Embracing Change: Why Career Changes in 2024 Are the Norm
Embracing Change: Why Career Changes in 2024 Are the Norm
If you start a career today, you are likely to experience 5 career changes and have 17 jobs over your lifetime.
You are probably surprised at that prediction. The whole idea of changing career paths can sound scary. The practical steps of changing may have you feeling career stuck on what to do and how to go about it.
The idea of career changes should not be such a scary task. Change itself is something we are all tolerating and must tolerate daily. COVID-19 is an example of an extreme change we had to negotiate for the past 3 years.
We all now hold daily change in our hands. Our handheld phones alert us to the latest change in the News, Facebook, Instagram etc. Technology, Politics, the Environment, and our Society are constantly changing.
Your family and you as an individual are changing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
So it is expected that jobs and careers will naturally follow these changes. We cannot expect them not to change.
If change is happening all around us, why don’t people know what to do? Why do they feel career stuck?
Simple.
Career skills haven’t been taught to navigate the complexities of the interaction of all the above changes with their own lives, as the script of careers has changed dramatically.
Career Changes are in the New Career Script
The career script that was handed to you by your parents and grandparents went like this:
Choose one Career, stick to it, get promoted and you will have that Career for Life.
This idea came from the 20th century and has played out for generations. In the 20th century, people moved from farms to cities where institutions, corporations, and organisations developed.
It was within these institutions the worker would gain work, structure, predictability, and security.
Your career progressed in a linear fashion. Through loyalty and hard work, you would have been expected to be promoted via the career ladder.
Your career path was laid out for you by somebody else. You moved through your personal life stages in a predictable fashion knowing you always had a job and financial security.
Typically you went to school, university, left the family home, married, raised a family, retired, got your gold watch and/or pension and then would die. Pretty easy and straightforward. Right?
Well, the problem is that we are now in the 21st century and the old career script has been torn up!
It’s simply outdated and is causing anxiety and stress among many Generation Y and Generation X workers.
Unfortunately, this old career script is what many are hanging onto when making career decisions.
It’s time to talk about this and set the record straight. There has been a fundamental shift in the reality of the workplace. It is mismatched against the expectations of current workers.
The Global Shift
Let’s start at the beginning when things started to change.
In the 1990s globalisation opened markets, competition, and the free flow of goods and services across continents.
Worldwide economics changed in a major way that challenged our local institutions to supply new goods/services to new markets.
In doing so, they could no longer operate based on the structures they had created for a local domestic market.
They had to change.
Redundancies & downsizing resulted and to this day continue to happen.
This is not going to change, it is now part of the working landscape we all have to accept.
With new international supply chains being opened, this created new job opportunities that would see the start of a job change for many local workers.
For example, it was typical to see workers from the construction and engineering industries in the late 90s and early 2000s leave Australia, live, and work in another OECD country.
They were highly sought after for their expertise & skills. Many left to take advantage of these new job opportunities.
Career Changes present you with New Opportunities
For the past 20 years, Job Change has continued with many seeking out different employers both locally and overseas. What is emerging now, however, is a new trend of making numerous career changes over one’s lifetime.
Career change takes the next step of dismantling the idea of a Career for Life.
While globalisation redefined institutions, the rise of the internet and AI has eroded the idea of a job for life. Gone are the days when an institution will give you the career path you expect it gave your parents and grandparents.
The internet is an even playing field for anybody and anyone to be an institution and take part in the demand and supply chain across the world. Since the Covid 19 pandemic, some workers are now working from anywhere in the world remotely.
The career options and possibilities you have available to you now are so diverse but at the same time, they can be confusing and overwhelming.
Simply, there is an abundance of choice available to you and you now are the institution!
Why you Feel Career Stuck
No wonder you feel career stuck. All this outside change would have anybody confused about what to do.
The economics of work carries more risk and uncertainty than ever before. Many people are not equipped with the right career tools and strategies to navigate the rough seas.
Nobody is telling you what to do with your career.
You don’t have a predictable timeline of what job you will have, which gives you no security to plan other things in your life.
Related: 6 Awesome Reasons for Career Planning Development
Take Action
The biggest mistake I see people make is to postpone making any decisions about their own career paths.
They still are under the illusion that the organisation will look after them in the long term.
You are now the institution and it is up to you to take control of your own career change.
But remember nobody expects you to be an island. If you don’t have the skills, reach out and get support and assistance.
In the age of knowledge abundance, don’t expect an internet search engine to be your career advisor, and provide you with personalised solutions you need to move forward.
You are an individual different from others, you have your own career story to date and there are many complexities and layers to your unique career situation.
Getting people unstuck needs a comprehensive approach. With lots of discussion & other activities, you can see how you can fit into this new way of working.
Understanding how to write the next chapter of your individual career story is an empowering feeling.
8 in 10 People Hate Their Job
People are becoming bored, dissatisfied, and unfulfilled in their careers and jobs.
The work they once enjoyed has become routine. There is no longer any challenge.
Worldwide the rate of disengaged workers is a whopping 77% reported by Gallup in their State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report.
That means approx 8 in 10 people hate their job, and feel trapped, and are stuck in a rut.
To escape the pain, they hang out for annual leave entitlements and spend big on holidays for some rest, relaxation, and pleasure.
When they return they are back to the job they hate and recycle through the whole process year after year until something jolts them.
Related: 7 Signs of Work-Related Extreme Stress & Potential Work Burnout
Don’t wait till somebody taps you on the shoulder and hands you your last payslip.
If you are thinking of changing career path, know that it is a process and it involves learning new skills.
The goalposts in the new world of work have shifted and will continue to shift. Career Changes are the new normal.
If you are serious about improving your lifestyle or work satisfaction remember two things:
1. The old Career Path script has been torn up
2. It’s your responsibility to adapt and learn what is required to increase your chances for a meaningful and secure livelihood to look after yourself and your family.
If you are thinking of a change in career, contact me today so we can have a confidential chat about your current career situation.
Written by Gina Bell
Gina Bell is a university-qualified Sydney Career Expert in Career Advice, Career Coaching, and Career Counselling. She also works as a Talent Development Consultant for commercial organisations. She is passionate about aligning a person’s work purpose in a work environment where they can find fulfillment & reach their potential.
Her qualifications include a Graduate Diploma in Career Development, a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting, and a Bachelor of Economics. She is registered with the Career Industry Council of Australia, Professional Member of the Career Development Association of Australia, National Career Development Association in the USA, Asia Pacific Career Development Association & Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand.
In her free time, she loves to travel, cook, and learn.
Follow her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-bell/