How To Make Sure Your Career Doors Stay Open

COVID19 has been a horrendous experience for everyone. At the same time, it has delivered some important lessons. In particular, it’s highlighted the importance of flexibility and adaptability. With that in mind, here are some tips on how to make sure that your career doors stay open no matter what.

Always give your best at any job

Quite bluntly, sometimes a job really is just a way to pay the bills. That isn’t necessarily bad, as long as you know you’re on track to get where you want to go. It can, however, lead to the temptation just to do the minimum to get the job done. This in turn can negatively impact your relationship with your colleagues.

Resist these temptations. Follow the example of Stephen Troese Jr and genuinely give your best until the day you leave for your new adventure. It’s true that you may well never have anything to do with the company or your colleagues again. On the other hand, you never know. What’s more, it’s always good to leave with your head held high.

Take networking seriously

Up until COVID19 struck, there was very much a focus on real-world networking. Online networking certainly mattered but it tended to be seen as the second-best option. Post-COVID19 there may well be an upturn in real-world networking. It is, however, very likely that there will continue to be a strong emphasis on using social media for business networking.

Make sure you take advantage of both real-world and online networking opportunities as much as you possibly can. Remember, most recruitment boils down to three issues. These are capability, motivation, and culture fit. Out of these three, the one where employers can typically be most flexible is capability.

Basically, an employer may be happy to train up a candidate they see as motivated and a good fit. Getting an endorsement from a contact in an organization can really help recruiters feel reassured about your motivation and your culture fit. This could help you to get accepted for jobs even if you’re slightly underqualified for them.

Have a non-competitive side-hustle

Technically, a side-hustle is an activity that earns you money. If you wanted to push the definition a bit, you could make it an activity that could earn you money. In fact, having a side-hustle you don’t monetize can be a very strategic move when you’re still in employment. It means that you’re never going to have a conflict of interest but you still have security.

There are three main reasons why side-hustles can be very useful when it comes to making sure that your career doors stay open. Firstly, if you can fit a side hustle around your job, you can probably fit it around further training. This can be very useful if you want to change your career track.

Secondly, if you’re able to build a (potentially) income-generating business while you’re in employment, then you have a source of income that you own. This can be enough to keep you going while you retrain (or do other projects).

Thirdly, running your own side-hustle will often help you to develop new skills and make new contacts. These can both prove useful if you need to make adjustments to your career. In fact, your side-hustle and its skills could become your new career.