July 29, 2021

The Best Ways to Future-Proof Your Career Today

The Best Ways to Future-Proof Your Career Today

When you look toward the future of your career, you might be unable to see where you will be in five- or ten-years’ time, especially due to the knock that many careers have taken since the coronavirus pandemic. Many people are concerned that their careers are not viable in the long-term or that their jobs will be taken over by technology, such as AI and robotics. However, it is not impossible to future-proof your career and ensure that you are unable to carry on seeing success after success at work for many years to come. Then, here are some of the best ways that you can future-proof your career today.

Continue Learning 

Firstly, the most important step that you can take to future-proof your career is to continue to learn. Knowledge can quickly become outdated as new developments take place within your industry, even if you believe that you are currently an expert in your field. This could lead you to be replaced by recent graduates and younger people who have the most up-to-date knowledge. Then, rather than allow others to be promoted over you and let opportunities pass you by simply because you do not have the latest knowledge, you should ensure that you continue to learn throughout your career.

Most people that want to continue learning decide to take a higher education qualification. This will allow you to provide evidence of your knowledge to your employer and will ensure that you learn from experts within your industry. Not only this, but many higher education qualifications can prepare you to apply your knowledge on a practical level in the workplace. So to make sure that you can carry on working within the world of business or your field in the future, you should consider taking an MBA at Suffolk University. 

2021 is the best time to get an MBA online due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which have left many people unemployed or reassessing their career plan. Not only this, but it has also left people unable to study in the traditional manner. By taking an online degree now, you will be able to set yourself up for the many opportunities that will be open to you as soon as restrictions ease and you can ensure that these do not pass you by. This will also allow you to study without any disruption to your current job. 

Get to Grips with Tech 

If you are not extremely tech-savvy, your place in the future world of work might be threatened. Although technology was once reserved for IT firms and large businesses, more and more companies are relying on technology to complete even the most basic of operations. If you do not have the right technical skills, you may soon find that you do not meet employer expectations of the requirements of certain jobs. 

Then, you should make sure that you are able to get to grips with technology before it completely overtakes the world of work. To do this, you should speak to your employer about the training opportunities that are available to you or consider finding a mentor who can help to train you in terms of all the technical knowledge that you need under your belt. You should consider buying gadgets for yourself to practice using them every day, and consider starting up your own tech projects, such as learning how to code a website. Many libraries and community centers also have simple classes and programs for people that are determined to become more tech savvy. These can help you to understand aspects of technology that will be integral to your working day in the future, such as loading up a computer, using a search engine, and using a word processor to type up reports. 

Look at In-Demand Professions

When you are looking to future-proof your career, though, you should try to follow job trends as much as possible. Certain jobs are more in-demand than others. By training for these, you will be able to ensure that you have the skills that employers are looking for and that you do not encounter a great amount of competition for your desired job roles. To follow job trends, you should make sure that you continue to read industry and business magazines and that you check job websites often to see what is available. 

However, as well as following job trends, you might also consider looking for jobs that will have an excessive amount of security no matter what happens in the future. For instance, jobs in finance will always be required, as well as jobs in teaching and healthcare. This is unlike many of the jobs that have cropped up in the last few years, which may soon disappear as new ways of working emerge, as well as jobs that are currently starting to be automated or replaced with technology, such as robots

Build Up Your Network

There are many more subtle ways that you can future-proof your career, though, and to ensure that you always have a way to make money. One of the best of these is to build up your network and maintain this throughout your career, even once you have a stable job. Even if you have a stable job, you never know when your company might encounter challenging times that could lead to you looking for new employment. By sustaining your network throughout your career, you will always have people that you trust by your side. Your network can help you to overcome the challenges that you may face in your career in the future as they might be able to put you forward for different roles or let you know about roles that might appeal to you. 

Not only this, but your network can help you to future-proof your career by allowing you to find out about the changes that are happening in your industry first. Using this information, you can then take measures to ensure that you are prepared for these changes before they impact you.

Hone Your Transferable Skills

Honing your transferable skills is one of the top steps that you can take toward making your career future-proof today. By developing your transferable skills, you will be ensuring that you are able to apply for a number of jobs outside of your industry, even if you do not believe that you have any relevant experience. Many employers look for transferable skills on their application forms, and so transferable skills can allow you to be ready for a variety of the jobs that are available. Some of the best transferable skills to develop include good teamworking skills, written and verbal communication skills, IT skills and leadership skills. 

Not only this, but you may consider avoiding specializing too much within your industry. Although specializing can help you to shoot straight to the top of your career ladder, it can also make it difficult for you to look for other job roles that do not follow your original career plan. Instead, most employers will see you as over-qualified and you are less likely to have the transferable skills that you need to make a change to your career. 

Have a Plan B

To ensure that your career is completely future-proof, though, you need to have a plan B. Although it is important to have a career plan that you can keep returning to, and which can help you to achieve your career goals, this might not work out for many reasons. One of these reasons is that it might not take the future into account. However, this is fine as long as you have created a plan B that you can choose to follow if you start to run into problems. For instance, this could be deciding to change your job or career completely, finding other roles within your sector or choosing to return to education.

Alongside having a plan B, you should also make sure that you are flexible in terms of your career. For instance, you should try out remote working if you are asked to, avoid being rigid about the type of responsibilities and working hours that you want at work, and consider working in a number of industries, rather than just the industry that you are used to working within. This can ensure that you will be able to sustain your career success no matter what the future may bring.

Keep a Record

You should also make sure that you keep a record of all of your achievements and your career successes. This is important as you will be able to show this record to potential employers in the future, even if you were hoping that you would never have to hunt for a job again. This can then showcase your abilities even if you have lost your job or are able to get a reference and will allow you to prove to employers what you can do if they decide to employ you.

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