Reconstructing Herd Mentality for Careers of Future

 The world is flat but air travel is not available. The economy is planetary but pandemic made it local. Indian academia was trying to avoid and ignore the debate on online education whereas it established itself as a necessity. Work from home was a luxury and needed special sanctions, today it is essential and even mandatory for some job roles.

Many are walking away from their jobs as the pandemic forced people to reevaluate their relationship with the job and their employers. "The Great Resignation" indicates the confluence of many factors shaped by the pandemic. Employers are forced to rethink ways to engage the workforce to stop attrition. The migration of the workforce indicates disruption of work centrality and peripheral values. The way out can be strengthening the core which will lead to more job satisfaction. We humans should dedicate more towards building skills for the unimaginable. The way out is building the core human values.

Developing a stronger Personal Career Immune System is the need of the hour rather than building muscle in one’s domain. Career Resilience is key to staying in good shape at all levels of your career. Vision, clarity and adaptability for business context and content is a must for fresh graduates.

Career adaptability is going against the herd mentality. Animals move in herds to protect themselves from predators and humans started doing the same forgetting the intellect bestowed on them by nature. In today’s time when youth in India either opts to study engineering or commerce doesn’t seem like having a third option, often ignoring their own feelings in the process. 

We are hard-wired to herd. Non-conformity triggers panic. People are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviours on a largely emotional, rather than rational, basis. Youth is largely influenced by emotion and instinct, rather than by their own independent analysis.

 

Personal vision should be broad enough to include a contingency plan. Strategic thinking is imperative. Understanding the context in which we are acting and evaluating the options to make decisions. As emotions have a great impact on cognition, decision making requires Cognitive Reconstruction. Cognitive restructuring is useful for understanding what lies behind our fears, fears that may undermine our performance, or damage our relationships with other people.

Prioritising mind over moods of panic, fear, frustration, anxiety and dejection require a reappraisal of our thought patterns. Mindfulness helps to identify the mood and focused thought to process the negative into affirmative takes effort and energy. Identifying triggers of negative thoughts experienced in a given situation is the primary step for cognitive reconstruction. Listing down pieces of evidence that favour and contradict your HOT thoughts help to balance mood and aid decision making.

Holistic knowledge of world economics, local government politics, local innovations and global trends along with self-awareness is the key to Career Adaptability. Focusing on what is in your control and aligning career goals with things that matter could provide clarity and agility to thrive in times of disruption. Accumulating a portfolio of required skills in the age of remote jobs where organizations are focused on right sizing is essential. With the changing operating economic ground rules where maintaining employability is the personal responsibility along with marketing self to the employers. Gen Zers need to tell their stories to connect, to have a sense of fulfilment and to feel worthy.