How to Develop Career Resilience
In the first of this latest series of blogs, I discussed career resilience as an essential way to guide yourself through the uncertainties of today’s modern workplace.
Quite simply, ‘career resilience’ is the ability to spring forward from changes and challenges at work.
Everyone is different.
Some career people are born with natural resilience and are less affected by stressful situations. Others are more vulnerable to the challenges of everyday career pressures.
But remember, regardless of where you are on the spectrum, it’s possible to build your resilience.
An important way to cultivate resilience is to shift your perspective.
If you’re vulnerable to stress, you probably believe life is determined by external forces more powerful than you are.
You think you’ve no control over what happens and that it doesn’t pay to try hard because things rarely work out in your favour.
On the other hand, researchers have identified three personality characteristics of resilient employees - feeling in control of your career, possessing the ability to face challenges and a strong commitment to stay on track.
How have you managed ot stay on track so far in your career? Photo Christina wocintechchat Unsplash
Instead of falling victim to stress, why don’t you instead accept failure as an essential stepping-stone to career success.
Give yourself permission to make the mistakes necessary to get where you want to go.
The more you accept failure, the more opportunities you’ll have to accept success and spring back higher than you fall.
Here are my key tips for building career resilience:
Establish clear and concise career goals – having an ‘eye on the prize’ will drive you through tough times.
Remember previous results at school, university, and work – you’re a successful individual. It can also help to remember when you weren’t resilient and consider what you did differently that time to avoid repeating it.
Turn failure into an opportunity for growth. What could you do better next time? Make sure you learn from every single experience.
Always embrace change. Instead of negativity, consider redundancy as an opportunity to reassess your career and start again in a different direction towards something more challenging, relevant, and fulfilling.
Look to family and friends. Try ‘buddying up’ with someone in a similar position as you for mutual support.
If an employer doesn’t recognise your skills and what you have to offer, remember it’s their loss and they’re not the right company for you.
Always remember ‘you can’t win if you don’t play!’ Go ahead and apply for that dream job or ask for that promotion. Don’t worry if it doesn’t work out – everyone gets knocked down sometimes. Pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and spring forward to grasp the next opportunity.
Look out for the next articles in this series – “The Importance of Career Resilience,” and “The Benefits of Career Resilience.”
If you need further information about these approaches, or any other resilience topic, please contact russell@theresiliencecoach.co.uk.