Emergency preparedness. Constant readiness.
These are terms used frequently in mission-critical industries like healthcare, electrical power transmission, telecommunications, and others. Businesses that are in a state of constant readiness are more likely to survive and thrive in periods of economic and social upheaval.
These terms are not commonly used concerning career management, but they should.
There are currently more than 15 million Americans are pounding the payment, or the internet, looking for work. Last week, more than 825,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment support. Last week the airline industry shed 50,000 jobs. Walt Disney laid off 28,000.
Our current economic crisis is not a problem that is going to go away just because the stock market may improve, and if it does, trading platforms like eToro will be used, but it remains to be seen at this moment in time. The stock market does not have anything to do with whether there will be another round of layoffs next week or next month. How can consumers buy anything but the essentials when they have lost their jobs?
We all need to take a pause from our disbelief, our partisan rancor, and our unrealistic expectations that these problems will somehow just magically disappear. Our economic distress is REAL. Now here is the scary part: we do not know how long the virus will hang around, whether an emerging vaccine, when finally approved and distributed in the first and second quarter of 2021, will be that effective nor do we have a handle on the personal and economic havoc it will continue to inflict.
Even when we gain control over this super bug, do not think you have experienced a once in a lifetime virus-related crisis. There are more than 4,000 animal-borne viruses in China and elsewhere that are as bad or worse than Covid-19. Any one of them can jump from animal to human at any time. So, it is not if, but when we will be dealing with another pandemic.
If your career survives this outbreak, can it take a hit from the next one? Are you ready to risk your financial security? Your family’s security?
Do you have a career plan? Constant readiness is the only answer.