The current job market can make us anxious, reactive, even desperate. But, by faith, the slowdown it has caused can also give us time to consider the blessing of work and how best to incorporate it in perspective once opportunities begin to open up again. To help with that, former CEO Peter Weddle offers some insights from the economy’s last major disruption. His full article is here.
Weddle says: “You anticipate changes in your career and focus on the new skills that you’ll need to keep pace. This way you can adapt to the ever-evolving job market in a way that benefits you.”
It’s never too early to start this, to begin reaching out to people in your field and asking about the changes they have experienced or they anticipate. It’s never too early to question current assumptions and to seek the Lord for how to be ready for what comes next.
Weddle says: “It’s important for you to keep track of your own ‘career victories.'”
He discourages a once-a-year focus on the performance review, delegating to someone else our validation or improvement. Even before you consider yourself in your “career,” you can still count God’s faithfulness in your victories, in courses in which you have done well and in skills you have sharpened.
Weddle says: “The only safe course in a turbulent job market is to develop career fitness the same way you develop physical fitness. You have to commit yourself to building up the strength, endurance and reach of your career every single day.”
What can you do today to widen your perspective just a little? What can you do today to change course by a degree or two, an adjustment which, over decades, could make a major difference?
Weddle says: “Working tirelessly is a sure way to get tired. Taking care of your career is the best way to take care of you.”
We can easily measure our comparative worth by how much more fatigue we are willing to endure than the people around us. The Bible says a dull ax makes weary work. Consider if you are spending your energy toward the objectives you really want. Ask for feedback.
Career Services through CU can help develop these habits. Contact eshlemanb@carolinau.edu
