Yvonne Kelly, our guest contributor, is the Director of Driftwood Group based in Sydney, Australia. Driftwood Group is a generalist recruitment business that works on senior-level appointments globally in the pharmaceutical & biotech, financial services, cyber security and technology industries. She is a director for Australia and New Zealand with NPAworldwide.
As a recruiter, I love asking questions and hearing stories of people’s careers. In the past 18 months I have been amazed at how many people have reinvented themselves. Many through necessity, with their jobs no longer existing, and others having time to reflect and change direction. I met an airline pilot who was working in construction fitting stud walls in new homes, a chef who has decided to become a roofer and a barista who is now doing Covid testing.
With Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index saying 40% of people are planning to change jobs this year, reinvention seems to be on many people’s minds. Whether that being reinventing how they work, who they work for or having complete career pivots. With most people experiencing working from home (many for the first time), the Work Trend Index found that 46% of people will relocate due to remote working flexibility.
The possibility to work from the beach or in rural /regional areas is becoming more of a reality. A friend of mine moved 800KM from his employer’s place of work last year and only recently alerted them to the fact that he could no longer commute weekly to the office. Some companies are taking different approaches to this. Facebook is allowing remote working if the role can be done out of an office, but they may reduce employee pay if they move to a less-expensive area.
Ways of working in 2019 that seemed completely impossible, have proven otherwise. My sister spent a number of months teaching high school art from Ireland to her class in Saudi Arabia. She got up early in the morning and was able to complete her whole school day of teaching via video. Online learning is also on the increase, helping people upskill quickly and pivot careers. The global e-learning marketing grew 36.3% during 2020 and the market is tipped to double in size by 2027.
What is your favorite story of reinvention and are you ready to reinvent yourself in 2021?