Now is the time to act. We are in a unique, fast-changing time period in history. After being locked down for so long, there’s a hunger and lust for something new, exciting and adventurous. Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson are sending rockets to explore space and make Mars habitable for humans.
Fast-moving trends have changed our lives. If you don’t want to go out shopping for your groceries, Instacart will deliver it to your front door. For dinner, you can order through DoorDash or Grubhub. Not interested in driving or taking public transportation, you can use your Uber app. Maybe the car that picks you up is a self-driving electric vehicle. Why go to a doctor’s office with patients in the waiting room coughing and sneezing on you, when you can take advantage of telemedicine videos? Amazon will deliver almost anything you need in record time.
With Zoom and other online video platforms, remote work became a huge success story. There wasn’t a need to go to the office or travel across the world, missing precious time that could otherwise have been spent with your family and loved ones. Over the last year, we saw an incredible rise in the number of people buying and trading stocks, cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Robinhood and Coinbase have leveled the playing field, allowing the average American to compete with big hedge funds. Big banks are now contending with upstart FinTech companies. They are raising salaries and increasing bonuses to keep young bankers from defecting. This is a similar story in other sectors too.
We are in an era of rapid change and it feels like anything is possible. You need to take advantage of it and spend your time on yourself. The pandemic has changed us. Our collective mindset has shifted toward being open and receptive to new opportunities and limitless possibilities.
We now know that there are other ways of working instead of being stuck in a cubicle farm for 10 hours a day. You could work remotely. Ask your boss for a flexible schedule that enables you to take care of your children without the stress of taking them to daycare or school and rushing in late to the office. How about seeing if you could work a four-day week? Inquire if you can have a five-hour day if all of your work is completed. While you’re at it, push for a promotion, raise, lateral move to learn something new or a larger bonus. There is a war for talent happening, and companies will have to cater to workers. If they don’t, employees will vote with their feet and walk out the door to a competitor.
Start seeking jobs outside of your commuting range. As remote work has become accepted practice, you no longer have to depend on getting a job within a close proximity of the company. This opens up a world of new opportunities. Wall Street and Silicon Valley jobs are now a reality for people living in rural towns across the country.
Consider pivoting to a different type of job or reinventing yourself and starting a new career. It might entail going to school or taking a few steps back to move forward, but now’s the time. The economy is doing well, the stock market is hitting record new highs and real estate is on fire. The mood of the country has dramatically improved.
Use this time wisely, as things change quickly. There are over 9 million jobs open. Companies are offering higher wages, sign-on bonuses, better healthcare and help with tuition, in an effort to attract and retain workers. If you’re not appreciated where you are, start looking for a new job.
Get in touch with recruiters in your field of expertise. Consult with a career coach to help with your interviewing technique. Find a good résumé writer. Start making yourself known on LinkedIn. Tap into your network for job leads. Find people that you know who work at companies you’d like to work for and ask them to put in a recommendation for an interview. If you don’t know anyone, try the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” approach. Seek out someone who knows someone who can put you in touch with the right person who is hiring for the job you so desperately want.
Put the pandemic in the past and look forward. Block out all of the noise and negativity. We don’t know how long this era of change will last, so you need to take full advantage of it while you can. Taking bold steps now may completely change the trajectory of your career and life.
Source: Forbes
