How to Re-launch Your Career After COVID-19
Dideolu Daniel
Are you lost or uncertain of how to take charge of your career and launch yourself into better heights after COVID-19?
Then you’ve come to the right place! This article will give you specific pointers on where you should focus your efforts now, so you can come out of this in a much better shape.
Because things look scary out there…
You don’t need me to tell you how much the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the families, businesses, and nations into confusion, disarray, and panic.
You can learn more of those negative effects in a recent article here, focusing on the 6 surefire ways to get high-paying jobs after Covid-19
Will things ever be certain again?
Amid this uncertainty in Nigeria and around the world, you and I have been wondering whether things will ‘go back to normal’ so we can enjoy certainty again.
Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.
First, the bad news.
Here’s the bad news: Probably not. Things might never go back to the same way they once were.
If you’re currently employed, expect to do more for the same pay or less, after COVID-19. If you’re looking for work, expect to compete with more applicants for the same number of fewer jobs…
…Because unlike most challenges facing everyday Nigerians, COVID-19 is affecting everyone… businesses, individuals, families, the wealthy… and yes, even the government.
The good news? You can help yourself, starting now.
You can start upskilling and developing yourself now.
Sure, you can argue about whose fault was it to fix the economy, build better schools, or create jobs… but when all is said and done, we still face the same challenges.
So without further ado, here are 7 skills you can learn to take charge of your own situation, and who knows, help others once you’ve helped yourself.
SKILL #1: MASTERING YOUR MIND
The single most important factor that will influence your success – personal or professional – is learning how to master your mind.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right – Henry Ford.
If you’re going to turn this moment of crisis into a positive one for yourself, you’ll need to learn to control your thoughts.
Once you learn to control your thoughts, it’s easy to control your actions and habits.
To achieve this:
- Guard your mind to only accept positivity and inspiration – while filtering out criticism and anger
- Build up a morning routine that helps you supercharge your body and mind – work out your muscles (although you’re staying at home), wake up early to crush your most important goals for the day, read books, write down your thoughts, work on a new project…
- Renew your sense of self-esteem – genuinely believe you can achieve your goals and treat your setbacks as your moments of learning rather than failures
- Push yourself to accomplish your goals – don’t wait until you feel like working before you start working. Start working, and then you’ll feel like it
- Acknowledge societal problems e.g. poverty, hunger, unemployment, etc. while daily improving your personal situation
SKILL #2: CHOOSING YOUR CAREER
Once you get your university certificate with your course of study stamped on it, you’ll face another challenge: how to choose your career.
Often, your career has little or nothing to do with the course you studied while in school. You might end up working as a programmer, even though you studied to be an economist… you can choose a marketing career although you learnt engineering in school.
Choosing a career that plays to your strengths requires work, and it’s rarely achieved in a day or two.
Understand yourself, know your strengths and weaknesses, learn how events like COVID-19 and trends like artificial intelligence and machine learning will affect your potential career.
If you can’t decide on a specific career choice at first, create a list, keep digging, talk to mentors and industry professionals in those potential fields.
Be curious… don’t stop asking questions.
If you’re not sure if a career path is right for you, spend the next 2 weeks learning all you can about the industry. Read books, blogs, career sites, and company websites.
Once you decide on a career path that works for you, FOCUS.
This period gives you ample time to do deep research, study how industries and companies have evolved, understand the industries failing and those thriving…
… and how you can bring value to the table.
SKILL #3: DEVELOPING INDUSTRY & BUSINESS AWARENESS
Speaking of industries, a skill that’s becoming increasingly valuable is learning about industries and how businesses make money.
Use Google… read about industries like investment banking, consulting, finance, healthcare, content marketing, cloud computing, insurance, technology, retail…
Find out how businesses in these industries make money… the challenges they face… and how those challenges are being confronted.
Learn more about how markets and economies like emerging markets, BRIC, G-20, United Nations…
Learn about global issues… technology innovation in Africa, apartheid in South Africa, racism in America, emigration in South America, global warming.
Employers now place high premium on new employees who understand their business, have perspectives on the world around them, and can start delivering business value from Day One.
Learning about industries and businesses is not a skill you start learning two nights to your interview date.
You start now, keep at it, and never stop learning.
SKILL #4: LEARNING DIGITAL MARKETING
These days, almost all marketing is now digital marketing.
If your business had been developed to market digitally prior to COVID-19, then you stand a better to chance to thrive now.
Digital marketing is no longer a trend. Most companies are now using digital marketing to reach out to their customers and use their products and services to address the customers’ pain points.
If your business is not embracing digital marketing… then chances are, you’re getting left behind.
From Linda Ikeji, Nairaland and Bella Naija… to Facebook, Google, and Amazon… digital marketing has become the ‘secret sauce’ of many successful brands and business empires.
Pick an in-demand digital marketing skill (Facebook or Google Ads, SEO, email marketing, copywriting, mobile, analytics, video marketing, content marketing, podcasting, UX design, etc.)… and start learning.
Then, use your skill to start and succeed at a project… which you can then show employers to prove your mettle.
The days of ‘blog for two weeks and earn millions’ are long gone.
Just as you won’t expect to learn code for two weeks and expect to land a job at Andela, don’t expect to start a blog today and start earning millions of naira in three months.
SKILL #5: VIDEO INTERVIEWING
Remote work used to be a luxury. Now, it’s a necessity both for companies and their employees.
Due to COVID-19, more companies now realize they can do more work with majority or all of their employees working from home… while saving costs in office rent and other costs related to having employee on site.
Expect more companies to never go back to an office building.
Companies like Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Google, and Microsoft are already extending their work-from-home policy with some companies expecting their employees to work from home forever.
So what does this mean for you as an employee in Nigeria?
More companies are willing to run a global and distributed workforce, pooling talent from wherever they can find them, and interviewing them via video interviewing tools.
It used to be a job to search for a job. Now, add to that, the challenges of interviewing over Zoom.
You’ll need to learn how to dress for an interview and display passion and excitement for the role over Skype.
Also, this means you’ll need to refine your core skillset to globally compete, since companies are now sourcing from a global pool of job applicants.
SKILL #6: SUCCESSFULLY APPLYING TO FOREIGN GRADUATE SCHOOLS
Have you planned to get a Master’s or PhD degree at some point in your career? Or you’re yet to look at the options available to you?
Then, now’s a good time to start learning how to successfully apply to graduate schools, especially in the US.
While experts say there’s a lot of uncertainty on how US graduate education will be delivered over the next year, successfully applying to US graduate schools is a year-long process or sometimes more.
If you get in, you could ride out the devastating effects COVID-19 is expected to have on the medium-term global job market, and graduate when the dust settles.
If you decide to apply to US graduate schools, there’s a lot of ground you’ll need to cover, depending on the class of degree you want.
You’ll need to prepare your application timeline and get your international passport ready for travel. You’ll need to choose schools, take the needed tests (GRE, GMAT, or TOEFL), choose your recommenders, apply, and secure funding, etc.
It’s a long but rewarding process, and what better time to start preparing than now?
SKILL #7: WRITING WELL
As you go through life, you’ll need to always convince someone of your perspective. Whether that’s writing your resume and cover letter to convince your future employer… or writing a blog post to establish your expertise… or writing your final year thesis to demonstrate mastery in university…
Set aside 30 minutes a day to write. If you’ve overcome a challenge, write to help others do the same.
If you feel lost for options and not sure of what to do, write. If you disagree with an opinion piece, write out your own perspective.
If you just read a blog post that resonates with you, write a comment.
About the author:
Dideolu Daniel writes about how to build valuable skills as a Nigerian student and successfully apply to US (post) graduate schools after getting your Bachelor’s degree at beyondbsc.com. Like his Beyond BSc page on Facebook, or read more helpful articles on beyondbsc.com.
