How to Future-Proof Your Career in the Digital Age

We cannot less agree with the argument that in today’s digital era, everything that we do has an impact on technology on it; our jobs and career are no different. What people could have discussed as the future possibilities a few years back have become the reality today, with a few additional surprises, maybe. It might not be wrong to say that even the front-liners of present working generation have some fear that there would be an elimination of a larger percentage of jobs that exist today, just like how many of the largely accepted businesses vanished due to the rapid technological growth.  

For instance, businesses like Kodak, Nokia, etc. which were a part of our everyday life, became no more relevant and just died out. The industries and the businesses are compelled to adapt themselves to the changing technological environment, especially the new technology-driven businesses like WhatsApp and Uber are making them rethink their way of functioning and force them to reinvent their business models completely.

The digital revolutions will change the entire scenario of the present professional and executive careers; it’s only a matter of time now. It wouldn’t be a surprise if what is considered today as the highly valuable job skills would become irrelevant, and a new set of technology-driven skills become the lifeblood of the job market. With the predicted possibilities and technological advancement, how to future-proof our careers is probably the most relevant question in today’s situation that we should be answering.

How should you concrete your position in the present organization? How to stay ahead in the professional race, given the technological developments are rapid and profound? As a business leader, how should you reinvent and redefine your business model to adopt and lead the technological advancements?

The points we are discussing in this article can help you find answers to the above questions to a large extent. Let’s learn them in detail.

1. Develop your Soft Skills 

Your soft skills are nothing but your ability to manage people, including your efficiency, to have effective communications. Soft skills play an important role when the organization takes a call on who should get hired or who should be retained in the job. Your values, adaptability, listening skills, emotional intelligence, behavior, and creativity are the skills that would help you grow in the organization if appropriately applied. Your resume won’t speak about soft skills; it’s your colleagues and the network who will impart it on your behalf. It would be best if you kept in mind that being egoistic or becoming complacent can only act against your employability.

2. Create and build your personal brand

Creating a personal brand and digital identity is crucial to establish a connection with the job opportunities prevailing in the market. Social media and professional associations are robust and highly influential when it comes to career building. You should be creative and passionate while establishing a personal image and brand about yourself in the online space. Continually upgrading your profile and improving your online presence can help you stay forward in the race.

3. Improve your networking

Focus on improving and building your network channels as it is your networking that can keep you informed about the opportunities available in the job market. Establishing professional contacts will give you updates on the possible industry trends. You must ensure that your network is always updated about your current professional status and well aware of your career plans.

4. Refine your technological skills

It’s not only the businesses, but even the employment is becoming digitalized. The organizations require people who can embrace the technological advancements and walk through the complex technical issues that may arise while performing the job. Refining your problem-solving and decision-making skills can ensure you have a hold in your current organization and also have an advantage in future opportunities. Your project management skills that you develop in the current job can help you greatly in your future career as well.

5. Invest in Self-Education

When I say invest in education, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make a monetary investment itself. You can also invest your few hours every day in educating yourself on the new technology and skills that can ensure you have the edge over others always. Today, there are enough lessons online on every skill that you want to name with a detailed explanation of how it programmed and how you can implement it. If you have chosen to learn a new IT skill, you may learn what’s the programming behind, how to run that technology, how to maintain and keep it secured, etc. 

You could also consider doing any certification programs after your day’s job as there are several institutes offering such programs in your comfortable timings. Moreover, these programs are not very expensive. The certification programs add a lot of value to your resume and will positively influence your career growth.

6. Embrace New Technologies

Embracing the new technologies as they get introduced in the market is quite essential to keep up with the changing trends and be a part of the innovation. For example, you may want to download the latest trending apps, adopt to the technology-run lifestyle, integrate your home with the newest IoT smart devices, etc. Keeping up with the latest technology can gain you an image of a forward-thinker, and allow you to obtain the first preference whenever the management is in a task to retain the employees. Also, learning the new technology and the latest products can be of great fun as it will open the doors to a new world and can inspire you to keep forwarding. 

If you do not develop an interest in technological advancement and digitalization, it will be hard to stay up in the professional race, resulting in the loss of your business or career. In this digital era, having a basic understanding of the latest technologies and concepts can ensure you are up in the game and have loads of fun moving forward. 

Author Bio – Jitendra Vaswani

Jitendra Vaswani is a Digital Marketing Practitioner & international keynote speaker currently living a digital nomad lifestyle. He is the founder of kickass Internet Marketing blog www.bloggersIdeas.com where he interviewed marketing legends like Neil Patel & Rand Fishkin. During his more than 6+yrs long of expertise in Digital Marketing, Jitendra has been a marketing consultant, trainer, speaker and author of “Inside A Hustler’s Brain: In Pursuit of Financial Freedom” which has sold over 20,000 copies, worldwide.

He has trained 3000+ digital marketing professionals to date and has been conducting Digital marketing workshops across the globe from 5+ yrs. His ultimate goal is to help people build businesses through digitization make them realize that dreams do come true if you stay driven.