Reinventing Your Career in the Time of Coronavirus

Around the globe, many of us are dealing with challenges we never predicted we’d encounter in our lifetimes. What was at first thought to be temporary, has now become our “new normal.” By May 2020, Michigan’s unemployment rate rose above 20% for the second straight month. Six months later, the global pandemic continues to impact us financially, professionally, and personally.

Historically, businesses, governments, and individuals have evolved to survive great challenges, such as the Great Recession. COVID-19 has prompted the majority of us to endure changes out of our control. If our position in the workforce hasn’t been affected by the coronavirus, then it’s likely we each know someone who has been economically impacted or lost their job altogether.

Several months into this global pandemic, individuals and industries alike are looking for ways to move from survival into new and better ways to live. Evidenced by drive-in movies and virtual concerts, there is more to life than basic survival. We know that our global community endeavors to persevere in light of it all. As we begin to hear more about rebuilding when the world is “back to normal,” impacted employees, students, and individuals are asking themselves, “what does the future look like for me?”

Many people have found comfort in maintaining a positive perspective on the pandemic to decrease feelings of stress. It will be easier to remember the increased virtual connection with family, the reduced commute time, and the freedom to binge-watch TV to our hearts’ content. Earlier this year, most of us happily indulged in relaxation, but slowly began feeling unproductive and unmotivated.

The best explanation for this phenomenon is a scientific one. Newton’s First Law of Motion states, “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion.” This universal feeling of sluggishness can be used as a stepping stone on the path to the next iteration of ourselves and our careers.

Get in Motion

We all have inherent strengths that have propelled us to the positions we are in today. To feel fulfilled in our work, we must utilize these strengths on a daily basis. While we may be feeling less motivated at home, now is the best time to rediscover our strengths, hone our skills, and build ourselves up with the help of technology. With millions of opportunities at our fingertips, it’s possible to use this moment to identify and pursue our dream careers.

Educators and inventors alike have identified the dramatic evolution of technology and our need for comprehensive, at-home education. Video conferencing company, Zoom, saw such a dramatic increase in use in the last six months that they increased security measures and added unique features to retain users. From structured, online courses to virtual training, many online education opportunities are utilizing technologies like Zoom to facilitate virtual training.

Professional development programs are popping up all around the world to offer us accelerated learning opportunities in numerous technology-related fields of study. Fueling our career aspirations requires dedicating our increased free time to learning skills that will help us reach our career aspirations. By devoting ourselves to researching and learning about the fields of work that interest us most, we can begin to pursue a career we thought was out of reach.

Now is the time to work towards the version of yourself that will emerge from this pandemic. As humans, we are naturally driven to develop new skills, passions, and projects that will bring fulfillment into our lives. To succeed in a career change, we need to keep an open mind about the path that led us to where we are today and understand that there will be setbacks. Working towards happiness and fulfillment in everyday life demands, we have the courage to start.

The Sky’s the Limit

Do we want to remember 2020 as the year we spent scrolling through social media and rewatching movies we’ve already seen? It’s time to figure out if the future we are heading towards is the one we always dreamed of. Because, even in the time of coronavirus, you can expand your horizons through education, work experience, or virtual connections. No matter your chosen path, embarking on a new career trajectory will require you to navigate challenges and setbacks consistently.

To succeed, we must enlist the support of our friends and family, draw a map to get to where we want to be and have faith in our ability to commit. If we let ourselves fear failure in our career, we may never know how truly fulfilling our jobs can be. 2020 could be the year we invest in our education and devote ourselves to learning something we always wanted to learn and finding the courage to change career paths against all the odds.

Choosing to remain stagnant and wait for the familiar comforts of a pre-COVID world will have us entering 2021 in the same place as we began in 2020. We must take advantage of the air of change encircling the nation and decide if the free time we dedicate to entertainment is conducive to our overarching goals.

There is no better time to reinvent your career than right now.

Talk to an admissions advisor about changing your career today. Fill out the form below or call (734)-707-9985.