The traditional career is dead.

Employees can no longer be complacent and sit back, hoping their hard work and service will be rewarded with promotion. (This works to any sector, including football, as it seems Fiorentina have sacked head coach Vincenzo Montella, accusing him of a “lack of respect” and most important of all, a lack of commitment).

The rapid pace of change may mean these kinds of positions are no longer available for anyone, as they are no longer necessary.

As a result, you need to take a whole new approach to career planning if you’re to remain happy, productive and appropriately rewarded throughout your working life.

So with this in mind, here are 5 top tips to future proof your career:-

1. Know yourself

Most people will spend at least half their life at work. Therefore it makes sense to find a job that you enjoy doing. Many people simply fall into a job or career without giving it any real thought.

When planning a career, the first thing is to be totally honest with yourself. Identify what matters to you, what you like, what you don’t like, your values, and where you draw the line. People are drawn to different types of career for a whole range of different reasons.

Whether you crave recognition, security, challenge, inner satisfaction, be honest about what matters to you and seek a career that gives you most of whatever you need.

2. Monitor the environment

You need to remain aware of what is happening in your cutting profession, organisation, or industry. Maybe your industry is in decline or your profession is slowly becoming obsolete.

Alternatively, your organisation may be fulfilling a need where a demand is rising. Even if the general outlook is positive, the chances are that the way you do your job will change. Even accountants and doctors do things differently now to how they did things 20 years ago!

As well as monitoring your immediate environment, be aware of more general trends in society, economics, technology as they may affect what you do and how you do it.

Being prepared to adapt to changes puts you in the driving seat of your career, rather than being forced to adapt quickly when you may not be ready.

3. Take responsibility

Don’t wait until you’re fired, made redundant, stressed out or fed up to revitalise your career.

Manage your career on an ongoing basis, particularly through good times. This reflects a belief that you should embrace – “take responsibility for everything that happens in your life.” If you can’t be bothered to manager your career, no one else will be.

4. Be open

Planning your career is important, but to future proof it, you need to grasp opportunities when they arise. Be willing to take a risk and try something new when you get the chance.

You never know where it will lead. At best, it could accelerate your career tenfold. At worst, it will be a useful learning opportunity.

As long as you don’t ‘burn your bridges’ when taking advantage of opportunities, there should always be a positive outcome.

5. Get advice

Approximately 50% of jobs available today didn’t even exist 20 years ago!

To future proof your career you need to make sure you’re aware of all the opportunities that are available, and that means getting advice.

Using a career coach, for example, can not only help you understand today’s marketplace, but they can also help you to identify potential matches about which you may be completely unaware.

Want to read the rest of the Top Tips for future proofing your career?

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