{"id":3449,"date":"2020-07-02T12:36:35","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T12:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humancapitalinternational.org\/?p=3449"},"modified":"2021-04-23T12:48:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T12:48:06","slug":"four-signs-you-are-becoming-irrelevant-in-your-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humancapitalinternational.org\/articles\/four-signs-you-are-becoming-irrelevant-in-your-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Signs You Are Becoming Irrelevant In Your Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A few decades ago, formal training alone in any field was a sure way of guaranteeing individual lifelong skills and abilities to perform tasks until one retired.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Today, acquiring skills other than one\u2019s core career proficiencies in early adulthood, say in one\u2019s mid-20s, is the rule rather than the exception. And this has become the universal requirement for staying relevant in your organization.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Employee skills and job requirements are shifting so fast that a skill gained by a student in the final year at the university or college, maybe irrelevant before he or she even enters the job market. American futurist and author Alvin Toffler rightly observed that:\u00a0<\/em>\u201cThe illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, relearn, and unlearn.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Bob Kegan, a research professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education said at a conference in 2017:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe time it takes for people\u2019s skills to become irrelevant will shrink. It used to be, \u201cI got my skills in my 20s; I can hang on until 60. It\u2019s not going to be like that anymore. We\u2019re going to live in an era of people finding their skills irrelevant at age 45, 40, 35\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Julie, a journalist who graduated 18 years ago, is a perfect example of Kegan\u2019s prophecy. She reminisces the old days when her company had all the time and almost a monopoly of informing the public.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThere was no social media, and the media landscape was very small. An event would happen, say on a Tuesday, and people had the patience to wait for two days before they receive the news,\u201d she says.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Read this article:<\/em>Four strategies to Avoid Being Jobless in The New Normal. <\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cBut now, the news is more perishable than tomatoes in the market. You have to learn these technologies, reach the market fast, and be creative in your packaging if you are to stay relevant,\u201d Julie adds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What Julie says is something akin to Charles Darwin\u2019s evolution theory of survival for the fittest which states: \u201cIt is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change,\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Truth is, if you want to succeed today in your profession, you should treat your career as a living creature that keeps evolving; depending on available opportunities, economic realities, and personal interests which often change.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If you look at a career with this open mindset, you will be able to acquire new skills that will set you apart, and enable you to grab available opportunities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In this article,\u00a0Human Capital International<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0presents four ways to help you find out whether you are becoming irrelevant in your industry or not. Your job relevancy or irrelevancy may be shaped by new technology, customer demands, or change of vision of your organization.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n