Become effective at work

TWO years of a global pandemic and radical change to the world of work have left their mark on us. The norms of how and where we work have been transformed and there has been a huge shift in attitudes around remote working and teamwork tools in particular. Many people have started to reconsider their approach to work. We’ve all had time to think about what we want from our jobs, what we don’t want, and what’s important to us - whether that’s flexibility, connection, or a myriad of other factors - and the job market is now seeing the effects of that play out. Working on your mindset can help you to deal with challenges you may face when it comes to securing a new role: So what should we be thinking about if we’re looking to progress or reshape our careers?

Get clear on the relationship you want with your job.

Every person’s relationship to work is different. Some people are happy having a transactional relationship with their job, whereas others want their work to be a big part of their life. Either is an effective approach, as long as it works for you. We spend a huge portion of our time at work, so if we’re not satisfied with our professional lives it will spill over into our personal lives, in the long-term. What makes us satisfied is incredibly personal - everyone will thrive in different environments, corporate cultures, and roles. Get clear on what you want before you start looking for anything new - write down the aspects of work that you’re good at and would like to do more of, as well as the things that you’d prefer to avoid.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Consider your ideal responsibilities as well as the environment, and use this as a compass when searching for a job. Andrew’s advice is to be realistic, and set boundaries from the beginning. So much about finding and getting a job is about connecting with people and having conversations, getting to know each other from both sides. When interviewing, ask yourself ‘do I want to work here, do I like this person, do I fit into this culture?’ The important thing is to figure out what you want out of your working life and find a job that facilitates that.

Boost your resilience. We all need to

understand that rejection is part of the process when job hunting. This has always been the case but it’s felt more keenly now when the sheer number of jobs we can apply for with the click of a button is so vast and thus the number of rejections we face can be greater. With the rise in remote work, opportunities are increasing even more - we can potentially work at any company anywhere in the world, but that means that we’re competing on an entirely different level too. Because of this, our mindset is key. We need to build up the resilience to not let rejection discourage us. Rejection, for the most part, doesn’t say anything about us.

RECRUITMENT

You might have found yourself in the situation whereby you’ve got close to being offered a role, and you’ve just missed out. Or, you may have experienced the dreaded recruitment ghosting, where you’ve never heard back from a recruiter after an interview. Maybe, as in my case when I was switching roles years ago, you may have applied for hundreds of jobs and had no responses at all. My advice is to focus on the things you can control. Keep applying for jobs, focus on growing your network, being visible on platforms such as LinkedIn, and working on building your reputation. Learn strategies you can use to help you boost your resilience when you need it. We can’t control whether someone will

get back to us, but we can control how we react to it and we can improve our chances of landing that perfect role.

Build your online reputation. The term ‘personal branding’can sometimes sound a bit elitist, it’s actually just your reputation. It’s what people know you for and how they view you. Translating your reputation online can be done by consistently writing about topics of interest; sharing interesting articles, facts or data; and joining conversations with people in your chosen field. Over time, you can build the profile of who you want to be and what you want to be known for. This won’t happen overnight or by just posting on a few occasions on LinkedIn - if you want to become the person people come to for a specific topic, it requires a commitment to small, frequent steps that help you to showcase your expertise.

INTERESTING

LinkedIn is a good place to start. I must say it has worked out for me - if you have an interesting thought related to your career, share it. When posting an article you like, add your opinion and let people get to know you. Don’t overthink what you’re posting; once you get in the habit of sharing your thoughts you’ll start to feel more comfortable. As time goes on it will come more naturally and subsequently build up.

Personal branding is important no matter who you are and especially post COVID-19. When you’re applying to

jobs online, employers will want to look you up and get an idea of who you are and what you know. It’s also a great way to build your network and relationships with people who might lead you to your next role. Everyone can benefit from being in control of their reputation online, because the truth is that you’ll have a reputation or brand either way, so you may as well take control of it. Nurture a flexible mindset. would have given his younger self was to not take things too seriously. If we’re having fun in our working lives, we won’t lose our way.

FLEXIBLE

The biggest lesson he has learnt in his career is that change is normal and we need to be flexible and accept if things don’t always go to plan.

Maybe you had an idea of what you wanted to be and set yourself some very long-term goals early on in your career, but then things took a different turn, or your priorities changed, or you realised you actually wanted something else for your life. That’s ok. Checking in with yourself to see whether your goals and your career trajectory still align with your needs or wants is crucial, and if they don’t, changing course is perfectly acceptable. In a post-pandemic world, we should all adopt this mindset in 2022.

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