With these changes being so fresh and so raw, for so many people, the majority of us will still be concerned with the here and now. Yet as markets begin to stabilise and the dust settles into the “new normal”, these concerns will turn to the future. What will careers look like in the new world?
With such widespread company closures, the quantity of jobs post-coronavirus is set to fall. This is a given. Yet, the skills desired by those companies who do survive are also set to shift.
In a post-corona world, all candidates will need to be fluent in digital. Many businesses that have, until now, been reluctant to commit fully to digital transformation, or resisted calls for remote working, have had their hands forced. A recent report from hosting provider GoDaddy found that 20% of businesses have set up an online presence for the first time in an attempt to survive lockdown.
These businesses and employees won’t be able to unlearn the efficiency and productivity rewards such changes bring, and they’ll require all staff – new and old – to be Slack savants, HubSpot heroes and beyond.
With more people competing for (much) fewer positions, employers will also change their recruitment tact. Instead of headhunting specialists, we’ll see a shift towards doing more for less. Business leaders will be looking for generalists – people with transferable skills; those who have shown a willingness to learn and develop and who can adapt and take on tasks across business streams.
The most attractive, and therefore secure, employees will be those who are agile. Those with experiences that cross-industries, platforms and business models. Employees will need to thrive in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments in ways we can’t yet forecast.
Don’t be alarmed, though. While this sounds overwhelming, chances are many of us are already doing this.
Every day we are living through this lockdown, every day we are facing unpredictability, adapting to new ways of working, communicating and empathising. We’re approaching new problems in new ways and learning as we go. We’re learning to thrive in ways we could never have predicted. Just as the business world won’t leave this crisis in the same way, it entered it, neither will we.
We’ve been given an opportunity, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now, to take stock of where we are and where we want to be. There’s never been a more prudent time to level up, be bold, and strengthen our CVs. Ready to face whatever comes next with the same vigour we’re facing down this crisis.
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Nitzan Cohen Arazi is co-founder and COO of Jolt. Backed by Balderton Capital, Jolt is the flexible and cheaper quality alternative to traditional MBA courses and has just launched Jolt Remote to ensure their students can continue studying at home while in lock-down.
