Episode 4: Career Longevity
Introduction
In this episode of The Spin, Kristen and Mark explore the topic of career longevity. They talk about why it is important, what the implications are for people and what you can do to stay relevant for a long term career.
Why is career longevity a thing?
We identified a few reasons why career longevity is important:
- People are living longer – we referred to Lynda Gratton’s work on the 100 Year Life
- Money – like many things, sadly it comes down to money! As we are living longer, we need to make sure we are creating the wealth we need to be able to make the choices we want about how we live our lives. Try out Kristen’s handy calculator to determine how much money you need to retire! And then join him in his retirement basement!
- Skill requirements are changing – we didn’t get a chance to cover it much (we’ll come back to it in a future pod), but it’s also important to think about how your skills keep in step with the changing demand. Check out this LinkedIn report on the top 15 emerging roles.
So how do we give ourselves the best chance at maximum career longevity?
There are lots of things to think about, but in our mind the following 3 are the most important:
- Personal and professional development
- Personal Brand management
- Strong Network
We spent a fair bit of time chatting about each.
Personal and professional development
“Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.” Robin Sharma
There are lots of options for you to develop different skills. Kristen talked through a few including:
- Books and biographies from thought leaders
- Podcasts – ahem The Spin maybe?!
- Work sanctioned learning and online courses
- Free online courses
- Meetups and conferences
- Being open to new experiences
Don’t forget to think about your learning style and, yes you guessed it, have a plan and WRITE IT DOWN! (Kristen nods off!).
Personal brand
Your personal brand is how you promote yourself. It is the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want the world to see you. It is the telling of your story, and how it reflects your conduct, behavior, spoken and unspoken words, and attitudes.
So what can you do to promote your brand?
- Think about the different social media channels eg. Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- Be brave and put yourself out there – authentically! Create content that is going to add value to others – we all have a phone!
- Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want Kristen’s mum to read!
A strong professional network
- We talked about how important it is to have a network
- You should feel confident in reaching out to people – and think about those people who are going to challenge your thinking
- Remember it’s a two way street
- Don’t forget to follow-up – and say thank you!
Until next time!