6 Career Impacts from Covid You Need to Consider

We’re all exhausted from everything Covid-related. The masks, the Zoom calls, the social-distancing, the full gamut. I’m convinced though that it’s time to start looking at this differently. It’s time to stop waiting for something to happen. Many people seem to be waiting for a vaccine, waiting for schools to reopen, waiting for things to get back to ‘normal’. If you’re waiting for these things, I believe you’re setting yourself up for major disappointment. This is the new normal. It’s time to get on with how you want your life to look and stop waiting. 

If Covid has impacted how you work or made you think about your career long-term then I hope this article helps you feel empowered to move forward and stop waiting. 

Here are 6 significant impacts I see on how we work and how we steer our careers:

1.    Youth education: I can’t talk about work without talking about education as it’s the doorway into work. In order to do that I need to start at the beginning, at the grade-school level. To be transparent though, put simply, I see the landscape changing dramatically at all levels of education moving forward in the U.S. Focusing on grade-school for a minute first, the class system will become much more apparent and will create an even more lasting impact on our youth. Families who can afford it, have been seeking out and creating solutions outside of public school to educate their kids – creating learning pods, hiring in-home educators, choosing private school instead of public, etc. This test that many mid to high income families are running will prove to be substantially better for the majority than public education and I anticipate somewhere between 30-50% of those families will stay the course in their new educational structures moving forward – not sending their kids back to public school when the option is available. Most low-income families are really struggling to juggle work, kids at home, virtual learning, and life in general. These families won’t hesitate to send their kids back to school – not feeling they have any other viable option for childcare and education. Public schools will become even more flooded with kids who are behind, not adequately supported at home, and thereafter less attractive to families who have other options.

2.    College education: It was engrained in many of us since we were young that when we finish high school, we’ll go to college. This mindset will dramatically shift. Post-high school learning will still be a priority for many, but options will start to look very different. I see state schools slowly dying off. The only ones able to compete will be those with highly specialized programs. There will essentially be three players in the game: 1) a limited number of state schools with specialized programs as I mentioned, 2) the iconic education brands such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT, etc. will aggressively expand their offering of short-term programs such as certificates (offered online) to allow people to gain specialized knowledge and leverage the school’s brand on their resume (this segment will account for the biggest piece of the pie in my opinion), and 3) iconic brands that have no history in education will start offering job-specific educational programming. Think Google or Apple teaching you about AI or coding in a short-term program with direct links to jobs the program prepares you for. 

3.    Career opportunities: Certain fields will explode with opportunity (eCommerce, robotics, tech, eLearning) while others will struggle to attract adequate supply (healthcare, entertainment, small business). This will obviously impact education as well. We’ll see more people established in their careers diving into short-term education/training programs to expand their skill sets and more young people rethinking their field of study.  

4.    Location: You’ll no longer be required to live where you work (unless of course you work in a front-line role, which you’re probably rethinking already). Your job search just got much broader. With an internet connection and Zoom, you’ll be able to contribute. Companies will start selling off office buildings and reducing their physical foot prints.  

5.    Time: Work will no longer dominate your entire day. If you’re efficient, your 8 hr day may be able to be accomplished in much less time. You’ll still be at the mercy of Zoom call times but those who typically plow through their work quicker will have more time for the rest of life not sitting in a cubicle trying to look busy anymore. Plus, you’re no longer spending time commuting – bonus. 

6.    Public speaking: Your ability to speak in front of a group just got much more important, albeit a virtual group. What were small office conversations or meetings are increasingly turning into large Zoom calls. Introverts be warned this isn’t going to change. The sooner you get comfortable seeing your face on camera, the better. Public speaking and presenting will become one of the most important intangible professional skills.

I encourage you to stop waiting and start thinking about how you’re going to own your future.