The Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for Singapore. One of its consequences has been a rise in unemployment, from which we’re only now beginning to recover. Nonetheless, this incident has brought an important subject to the forefront: recession-proofing our careers.

Recent events have shown that we can’t afford to be passive. The economy can be unpredictable, and we need to be proactive in always staying relevant.  Whether it’s a pandemic or disruptive new business models, the world is moving quickly; and we have to take proactive steps to ensure we keep pace with it.

Here are five ways to make your career recession-proof:

• Be valuable to the whole industry, not just your immediate employment
• Don’t confine yourself to existing skill sets
• Make the time to upskill
• Stay informed on industry developments and changes
• Make your new skills known and felt 

1. Be valuable to the whole industry, not just your immediate employer

Some skills are valuable to a specific employer, but not your wider industry as a whole. For example, say you learn to write budget reports, in a way that a particular department in your company can use them.

This will raise your value to your immediate employer; and the cumulative effects of such skills may result in promotions. However, your ability to write such budget reports may not matter outside your company. Should you ever be forced to seek new employment, such skills will not contribute as much to your being hired.

For this reason, it’s important to learn transferrable skills, as well as skills specific to your employer. These are skills that ease career switching, or which allow you to quickly find a new employer if the worst happens:

• Knowing how to use a wider range of software; such as learning how to use Google docs, Photoshop, video editors, etc. To take this further, you can even learn some basic coding, which can segue into more advanced Information Technology (IT) skills.
• Recent developments like Robotic Process Automation, so you can automate time-consuming but simple jobs like data entry. 
• Soft skills such as presentation skills, team management models, or even literacy in foreign languages (this is often useful to companies expanding abroad, and can provide better opportunities or overseas postings) 
• Research and analytical skills, such as basic courses in learning how to read financial statements, or interpret statistics. 

Skills that are immediately relevant to your employer, such as knowing how to work a given machine in their factory, can deliver good short-term rewards. However, don’t restrict yourself to only learning these; the more valuable you are to your industry as a whole, the more easily you can switch employers within the same career.

2. Don’t confine yourself to existing skill sets

Don’t dissuade yourself from learning something new because “it’s not common to my career”. Just because you’re currently an accountant, for example, doesn’t mean there’s no place for skills like digital art, or content creation.

Singapore is full of successful talents who have made midcareer switches, sometimes from jobs as different as banking to videography, or police officer to financial advisor. Even if you don’t intend to change careers right now, it’s good to know that you have the means to do so if required. 

You’ll also find that expanding your skill sets help you to contribute in unexpected ways. For example, if you understand both finance and digital art, this can be useful in creating finance-related content for the general public (who likely won’t understand or be engaged with more dry and technical concepts).

At the very least, in tough situations, having an additional skill set might give you a stand-in job. A simple example would be learning to drive: in a pinch, you could opt to be a Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) driver, just to tide you over for a few months.

3. Make the time, don’t find the time, to upskill

If you decide to pursue new skills only in your “free time”, chances are you’ll end up not doing it (the same goes for visiting the gym, aiming to save whatever money is “left over”, and so forth). 

Ideally, find a skill that you’ve always been curious about, or have a real interest in; this will make it easier to commit.
Expanding your skill set takes conscious effort. This means committing a certain number of hours per week, to learning something new. A good place is to start is a free one-on-one career consultation with us, where we can explore some of your potential.

4. Stay informed on industry developments and changes

How many of your media feeds have content related to your industry right now? 

Do subscribe or follow trustworthy journals, blogs, YouTube channels, etc. that are relevant to your industry. This is a way of “putting out feelers”, so you know beforehand when big disruptions are coming. You’ll want to know, for instance, if your company’s products can now be made and sold cheaper online, or if one of your career functions is being automated. 

The key is to start up-skilling, or re-skilling if needed, before the disruption affects you. It takes time to learn new skills; anywhere from a few months for something simple, to a year or more (e.g., completing basic accounting courses, or getting licenses to operate certain vehicles). 

If you wait till your job gets disrupted, the time taken to upskill could be too long. By being aware and proactive, you stay agile and can make career pivots at a moment’s notice.

5. Make your new skills known and felt

Don’t just take new courses and then keep quiet about it! 

Let superiors know you’re equipped to take on new or different tasks, and update your resume, LinkedIn profile, and other contact details; you want other potential employers to be aware of it too.

Within your own company, superiors may have their hands full, and may not always be aware that you’re ready to take on new responsibilities. So do take the initiative yourself – before they end up hiring a contractor or new staff, let them know you’re willing to try. 

You can also position yourself as a thought-leader to the wider industry. For example, many programmers make YouTube tutorials on how to code, and some financial professionals write articles on blogs or LinkedIn to explain the market situation. These all help to raise your profile, and make you known to other employers in the industry.

One of the worst mistakes is to wait for emergencies, such as when the company is downsizing, before rushing to present new skills. You have to make your competence seen and felt before such a crisis; there’ll be no time to exhibit it once the payroll is being reduced.

All of these methods admittedly take time

This is why the secret to recession-proofing yourself – in fact to career success in general – lies in being proactive. When a crisis strikes, there won’t be sufficient time to pick up new skills, rebrand yourself to your industry, etc. 

The key is to constantly be working on these, whether in good times or in bad. 

A good place to start is with Midcareers.sg; contact us to find out how you can remain ahead of the curve, and work out which skills could benefit you the most