Are you a Covid Refugee?
In 2007/8 we had the financial crash. It spawned the rise of new companies, opportunities and challenges. The workplace changed. The 70s, 80s, and 90s witnessed a period of relative stability. Business accelerated and stereotypes were born. Loads-of-money Yuppies with BMWS and Mobile Phones gave way to Dotcom millionaires.
Then bang the money ran out.
Over financed risk ventures bubbled and burst and the world crashed. Successful journey men and women lost their jobs and came to the market.
Franchises grew, coaching and self-help books rocketed in popularity, all driven by the journey endured by men and women who became corporate refugees looking for their next step in a changed world.
Today we have a different kind of crisis and the Yuppie and Bitch Moan and Whiners, who essentially were the new money elites, have been replaced by a more general worker-based population. There are no elites. No one group is more or less effected. Covid 19 has hit every member of society and has given rise to Covid Refugees.
Individuals indiscriminately furloughed, left at home with a promise of return to normality in a few months, whilst businesses are struggling. They are currently payed and lulled into a false sense of security. But who will guarantee their job will be there when the distancing measures are relaxed? And what’s going to happen if it takes too long? 2020 is only at the beginning and a vaccine is too far away to give solace.
And what about small entrepreneurs or freelancers who can’t even claim state help? There are reports of 3.5M people in the UK, 22M in the USA, for now, expected to grow to 40M people claiming benefits. Unemployment already on the rise after record lows in February 2020.
Experts have described state help like putting the economy on steroids for a short period of time… but what’s going to happen when the support will have to stop?
After every war comes famine, pestilence, isolation and depression.
This is not a war, but it feels like it.
The most agile and resilient Covid Refugees will survive because they reinvent themselves, they ‘pivot’
Agility and re-invention are born from an inherent ability to use the skills you have. But re-inventing yourself is difficult. Why? Because most people are not aware they have skills that others want.
Skills that are practical will be the bread and butter of earnings. A plumber, electrician, builder, lawyer, doctor, accountant have specific skills. Labouring and contributing to a project.
Those in-service sectors, and less vocational roles, such as marketing, sales, human resources, telesales, entertainment, accommodation, waiting tables and sports for example are all more likely to become Covid Refugees and will suffer from a downturn resulting from less disposable income.
These Covid Refugees have inherent skills borne from sheltered company lifestyles, but how will they have to change in an environment where working from home is more the norm? And how will they know how to explain what they are good at in a world where there’s no boss to protect them and guide them?
So, selling yourself by marketing your skills, defining your purpose and what you are good at is going to be critical.
Why? Removing staff from a centralised model, asking them to become furloughed, or work in isolation, will prove that a company can outsource and focus on the core of what it is good at.
This will create a new normal where companies will not only survive but prosper by reducing core staff and contracting out non-essential skills.
People chosen to be part of this group will be selected based on how they are able to present not only their skills, but also their beliefs and how they integrate in the company culture… what they believe in and are passionate about!
So, in the new normal, it will become more important to be self-supporting, aware of your core ability and passions. It will be essential to accept what you are not good at, and to know who you need to interact with to deliver what companies need.
Companies will buy what they need from those who can demonstrate a specific focus delivery of a service and have the ability to hand off to others in their community without ego or fear. Those that will be successful in the new era, AC After Covid, will be agile Covid Refugees who can reinvent themselves, recognise the benefits of sharing their limits and are comfortable in themselves.
So, if you’re likely to become a COVID 19 refugee, how will you know what your core asset is and how to strengthen your weaknesses?
How do you learn to work with and in a community where the collective effort brings results?
If you want to learn to become invaluable during the inevitable recession our 5 steps Recession Proof Employment Framework can help you design your future 5 Steps to Become Invaluable
- What skills do you have?
- What do you love doing?
- What could you defer to someone else?
- How would you market your assets?
Find out here or get in touch