As a professional, you should always seek to improve your career and looking for ways to grow. There are many ways and resources you can use to cultivate the skills that will help you boost your career, making yourself more marketable.
But why is staying on top of your game so important, even more so today?
2022 showed us, with massive layoffs, the Great Resignation, and increased inflation, that employment remains as unpredictable as ever. Add talks about a recession to all that, and we are left with a clear message: get ready, know your options, and recession-proof your career.
4 Tips to Safeguard Your Career
Recession or not, options and steps to safeguard your career are essential for your overall well-being and security. Whether you need to be employed as soon as possible or just checking what’s available to you today, here are four tips for you:
Consider Upskilling
Upskilling strives to improve your existing capabilities to minimize your skills gap and help you advance in your current role. Using your time to upskill can increase your competitive edge and marketability as a professional.
What makes upskilling feasible today are online platforms like Coursera, Udemy, Edx, and Google due to their reach and affordability. You can also find ways to broaden your knowledge through classes at community and state employment centers.
The upskilling process can seem tedious. Still, it’s worth it in the long run, especially when you become exposed to new ideas and technologies that prompt cross-pollination. These two concepts are closely related because upskilling can lead to cross-pollination across industries.
For example, an individual who has acquired new skills in one industry, such as digital marketing, may be able to apply those skills to a different industry, such as engineering, to improve marketing efforts for an engineering organization. Cross-pollination and upskilling increase innovation and improve efficiency, making you a well-rounded professional.
Review and Reinforce a Better Professional Brand
Reviewing and reinforcing your professional brand will help you stand out. Begin with establishing the professional brand you want to project and refine your personal image to fit.
Data from 2020 showed that 95% of recruiters are on LinkedIn looking for candidates due to the high quality of the hires made via that platform compared to using job boards, ads, and other online career platforms.
This is why you need a concise, strategic and well-thought-out LinkedIn profile to help establish your professional brand. The following are tips you can use to better your profile and ensure a steady flow of opportunities.
- Profile picture: Make sure the picture is recent and looks like you and wear what you would wear to an interview.
- Summary: This is a chance to tell your story and highlight your unique value proposition to showcase your experiences, skills and achievements.
- Network: Connect with colleagues, industry experts, and other professionals to expand your network and make yourself more visible to potential employers.
- Skills: List all your skills, even the ones not aligned with your current industry. This will help recruiters and employers looking for multifaceted candidates find you.
- Experience and education: Make sure your professional experience and education sections are up to date and do not forget to provide detailed information about any courses you may have taken to upskill.
- Stay active: Keep your profile up to date by regularly posting updates, articles, and engaging with your network.
- Keywords: Use relevant keywords in your profile to make it searchable and increase your reach to recruiters and potential employers.
Another way to establish your professional image is creating a blog or website where you publish your thought leadership content to build a stronger online presence and provide a platform to showcase your expertise.
Consistency and authenticity are crucial for building a strong, reputable, and trustworthy professional brand to help you to stand out in your field and attract the attention of potential employers.
Diversifying and Expanding Your Network
Diversifying your network is an excellent way to be in the know about any potential career advancement opportunities available to you. Reach out to professionals and organizations to build connections in various industries and roles.
Connections are a gateway to finding prospective opportunities as they arise, you’re likely to learn about openings before they are advertised on job boards or posted in LinkedIn groups.
Get referrals from trusted colleagues. Learning the inside scoop will help keep you from competing against hundreds of other candidates and provide you with the advantage you need.
So how do you expand and diversify your network? One practical way is to join interest-based groups and be active in them. You may also want to attend special events of interest such as workshops, forums, or niche gatherings of people whom you share specific interests with.
Trying out a co-working space where diverse people of various interests converge and connect is another great way of expanding your network.
Talk to a Recruiter
Recruiters can provide you with information on what employers are looking for in a candidate, identify any gaps in your skills or experience and give you advice on how to bridge them. With a recruiter, you can get an inside look at the industry you are interested in, to help you tailor your messaging.
Recruiters are a great resource when building your professional brand because they have access to opportunities and can match your skills and experience with the right employer. They can give you advice on how to present yourself in the best light through providing feedback on your resume, and giving you tips on how to improve it.
Overall, having the support of a trusted and reliable staffing firm in this tight labor market will help you build your professional brand, increase your chances of finding the right role, and showcase your skills, experience, and unique value proposition to potential employers.
ACS PROFESSIONAL STAFFING IS THE PARTNER YOU NEED TO HELP YOU BUILD A RECESSION-PROOF CAREER
Get started on safeguarding your career, and partner with ACS Professional Staffing. We will aid you in building meaningful and long-lasting connections between you and organizations in IT, engineering, finance, administrative support, and many more.
Our team of expert recruiters would like to get to know you so that we can ensure that you find an organization that perfectly suits your preferences. Contact us today!