As the pandemic continues to disrupt every facet of our lives profoundly, it is imperative to find stability and maximize your skillset to sustain yourself in the current conditions of this volatile global economy.
Navigating this economic downturn caused by a humanitarian crisis in uncharted territory rife with existential threats is taxing even for the most resilient among us. The prevalence of the pandemic won’t be diminishing shortly. Redundancies, furloughs, reduction of hours and compensation, dominates headlines, and fuels anxieties. However, there is hope.
This unprecedented moment affords you a reset where you can revisit your goals and ambitions, assess where your industry’s trajectory in a post-COVID economy, and boost your strengths while reforming your weaknesses.
Personally and professionally, you’ve successfully endured your most challenging circumstances to date, with perseverance, and investment into creating new opportunities for yourself; you will weather the storm and steer your current prospects into promising forecasts.
My name is Samuel Leach; I am a philanthropist and founder and CEO of Samuel & Co. Trading Company, UK-based forex, and stock trading organization. I am a product of humble beginnings. I shared a one-room flat with my brother and father throughout my high school experience. Fueled by the desire to create a more monetarily steady life for myself and hard-working parents, I decided to go to university.
While enrolled at university, a curiosity for investments and fiances developed. After a few semesters, I took my bursary for my student expenses and used it to fund my market passion. Within a year, I turned a one-hundred and seventy-pound earnings profit. I took a chance to learn a new skill, and it lay the foundation for my entire career.
In my area of expertise, we’ve seen a rise in forex and stock traders as the workforce looks to diversify their means of financial stability. At Samuel & Co. Trading, we’re helping individuals to learn trading skills amid a time of immense global change. We’ve seen a surge in enrollment in our training programme and increased engagement in our online trading content.
A trend we’ve noticed is that our enrollees are recently unemployed, or see the writing on the wall in their career sectors due to the pandemic. Our aspiring-traders understand that improving your professional dexterity, bolstering your resume, and creating more economic security avenues is paramount.
As enterprises and markets continue down a volatile course, be proactive to situate yourself in an evolving business landscape better. Below are practices and opportunities to explore to upskill and empower yourself for the post-COVID-economy.
Perform a career audit and reevaluate your aspiration. What are your qualifications, qualities, and career “wins?” Were you on the correct occupation path before the world-wide lockdown? To move forward, you have to understand the engine that’s powering you professionally. Taking inventory of the skills you possess and revisiting your goals will help you decide if a career transition is necessary, or if fortifying your skillset is in order.
Assess if your industry is changing. Did the pandemic permanently alter your commerce subdivision? Will things return to normal after the spread of the virus subsides? Are you better served to stay focused on your tasks at hand and ride things out, or is now the time to look elsewhere? Anticipate your profession’s trajectory and come to terms with any harsh realities—craft a contingency plan today, in the event of a job loss outcome. Brace yourself for hardships on the horizon.
Enhance your digital and technological savviness. As the corporate world pivots to remote business operations, keeping up with soft and hardware advancements is essential. Currently, corporations are turning to artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, automation, and other tech innovations to help pandemic-proof their operating processes for a post-COVID world. Having a basic comprehension of coding and data literacy can set you apart from other job applicants should you choose a career change.
Improve your leadership and emotional intelligence skills. Successful leaders excel in emotional intelligence. It is a miscalculation to assume people are solely born as leaders or are innately kneen to recognize one’s feelings and the appropriate responses to them better than others. It is learned, just like any other quality. Being an exceptional leader, no matter your position at a company, and having the ability to understand and empathize with your colleagues is invaluable in this new era. Both are intrinsically tied together and are skills that innovative tech can never replace. Absorb as many sources as you can learn about leadership and emotional intelligence, and it will influence the impact you have on a collaborative and interpersonal level.
Enroll in webinars, attend virtual events. Quarantine alters the way we communicate with each other at every stage. It perhaps will be a while before we visit a conference or speaking engagement in person. However, what one can gain from a webinar or virtual event is too impactful to forego until it’s safe to gather. Webinars are online seminars that provide a wealth of information and education on topics and ideas that may be foreign to you. Virtual events are all about insightful workshops and networking. While the experience is different in a remote setting, the positive results are still the same.
Find additional or alternate financial resources. Taking a proactive approach and invest your money in stock exchanges or other economic opportunities. Starting a business or immersing yourself in a financial market may seem counterintuitive at this juncture; however, taking control of your fiscal future is always a sound investment. While the need to hoard your reserves in low-interest-rate accruing savings account feels like the safest bet, among so much uncertainty, it won’t create supplementary currents of monetary surety. The skills you’ll gain with the research and analysis of share trading, or turning a passion project into a start-up venture, will enrich your foundation as you navigate your career.
As the monotony of life pre-pandemic produced an environment of staying the course and going through the motions, the importance of continually studying new skills and growing is now abundantly clear. A commitment to life-long learning will ensure your prosperity no matter your circumstances.
Follow Samuel on his Website and Medium