Career mobility in a time of Covid

I wrote my masters thesis on boundaryless careers - the idea that the focus of individuals’ careers is no longer on advancement in one profession or organisation. Instead people move around freely - changing roles, organisations, countries, and careers with frequency.

In addition to being more mobile, for the most part, individuals also tend to want to direct their own careers now and find work that aligns with their personal values, rather than relying on an organisation or professional body to give them a pathway that they can follow (called protean careers). This is very much the way my own career has played out, and that of my peers. I have set my own career direction and moved on from roles when they no longer fit with that direction - or where there has been a misalignment between my values and that of my employer.

However, I wonder about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the career attitudes of my peers. We are now living in a time of great uncertainty throughout the world - as well as an economic downturn. With many people facing job losses, and others facing great ambiguity about the future of their businesses and income, job security will most likely start to trump the benefits of career mobility for individuals. Many people will make decisions to stay in a role that provides a steady income rather than move roles for a better fit and risk less security.

On the other hand, many of the settings of this pandemic are ideal for boundaryless careers, perhaps just presenting in a different way. At a time at which people are having to socially distance and work from home, the limits are endless in terms of where you can work from (when your job or profession allows for this). Virtual working provides people the option to work across cultures, countries, and organisations without travelling at all. Furthermore, people who have moved around a lot in their careers develop an adaptability and an ability to pick up new skills and ways of working more readily - which is a big advantage when there may be fewer job opportunities available.

So what does all this mean? Potentially, people may be staying in jobs they are not satisfied with, or organisations they don’t feel a strong fit with. For now. This is ultimately a values-based choice - choosing to prioritise income, job stability, and other factors. However there are opportunities that this presents - while people may be less voluntarily mobile in their careers at the moment, they may well be experiencing new and different ways of working within their existing roles - for example, working virtually offers the opportunity to build skills in facilitating meetings via online platforms, and a new ability to balance working from home with family demands. People are also likely to be able to deepen connections and relationships within their organisation due to going through such a time of uncertainty and stress together. Experiencing a significant event such as this pandemic also provides a good opportunity for reflection on what is most important in your life and what direction you want your career to take when things resume some normality.

So, while we are all facing a time of great challenge that may lead us to make different career decisions from what we would otherwise make, this will be temporary, and many of us will come out the other side with new skills, deeper relationships, new opportunities for growth and a clarified sense of purpose.