5 Principles for Gen-Z/ Millenials who are launching their career amidst COVID19
The past is gone and the future is uncertain.
How has the pandemic affected the careers of the Gen-Z and the Millenials? What principles / strategies can be used to launch your career / amidst the pandemic jobs market.
Many people got jobless due to the closure and discontinuation of businesses. Others are working under stress conditions, being exposed to the virus and challenging circumstances.
Generation-Z / Millennials face a career crisis like no other
Generation Z are those born between 1996 to 2015/2020. They are aged between 6–24 years at present. We can call them the youth of this time. The covid pandemic has put forward many challenges and difficulties in today’s youth’s career development and progress.
Currently, in 2021, the Generation -Z is at a crucial stage of developing their career and what they will do in the future. Gen-Z is a decisive generation for the 21st Century give unprecented technological and industrial disruptions— it’s a make or break situation for many societies / political outfits/ economies.
The millennials are the people who belong to the age group 23–38 years old born between 1980–1994. These are the people in the beginning stage of their career who establish themselves in any line or discipline.
There are five basic career principles that everyone and specifically Generation-Z and millennials, need to think over to achieve their goals even in this challenging time when the development and progress in almost every field are halted or badly affected.
1. Prepare to be a life-long learner
· Set long-term and short-term learnings goals
It is essential to set goals for yourself. Challenge yourself for long term plans. Believe in yourself and work with passion and determination to achieve them.
· Explore new technologies
The global pandemic has put the new technologies rapidly onboard, and usage of the older ones has also increased. Many people are forced to work remotely due to safety measures, which has made people embrace and adopt the latest technologies to communications online. The covid -19 has not only invaded our bodies but into our systems and exposed their loopholes and deficiencies. Now it is a challenge for us to work and fix them.
· Take advantage of friendly policies.
Responding to the youth concerns, the governments have revised policies to align business practices to a multi-stakeholder model, i.e. customers, employees, suppliers, and communities. These policies have generated favourable circumstances for the youth to opt and grow different business lines.
2. Become a T-Shaped resource
T-shaped skills are a particular type of expertise that makes an employee highly desirable for the employer. The T- shaped person is a metaphor and in the top priority of the recruiters. It is referred to as a group of applicants most desirable for employers. The vertical bar of the T represents the deep discipline expertise and unique abilities. In contrast, the horizontal bar refers to the ability of the person to utilize and incorporate their knowledge and skills in their performance to give excellent productivity and efficiency.
3. Digital Fluency: Use tech with discipline
According to the world economic forum, 43% of business will reduce their workforce by 2025 due to the technology integration in the businesses. The covid pandemic increased the exploration, use and integration of many technologies in industries and businesses towards remote work.
Gain digital fluency by learning about the technology tools powering business ( MS office, Google workspace, airtable, zoho, etc). Learn how they apply to real-world situations through analysis, automations, visualisations, etc. Take your tech savviness further by learning about how various technology applications integrate with each other systematically (zapier, ifttt, integromat etc).
Practice by automating your lifestyle, your personal finance, professional brand, whatever, joining the “No-Code movement”. You don’t need to be an expert.You need to think in systems, strategize, design, etc — basically play with tech tools.
4. Network “Glocally”
“Glocal” is thinking Globally and Acting locally. In this Post-COVID19 pandemic the option to work digitally has opened doors to remote employment. For example, Adrian from my team at TVI is a Learning Experience Designer was hired from Kenya — he works full-time for our company in India.
Constraints breed resourcefulness as they say. This New Normal opens up a vast number of opportunities for inventions and innovations. We are learning new ways of living, creating, and working together. You’ll be surprised with the number of inspirational and uplifting relationships you can build around the world on platforms like twitter / linkedin / clubhouse — with some focused efforts and enthusiasm ofcourse.
5. Follow your heart by all means
While selecting or building your career, it is imperative to follow what your heart says. The talent inside you urges and drags you to to the things you want to do. Try to recognize your potentials because they can bring you a lot what ahead try to streamline your passions and desires according to the requirements and challenges of the current scenario. Because in the end, you do need a stable financial position for a healthy and standard lifestyle. Your passion should be a source with which you can earn money, make further investments and progress for yourself, and work to better your society.
5. 1.Value your own opinion
It is good to take advice from elder or experiences people as a career coach, or mentor can give you helpful insight but listen to yourself and know yourself the most this is the thing that will work more than anything else. Take advice humbly but be the driver of your seat in the ride of your life.
5.2. Dare to Dream, Dare to Do
Following your heart often takes you to take a courageous and bold decision essential for progress and creativity. How can you make a lemonade out of your lemons?
5.3 Understand your abilities and preferences
With a beautiful and balanced combination of both preference and abilities, you will be able to achieve your goals smoothly while enjoying the whole process. 49% of employees prefer the organizations that give protection to employee’s financial well being and health.
5·4 Don’t rush to a decision.
Making good decisions takes time, especially if you want to make a balanced decision that is fulfilling your passion and financial needs at the same time.
Conclusion
The Gen-Z and the millennials at the turning point or beginning to establish in their career have a significant effect on the coronavirus pandemic. The economic crisis has elevated their difficulties and challenges, but they can face proper management and response. Being passionate and upgrading themselves in terms of skills and expertise will increase their progress in this challenging time.
