Change in new career orientations

Today, significant changes are taking place in working life. In general, everyone is more likely to encounter phenomena such as flexibility, the disappearance of employment security and downsizing. The reflection of these changes on the career field has been as follows: The responsibility for career development is now seen as belonging to everyone, not just to firms. As such, in addition to objective measures of career success such as wages and promotions, subjective measures of career success have also come to the fore.

In addition to these changes in the career field, it is possible to say that people have become more individualistic, that is, they have started to prioritize their own goals over social goals and act according to their own values rather than group norms.

So, what can we do in this situation?

Often we get so used to doing things the way we do them that we don't even think of other ways. Most of us don't try to learn new ways, new methods, or even new fields of endeavor because it forces us out of our comfort zone. Self-development is a necessity in business because there may come a time when our existing skill set is no longer needed.

And because we don't develop ourselves, we are stuck where we are with the skills we have had for a long time and haven't added any new ones. We may not progress, we may be unemployed, or we may not earn a good income because we are working in a job that requires a lower skill level.

People who plan to be in the workforce seventeen years from now know that today they are likely to be replaced by automation or the need for your skill set will disappear. We realized this in the crisis.

Gaining versatility, how to become more versatile? To me, versatility is not about being better at what you do. It's about being able to do something you couldn't do before. Here are some thoughts on what you can do.

First you have to decide that you can and should be more versatile. There is research that shows you can change your brain physically and structurally by thinking. So eliminate the excuse that you are not ready enough.

Pay attention to where your profession is going. How is technology changing it? How is learning changing it? How is demography changing it? This might mean that you should also pay attention to the views of some futurists. Or become your own futurist. Think of yourself differently.

Reid Hoffman, co-founder and chairman of the board of LinkedIn Corporation and author of The Startup of You, said that not everyone can just be an entrepreneur, but should be one. Tom Peters and other authors have been saying this for a long time, but most people have yet to adopt this mindset or, as I stated above, don't feel ready.

If you have children, you should try to prepare them for the future NOW. Do what you can to make them think in multiple ways. We must also insist that schools start preparing children for this need for versatility in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic.

Colleges and universities also need to heed this call.