7 ways to future-proof your career

Think for a moment, what could become of your job role in the next say five to ten years.

Will it still be relevant given the rapid evolution and adoption of technology? Would there still be a place for your current organization in the industry? Or would robots and ai have taken over?

As technology continues to rapidly evolve and industries constantly reshape, it’s crucial to future-proof your career to stay ahead of the game.

Whether you’re just starting out or well into your career, there’s always something you can do—steps to take to ensure your career is future-proofed.

We’ll be exploring these steps in a moment. But before we do, let’s delve a little deeper into what a future-proofed career is.

What’s a Future-Proof Career?

 A future-proof career is one that is likely to remain in demand and relevant in the future, despite technological advances and changes in the job market.

You should come to terms with the fact that a future-proof job is different from a future-proof career.

What’s the difference? Well, while the former is the intentional effort you put into keeping up with your career trends, the latter are jobs that will remain relevant regardless of technological changes.

Why is Career Future-Proof Important?

As technology continues, new job roles emerge and old ones give way. While you may not guarantee yourself a future-proof job, you can secure yourself a future-proof career.

With a future-proof career, you can be sure that you are fit for any position within your industry.

So you don’t get anxious about being laid off in the future, it’s crucial to have a long-term career future-proof plan.

Maintaining a future-proof career keeps you proactive in your career approach.

That way, even if others get overwhelmed by their present job role, as technology comes to shake them off, you place yourself at a point where it becomes difficult for potential employers to look away from you during recruitment.

How to Future-Proof Your Career

Wondering how you can future-proof your career? In no particular order, here are 7 strategies to future-proof your career.

1. Become Tech Savvy

One of the factors that contribute to the layoff of workers, especially in times of recession or technological revolution is the inability of employees to keep up with the rising tech demand in their workplace.

As an employee who aims towards a future-proof career the need to be tech-savvy should not be undermined.

While you perform your regular job role, you want to also make intentional efforts by creating time to develop or upgrade your tech skills.

Learn how to use new software, one that you know will still be relevant in 5-10 years.

2. Keep track of Industry Trends

Keeping track of your industry is as important as keeping up with technological upgrades. Industries experience innovations over time, which might lead to major changes in modus operandi.

For instance, in the accounting industry, there are times when changes are made in the IFRS reporting system. If you happen to be in such an industry, you’d need to be updated with such changes to remain relevant in the field.

Keeping up with your industry’s trends puts you at a vantage point to know when to scale up your skills or even change professions completely.

3. Develop soft skills

While you develop tech skills and keep up with the trend you should also boost your soft skills.

Soft skills include skills like communication and public speaking skills, leadership skills, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, teamwork, time management, adaptability, etc.

Oftentimes employers look beyond the certified qualification when choosing employees due for promotion and even recruitment.

With soft skills like these complimenting your technical know-how, you can be sure of a future-proof career. Such soft skills can’t be offered by robots 100%, not even Sophia.

4. Secure a formidable professional network

We often hear the saying “show me your friend and I’ll show you your future”. As much as we won’t take that hook line and sinker, you would agree with me that your association/network of people around you has a good influence on you.

The same principle of association plays out in the workplace. The network of colleagues you connect with plays a significant role in your career.

Building a formidable network of top successful professionals within your clique who can offer you informed and experiential counsel at regular intervals will help future-proof your career.

5. Boost your digital visibility

A good way to get your career future-proofed is by boosting your digital visibility. Not sure what I’m talking about?

Try searching your name on Google and see what comes out. If you see nothing about yourself online then you have some work to do. 

Building your digital visibility gives you a better advantage over many in your industry.

Knowing that the summary of your professional achievements and work experience has been crawled up by Google, and can easily be accessed online places you in the league of employees that should be kept for a long.

6. Develop a global mindset

The kind of mindset you sustain is pivotal to progress in life, and this also has to do with your perspective professionally.

If you must future-proof your career then you must think globally. You must be open to techniques and operations employed by other businesses across the globe.

You’ll need to look beyond your local environment but rather get inspired by upgraded global giants in your industry.

This global mindset also includes adopting sudden radical but career-boosting changes. Trust me when I see no reasonable employer let go of employees with this type of mindset.

7. Keep An Achievement Journal

Keeping a journal of your career achievements over the year always comes in handy at any point in time.

Aside from the fact that it serves as a motivation to go the extra mile in your career pursuit, it also serves as a testimonial of your diligence and progress professionally.

An achievement journal helps you identify your area of strength quite easily, which you want to mention when you are being interviewed for a new job or getting promoted.

You can begin by writing down the training you have gotten, milestones you have reached, places you have volunteered in, projects you have successfully completed, and the like.

Final Thoughts

It takes determination and discipline to become the best version of you in any area of your life, which includes your career. 

Following the strategies mentioned above will help you achieve your goal to have a future-proofed career.

However, you’ll need to step out of your comfort zone to achieve this.

Over to You

Now that you’ve learned ways to future-proof your career, which one on the list would you begin with? Let us know in the comments section @netwerkmovement. Don’t forget to share this with friends and people who need it.