The cases of the COVID-19 virus keep increasing worldwide, and the death toll from the crisis keeps rising in most communities. We have seen the effects on the world economy today, and how significant the changes have been affecting our daily lives. Some corporations and local businesses are now seen struggling financially to keep up with their planned budget to handle employee’s payroll expenses. As a result, some of these employees in their various organizations have lost their jobs. And those employees who still have their employment saved presently, may undoubtedly be in the verge of losing theirs, too, because of this same pandemic.
Similarly, for most organizations, to pay for the office space where they presently occupy is now at the mercy of the impending COVID-19 crisis. What is more scary to the crisis is that the employees who lost their jobs are finding it difficult these days to pay for their rents, mortgages, school loans, shopping, or even take care of other basic necessities at home. To add more salt to injury, no one knows how long the global health crisis will stretch humanity to. In fact, to say that the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic is not devastating to all in our communities, is an understatement. The truth of it all is that even in the presence of all these confusions and chaos caused by the pandemic, we can still learn one or two basic lessons from the crisis.
Here are the three important lessons we should all learn from COVID-19 pandemic, whether we have been affected directly or indirectly by the crisis. At least, we have experience it together. The number one lessons we can learn from this crisis is that:
Choosing a career path that is broad and not industry specific in nature, is vital in saving one’s job during the global crisis
In other words, the part we choose in our professional career endeavor has a lot to do with how we fair off or end up applying them in different aspect of our lives. That is to say that, if we can use our careers in various industries regardless, then it’s one of the reasons such careers are great and we should try to look into them so that we can choose rightly and in the process save our jobs in seasons of crisis like this one in our times. Similarly, it’s true that some professions are more industry specific than others and they tend to leave no room for growth and advancement; hence, the ones which can’t be transferred from industry to industry tend not to survive easily in the present economy, either. Therefore, choosing a career that you know you can apply to any field or industry is vital for your survival in any economic condition, such as the present economic state caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
In likewise manner, another reason you should consider most of these transferable careers is that most of the professions in this category are more in demand and they can be practiced on freelance basis—even when there is no job available for others to do. However, those whose professions and expertise fall under these categories of highly demand professions can start up something on their own as a side gig even in the most difficult economic condition. Some of the examples of these highly demand professions include those in the business of marketing and branding, such as Digital Marketers, Content Writers, Communication Analysts, B2B Sales Specialists or Sales Executives, etcetera. In addition to that, acquiring other technical skills that help boost your entrepreneurial prowess and business acumen, will also give you an edge over others and it will provide you with more career advancement in the long run.
Some other highly demand careers are found under information technology space. And the careers that are most in demand in this area of specialties include Software Developers, Information Security Analysts, Data Scientist, Salesforce Developers, Application Engineers, and the host of other IT related careers. In accounting, we have Finance and Account managers whose jobs are also in demand. Yet, these two specialties are sometimes regarded as industry specific in scope, only if when not applied properly in the right way. The next line are in the Healthcare industry. All parts of healthcare careers are high in demand. Since this part of the industry is highly regulated, thus it requires more time to get the training you need in this aspect. And some licenses are a lot more rigorous to get. But when you finally get them, it may then become a lot easier to navigate through and to take the advantages of the industry by reaping the benefits it presents.
Now let’s go to the next lesson we all should learn from this COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we should understand that:
Every job in the community is essential for our survival. So we ought to take them in high regard.
In the same manner, all jobs in the communities should be regarded by everyone as important factor for the growth and survival of all in our communities. Speaking from experience since the pandemic started, one would notice how those jobs we once thought were insignificant in the communities are the ones whose jobs are preserved to serve the people’s need. Moreover, they seem to be the most needed jobs now for the survival of the general public—especially during this impending crisis. For instance, those people working in the stores have been there making sure we have groceries in the store to buy and feed our families. The trash collectors in the street are working day and night making sure our environment is kept clean. They pick up our trash on daily basis from the waste being without considering being at risk with the possibility of coming in close contact with COVID-19 contaminated materials in the process. They go about doing their jobs with passion and dedication, making sure life continuous in the community.
What does this mean? And how can we learn from it?
It’s about having passion for whichever career we chose today. Also, what we do with the careers we chose and how we do them to achieve a satisfactory outcome is what is relevant here. Consequently, this leads us to the next lesson we can learn from the experience we have had so far from the crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has also taught us a lot and it present us the opportunity to:
Reflect and reexamine our work to choose on the next career move if possible, based on our experience from the pandemic
We have seen the effect of Coronavirus on the economy, our businesses, our careers, and in our families. Therefore, one would vehemently believe that this period is the right time for you to reflect on your career decision and possibly reconsider taking the necessary cause of action to make the next career move. That is, finding out the best profession that you can do, which is flexible and transferable across industries is one thing. And doing it well by serving others and deriving career satisfaction from it in the process, is another thing entirely.
The career fulfillment I meant here; is the satisfaction you get which comes with your unalloyed passion to serve others—even when the reward isn’t eminent. But you are still happy doing it, hoping that one day you will face a moment of truth in your breakthrough that will reward all your efforts in all the entire times you have committed doing what you do best. But one thing stands out here for sure—the uncommon belief you have for it. It’s what you choose for yourself. So, you do it by committing to it regardless of how other see it. The result will always be mind-blowing if you don’t stop halfway doing it.
By now, we have every cause to believe the fact that we all can learn one or two things from the emergence of this global health crisis. Without doubt, we can now accept the notion that COVID-19 pandemic has taught us nothing but some valuable lessons to reconsider the choices we make when it comes to our chosen career path. Also, regardless of what we do, every profession is important. And the relevance of the work we do, and the next step we can take to always better position ourselves well to withstand any season of economic hardship in our communities is another valuable lesson we can all take away from the pandemic.
