Career Cushioning - with a Compass
Have you heard of the term ‘career cushioning’? There’s been quite a buzz around this term over recent months, perhaps prompted by the fears of AI and its potential threat to various career roles.
At the heart of ‘career cushioning’ is the idea of better preparing yourself for the job market, however volatile and unpredictable it might seem. The real strength of any ‘cushioning' you might undertake though, is that you do it before you need to - while you are safely employed. In this way, whatever the uncertainties your industry is facing, you are maximising your potential opportunities in an increasingly unsettled world.
Rather than being a victim of changing circumstances, you will be retaining control over your career direction and trajectory. You’ll be acting strategically, building resilience, security, and agency. This requires a proactive and creative mindset, and expresses a desire to continue learning while also exploring a range of options.
When people talk about ‘career cushioning’, they are usually thinking about a Plan B, perhaps something that can be added or explored alongside their current work. This might include any or all of the following:
Taking advantage of opportunities to develop new skills in your current or related work
Taking on new projects that widen your knowledge or expertise
Continue learning - especially at the cutting edge of your profession
Building networks in your current profession or fields you are attracted to
Freelancing or ‘the side-hustle’
Volunteering to gain experience or test out new options
Researching and exploring careers that need skills you enjoy using, have experience in, feel passionate about, are motivated by, or which hold purpose for you
Developing further skills or qualifications in a hobby you are considering monetising
By continually developing, and by reflecting on where you’d like your career to go, you’ll be preparing yourself for a future that is full of uncertainty. In this way, you’ll be building resilience while also steering a career path that offers both security and the rewards you are seeking.
Build a cushion that works for you
To design a very personal career cushion, one that is just as much about ambition as protection, and that has the chance of bringing you fulfilment as well as security, consider any of these approaches.
I call it the VIPS cushion:
Values-aligned
When you have identified your highest values and understand what they mean to you, you are in a great position to create work that fits - or at the very least, is not in total conflict with what matters most for you. By intentionally designing your career around these values, by expressing them in how you present yourself at work, the projects you volunteer for, the organisations you apply to, you are also building your integrity, authenticity and confidence. It is much easier to build connection with a prospective employer when you can clearly express the shared WHY that drives you - and values can be a great starting point.
Interest-driven
When you are fascinated by a topic and want to learn more, development comes much more easily. You grow, you make a bigger contribution and the chances are, the impact will be greater too. Can you lean into interests more in how you take on new work in your career? Can you craft your role within your team, swapping elements with colleagues who have different interests, so there is a real win-win? Or is there a passion you want to explore in terms of a new career direction? Time really does disappear when you are engaged in a topic you absolutely love. This is an important part of your career cushion compass.
Purpose-seeking
When you are doing work that feels meaningful to you, that makes a contribution you prize and can feel proud of, it’s likely you will also do good work and want to learn more. Do you know what your purpose looks like? Perhaps the clue can be found in what feels like a good day at work for you. Or you could try asking yourself why you made of the career transitions you have so far - what were you looking for? What would you like to be the lasting impact of your work? Who will benefit? When are you proud of the work you do?
Strengths-enabled
When you are really playing to your strengths, you often feel at the top of your game. You feel like an expert in your field, competent, proficient, and sometimes, inspired! We can learn a great many skills in a lifetime, but which are the ones you really enjoy, that seem to come naturally, and that you would love to use more? When we are ‘in flow’ we are using our strengths to just the right level - challenged, but not stressed. Do you know your strengths - and which you would like to use more? How could you use them more in your current work, a new project, a side-role?
If you create a VIPS career cushion, you will be tailoring this strategy to your own needs. This is not one size fits all, it’s truly a bespoke enterprise with you at its heart.
Your career path then becomes more exciting than daunting, more proactive than reactive and more empowered than fearful.
I know where I’d rather be - how about you?
If you’d like to find out more about any of the VIPS elements and how you could start building your career cushion, read more about my Career Change Programme here.
And if you’d like to have an informal chat about what would help you secure the career you really want, get in touch using the button below - I offer a free 30-minute Zoom consultation for you to gain greater clarity. Action is then possible!