In the last year, “Wait and Watch” – was the mantra individuals were bounded with when it came to managing one’s career development in the corporate world. However, in this current year, with the situation moving towards normalcy, there is a glimmer of hope and recovery ensued within corporates. Having said that, we are still surrounded by a lot of unknowns and their impact on our future plans. A few industries like IT and Pharma were able to recover and are forecasting the numbers which are much higher than what it was during the peak-pandemic period. While other industries are still struggling to bounce back from their lows and potentially will take longer to recover, let alone achieve the growth levels they had before the pandemic. Moreover, there are a few tectonic shifts that the industry has experienced when it comes to the manner in which customers interact with businesses, moving from co-location to remote-working, leveraging technologies, and embracing digital transformation. Amidst all these factors, it has become challenging for an individual to chart out his career plan, be it considering a better opportunity or creating an indelible mark in the existing organization. I have outlined a few of my thoughts that one can consider to developing one’s career during these times.

Build your Strategy: If there is something valuable that this pandemic has taught us, then it’s staying proactive & prepared at all times. To be so, you need to take full control of your career development and so it’s important to have a career plan at its place. This is not to say that the execution would always be as per the plan, but having your own strategy will help you think clearly through such times. Instead of having such a crisis dictate you, you can exert direct control over the situation you are in. Laying out your concrete strategy places you on the commanding seat and gives you a clear view of the drift these crises might bring while executing your plans. The need for upskilling is the realization many had during these times and so it is imperative to think about the new skills that need to be developed to stay relevant in the market at all times and on course to your personal development. With uncertainties as a common denominator, building practical skills is a need of the hour and while you may find it difficult to take the practical experience beyond your current role, you may build the necessary skills and look out for that opportunity where you can demonstrate them.

It’s equally important to be flexible with your plan in terms of the next opportunity you are targeting to. You might not find the kind of role you want, but you can seize the opportunity that arises which augurs well with your long-term goals. You need to analyze the opportunity holistically, wherein apart from the role, you can consider various other aspects like the people you’d be working with, the domain & technologies you’d be exposed to, the high-visibility projects you’d be a part of, the skills you’d be displaying and so on & so forth. Keeping your options open & having a broader mindset would help you bump into the opportunities that are worth considering.

Bring Value in your current role: While it may find lucrative to find new opportunities and move beyond the current organization, it is worth considering the growth you may experience by bringing the value to the table by staying in the current organization. Given the uncertain environment, we are surrounded with, organizations have taken up new initiatives to stay on course to achieving their strategic goals. Being a part of these initiatives can help you build your learning cycle and thereby help you stay ahead of your growth curve by getting the exposure you must waiting for long. Also, you need to explore other options like being a part of high-value, challenging projects. Low-value projects are often the ones that are put on the back-burner in uncertain times which puts the jobs of the people working on them in jeopardy. High-valued projects are the ones that remain under the radar of the leadership team, especially in these uncertain times and hence you need to find ways to involve yourself in these projects in every possible way. Going beyond your role & taking-up the larger responsibility will position you as a lucrative resource especially when organizations are looking to cut corners & retain their productive assets. You need to ensure that your skills & interests are aligned with the current & future needs of an organization and be a part of the larger purpose that your organization firmly believes in.

Self-Improvement: Self-improvement is the journey you need to embark upon on a continual basis. It is the process that needs to be internalized within. This improvement needs to happen in all forms and so there are multiple ways you can choose from. While organizations might have their own success criteria to comply with, in any project/assignment you do, there should be a framework in place to constantly reflect on what could have done better at an individual level. This will unearth the practical learnings at a situational level, which would be lost otherwise. In this digital era, there are other alternative learning models like attending a training webinar of your related area, networking in a virtual conference, speaking in a virtual corporate forum on the topic of your interest and attaining accreditation from the recognized institute which can work wonders for you to stand out in the current market trend.

The Best way to predict the future is to create it– Abraham Lincoln

No matter what uncertainty we live in, our career growth still lies in our hands and it shouldn’t be given to anyone else to plan it for you. Being fully cognizant of what needs to be done by building your strategy and taking conscious steps towards it can pave the way for achieving your career goals. Keeping a flexible approach and focusing on the things you can control can help you turn your dreams into reality.

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