Are long-term careers a thing of the past?

‘Think about your job from a long-term perspective’, is that even a line that you have heard of recently? The job landscape today is dominated by millennials and the GenZs. This generation which witnessed the pandemic, and its aftermath is differently wired and set to change their rules and methods of building their careers. They are young, hungry, fast-paced, restless, and ready to give up if their jobs do not fulfill their desire for meaning and purpose. In addition, career options are too many, and talent wars are only getting feistier with time. And thus, the question, are folks really thinking long-term when it comes to a job which translates to a career? Here are a few thoughts that could help address this question:

• Decisions today driven by purpose and reasoning: The talent pool today is driven by the larger picture and is constantly challenging the status quo to understand the purpose and reasoning. Organizations need to be transparent and honest in communicating their vision and expectations.
• Employee experience counts: Increasingly, today’s talent is looking to explore newer boundaries, gain global experiences, exposure with newer roles and execution rigor. Without over-promising, organizations need to be cognizant of growth across roles whilst taking care of personal development.
• Quality of life taking centerstage: For the talent pool today, priorities of life have changed. For them, while money and careers are important, there is significant focus on the quality of life. The new motto today is to do more of the things you love, and less of the things you like.
• People follow people: Talent pool today seeks inspiration from leaders and prefers to create a strong coach-student or a mentor-mentee relationship at workplaces. Therefore, organizations need to focus on creating inspirational leadership which can create impactful careers. Empowering leaders and giving them the freedom to work within teams is key!

Given the above considerations, one cannot deny that today’s job landscape has also undergone a rapid transformation for both the employers and employees.

However, there is nothing like ‘overnight success’ and today, most successful CEOs served a substantial amount of time in either their company or their industry. They have often reaped the benefits of the power of longevity and compounding.

These are some learnings from super successful CEOs and what they did right in their careers and reaped the benefits for both them and their organizations.

• The Eureka moment is bound to come: Usually, if one can look back and confirm that they have learnt a great deal in their journey, one is bound to have a Eureka moment in their careers. This could come in early for some and a bit later for a few. But if you have learnt and progressed, the Eureka moment is bound to come.
• Think about creating an impact as monetary goals are bound to follow: Once you have gone through the rigor and have spent quality time at an organization, it is important to focus on driving impactful results and conversations. On creating impact and building domain expertise, monetary results are bound to follow as a byproduct.
• Being entrepreneurial: Move away from being transactional. Treat workplaces today as your extended personal domains. Can you imagine the power of organizations if every employee thought of their role with a promoter lens? Just as organizations invest in their talent, it is also fair for talent to go beyond and deliver in true spirit.
• Culture first: Talent needs to contribute to creating a work culture that is engaging and empowering. Build personal connections within teams and set the right examples. To be able to be a real leader, take that initiative, build long term friendships, empathize with your team members, and go the extra mile.
• Seek a mentor/career coach: Whilst building long-term careers, one also needs to be cognizant of their personal development goals. Seeking guidance from a mentor or a coach will help in giving direction to your career and accomplishing personal goals.
• Patience is key; it is a value driven ecosystem: If you do your job well, you will get recognized and rewarded.
• Staying relevant is key: Roles that existed a few years ago might not be relevant today, whereas new career options have now opened, forcing talent to re-imagine and re-invent to stay relevant. Commit yourself to an organization or an industry which is on a growth mode and constantly innovating to stay ahead of the curve.

That said, in the past decade or so we have witnessed that the loyalty bond between an employer and employee has been significantly strained due to downsizing, restructuring, mass layoffs, etc. Successful careers are shaped when there is an equal level of trust and loyalty shown by both the talent and the organization.

Going forward, we do expect the business landscape to change drastically. While disruptions are likely to continue, taking the right steps, actions and being able to adapt and ride the wave will be critical for both the talent and organizations.