So, it’s February 2021. 1 year into an unprecedented pandemic. The world’s changed. Time to take stock of your career choices? Time for a break up? Let’s take a look…
For some those words instil a feeling of joy, for others – fear, and for those in the middle they are an irrelevance.
There are different theories on where Valentine’s Day originated. One theory is that Valentine’s Day actually used to be a celebration of the coming of spring and fertility rites when women would be paired off with men by lottery!!
Another tells the story that St. Valentine who defied the emperor’s orders and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war.
Wherever you believe it originated, one thing is clear. The world has changed!
Romantic relationships used to be the main story arc of an individual’s life. Now however, the career has taken over! When you spend more than 50% of your life while you are not sleeping in a job or career and living in those relationships you build with people, it’s important to take the time to get it right. Yet, people don’t! They stumble from one opportunity that falls into their lap into another and then wake up at 75 and think “if only…”
Henry Ford was a pioneer. Not only did he create the Model T Ford and change the world as we know it, but he also broke the mould in bringing the “9-5” to the mainstream and put initiatives in place to become the first “employer of choice”. Through long service bonuses and investing in improving people’s cultural and language skills, he knew that a happy stable workforce was the pillars on which he would build a world changing company.
When he created the mass distribution of the Model T, the roads they would be placed on didn’t even exist. But this didn’t matter, he was a visionary and knew the world would evolve in the direction he wanted it to if he got it right.
The only problem is, he was right. But he was right back at the beginning of the 20th century. The world has since evolved. For the next 2 years the growth inflexible working will be exponential. Until the next big reset of course but we will save that for another day!
However, still, the employment contract has not changed. People still look to the 9-5 security and the pension and get told “well it’s very hard to move sectors, let alone countries – loyalty is important”. Is it really or have you been misled by recruitment consultants whose job is to bill and turnover people as quickly as possible and the easiest way to do that is to focus on people within sector and country specific skills. These are the people dictating your life? Well perhaps then it’s time to think differently. You can now travel (post-pandemic) to anywhere on the planet and subject to local legal requirements work anywhere you want and in any sector, this is a very different world than that which the employees of Henry Ford had so why choose to give your life to a model that was born more than a century ago?
There has never been a time in human history that has offered more choice!
‘The slower we move, the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living” – George Clooney, Up In The Air
This quote may seem difficult right now. “I can’t go anywhere. I am in lockdown” is a reasonable response.
You have a choice. You can decide you are likely to be in lockdown forever or you can believe there will be a world of “normality” that emerges in the coming months. Now is the time to get ahead and get ahead of the competition, and you can start by assessing how important your working relationship is to you.
Write down the top 10 things that are most important to you in a job. Yes, 10!! It’s deliberately a lot.
Salary? People? Culture? Mission? Personal Growth? A feeling of belonging? Community? Future Opportunities? Pension? Whatever it may be, review your own role and give it a score out of 10. If you aren’t getting an honest score of 75+ then you absolutely need to consider that it is time for a break up and the time is now!
So, is the employer you have a relationship with the best for your life or is there something else out there that you can pursue so that when you wake up in your retirement you don’t think “What if””.
As Steve Jobs said “My Favourite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time”.
So what are you going to do with your time? Stay in the same company that has offered you a promotion post pandemic and maybe a 2% pay rise? Or is it time to get creative, put a plan together, do some research and start to mobilise a sequence of events so that in 12 months your life looks substantially better?
The choice is yours. The question remains the same. Time for a break up? It’s up to you.
But what I can assure you of is, in the last couple of months I have helped individuals secure fantastic growth opportunities in Australia, New Zealand, China, Qatar, Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The opportunities are there, but if you need a helping hand to find them, send me a message and I can show you.
It doesn’t have to be a location change. It could be just a change of organisation, a change of sector, or a change in culture. Whatever type of change it is that will help increase your self assessment score, what is vital is that you really decide what you want to do and make sure that you have used all the tips and tricks available to make sure that you are in the best place. Life is for living and a key part of that is your work!
All the best,
Richard Edge
CEO & Career Coach | Careerships
Book in via info@careerships.com for a free 30-minute Zoom call to learn how we’ll clear your path to success.
Careerships help professionals across 31 countries make substantial changes in their careers and lives.
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