We know throughout history that people tend to switch careers for more money or better benefits, but we are now living in a massive amount of stress right now. There is a huge wave of career switches right now, and the traditional workers who spent 30 years working for one company find it confusing as to why millennials are essentially job hopping.
The thing is, millennials have learned that employers will do well to understand that our labor is something that they need. Without our labor, they do not get to make the record profits. Therefore, when we are not being treated correctly in a particular company, we will move to another one.the cost of living crisis is also causing people to push from place to place rather than stay in the same job, or they are looking for something casual and easy to pick up on websites and jobs boards such as care.com. Much as we would all love to be able to stay in one company and have a long career in one place building up our expertise, it’s not always possible. Work/life balance and flexible scheduling is not something on offer with every business, so you have to understand that changing a career is what’s going to get you what you need. So why are people changing careers regularly these days?
- Changing to growth industries. Aligning your skills to move to an industry that is exploding in growth is important. People deserve to work for industries that are moving forward, not ones that are stagnating. For example, the paper industry, while still important, is nowhere near as flourishing or as successful as it was 20 years ago, before the digital boom. If you have skills that can be moved to an industry that is growing, then segueing into a new space is going to help you to build your personal skills while also making sure that you are not going to be made redundant.
- College degrees are no longer a thing for some industries. If you consider the early 90s, everybody was going to college to get a degree because you needed a degree first and foremost to be able to get a decent enough job with a better salary. It’s not the case today. A bachelor’s degree is no longer a minimum requirement when people are looking towards a skills based approach to hiring. Somebody brand new from college who has no experience in an industry versus somebody who does have visa experience behind them but doesn’t have the degree is likely not to be chosen. It’s important to remove that bachelor barrier because it opens opportunities for workers, particularly those from lower economic backgrounds or from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
- Remote work is now mainstream. The pandemic was not a great thing for the planet, and yet it’s still rampant. While we’re no longer locking down or wearing masks wherever we go.COVID-19 is still very much prevalent. One positive from the pandemic is the ability for companies to now offer remote working. It proved that it didn’t matter where the work was being done, companies could still be successful and therefore a new door was opened. People are now moving into industries and businesses that will allow them to work flexibly wherever they are because it allows for a better work life balance and cuts the horrid commute.
