many job roles in healthcare and social care, in essential retail (supermarkets), and in logistics and delivery work. As the economy opens up more, there will be more opportunities in retail again, but hospitality and tourism are likely to be rocky labour markets for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is also an interesting trend around\nbig companies like banks and telcos returning their global operations to\nonshore, so there are more Australian jobs in call centres, back-end\noperations, data processing, and IT. My little sister just last week got her\nfirst full-time job working at a major insurance company processing claims\nbecause the company brought these functions back to Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How do people maximise their career\nadaptability in order to successfully change careers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Career change is a multi-step\nprocess. The first step is to make space for yourself to think and act. No one\nwho is under severe financial stress can think strategically or creatively about\ntheir careers, so ensure that you have done everything you can to ensure your\nfinancial safety first. This might be applying for government benefits, talking\nto your bank to stop mortgage payments temporarily, or making the most of the\njob opportunities I\u2019ve described above, even though it may not align 100% with\nwhere you want to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The second step is to start to think\nabout yourself not in terms of your job title, but in terms of the values, strengths\nand capabilities that you have. For instance, someone who works in hospitality\nmight have great interpersonal skills and abilities to resolve conflict, and\nfind great satisfaction in that. Engineers tend to be great project managers\nwith well-developed analytical capabilities. It can sometimes be difficult to\nreframe in this way by yourself, and in this case talking with other people (such\nas colleagues or friends who are prepared to be honest and up-front with you) can\nhelp to help illuminate what your particular strengths are. Professional career counsellors<\/a> are\nalso great at helping with this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From your reframing, you can then go\nahead and start to explore opportunities that are out there, or that you might\nbe able to create. Speaking of creating opportunities, now is probably not a\ngood time to throw everything you have into a new venture, but it is a great\ntime to start exploring side gigs if you\u2019ve got an idea for one (virtual clutter\norganising anyone? With all this working from home I really need someone to Marie\nKondo my computer!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You may also need to upskill or reskill for new opportunities. You can often start the skilling process informally and cheaply \/ free through online platforms like Linkedin Learning, Youtube, or MOOCs through Coursera<\/a>. If you want to get a formal credential, and this can be an advantage in the jobs market, TAFES and universities are currently offering subsidised 6-month certificate courses<\/a> at undergraduate and postgraduate level in areas of national priority such as aged care, information systems, and education. Griffith University, where I work, is offering certificates in cybersecurity and data analytics, which are good areas of jobs growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For more on career planning in an era of disruption, you can check out my blog post on this topic here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What will work look like in the\nfuture?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019ve\nbeen involved in several research projects investigating the future of work. While\nnone of them predicted the COVID-19 pandemic specifically, we did predict that\nthere would be major changes to the world of work over the next few years. My\nresearch suggests that change is actually going to become the \u2018new normal\u2019, and\nmany of us will need to reinvent ourselves professionally multiple times throughout\nthe course of our careers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We\u2019ve\nactually got a \u2018double whammy\u2019 of change happening right now. We\u2019re in a\npandemic, and we\u2019re also at the beginning of the 4th<\/sup> industrial revolution[1]<\/a>.\nBut the good news is that history suggests we\u2019re fairly resilient to these\nkinds of changes. For instance, the Plague in the Middle Ages in the late 1300s\nled to the Renaissance in the 1400s \u2013 an unprecedented time of expansion in science,\nculture and the arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Our\n21st<\/sup> century post-pandemic expansion is going to be digital. It\u2019ll\nbe about things like artificial intelligence, robotics, augmented reality, and cloud\ncomputing. On the basis of our experiences in the last few months I suspect and\nhope it will also be about reconnection with community, social engagement, and environmental\nsustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What about career opportunities\nbeyond the immediate future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At the moment the economy is in a deep\nrecession<\/a>. Even while the recession is going on, COVID-19 is driving enormous\ndigital transformation. When the economy recovers, there will be even more digital\ninnovation across many fields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the research project 100 Jobs of\nthe Future, we interviewed experts and asked them to identify key trends and advances\nin their fields, and project what key work opportunities in the next 10-20 years\nmight be. The 100 jobs are meant to inspire and help young people (and not so\nyoung people!) see possibilities in the next wave of careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is a digital thread that runs\nthrough 99 of the 100 jobs[2]<\/a>\nthat were generated through the research. But for those of us who aren\u2019t\nfull-stack programmers and have no desire to be, there is good news as well. Only\nabout 20 of the future jobs were digitally intensive \u2013 ones around things like cybersecurity,\nmachine learning programming, and quantum computing development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The rest of jobs rely on the use of digital technology in various ways, particularly to connect with other people \u2013 to care, to educate, to persuade or inform – or to help with practical tasks like food production or building or cleaning. Others key themes that ran through some of the jobs were scientific advancement, and advanced use of data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can browse all 100 jobs or do the jobs explorer quiz at the website 100jobsofthefuture.com<\/a>, but here is\na sample of them by key theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Connection with people jobs<\/em> \u2013 Nostalgist: This is a role in aged and\ndementia care. Nostalgists work with people to recreate experiences and\ncontexts from bygone eras to help them feel safe.  Other people jobs include: Virtual tourism\nmanager, personal brand and content manager, digital memorialist, 100 year\ncounsellor, cyborg psychologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Practical jobs <\/em>\u2013 Biofilm installer: Biofilm installers are a kind of\nspecialised plumber who installs a layer of good bacteria into pipes and\nwaterways to help break down waste. Other practical jobs: Robot or drone\nmechanic, energy and data systems installer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Organised jobs<\/em> – Virtual clutter organiser: This one\u2019s for those of\nus who have ever felt a little overwhelmed about the volume of your email,\nonline photos or other data. You can hire a virtual clutter organiser to sort\nout your online data, Marie Kondo style<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Science jobs<\/em> \u2013 Biomimicry innovator, de-extinction geneticist, terraforming\nmicrobiologist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Health jobs<\/em> \u2013 Nutri-gutome consultant, genetics coach, data-informed\ndiagnostician<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Outside jobs<\/em>\u2013 Cricket farmer, digital apiarist, agroecological farmer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Creative jobs<\/em> – Autonomous vehicle profile designer, swarm artist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Jobs I would personally love to do out of the 100 jobs<\/em>: Trendwatcher, fusionist (someone who brings people from different disciplines together to solve problems and generate ideas), lifelong education advisor (and I\u2019m already doing all three of these!)
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    [1]<\/a> Researchers\nargue that there have actually been 3 other industrial revolutions \u2013 the first (and\nmost famous) one kicked off in the 1700s with people moving off the land and\nthe invention of the steam engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    [2]<\/a> If\nyou were wondering about the non-digital 100th<\/sup> job, it\u2019s Analogue\nExperience Guide \u2013 someone who helps people disconnect from their devices and\nreconnect with nature.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I was on Australian Channel 7 Sunrise television yesterday talking about the future of work, and what it means for career changers \u2013 thinking about where the opportunities are, and what can people do to make the most of them. I only had a few minutes on TV and I had a lot more to … Read more Making career changes \u2013 COVID-19 and the future of work<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,69,81],"tags":[86],"class_list":["post-364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-development","category-future-capabilities","category-future-of-work","tag-career-changing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374,"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futurecapable.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}