Working in the rapidly changing tech industry has made me realize how crucial it is to cultivate diverse skills and have a continuous learning mindset. These are the qualities that will enable you to pivot again and again, as circumstances change and the business landscape continues to evolve. Considering that we are expected to live to be almost 100 years old, with between 11 and 15 job changes in our lifetime, it is good to cultivate the capacity and openness to change. So what can you do to build a lasting career?
Tips for building a lasting and successful career in the long term
Choose the right skills
It’s not about the number of skills you focus on learning, but the type. Having a combination of skills will allow you to do your job today, but you will be prepared for any type of change in the future.
You may not be familiar with the term “power skills,” which simply describes skills applicable to many different roles, departments, and companies. During the pandemic, we have seen the popularity of “power skills” increase. People using Degreed in January 2023, for example, searched for leadership, change management, design thinking, problem solving, and entrepreneurship. Seven out of ten of our top competency searches were power competencies, with leadership coming out on top.
Another valuable skill to cultivate is learning agility — the ability to continually and quickly learn and develop skills that evolve your career and respond to change. If you are constantly learning new things and have an open and curious mindset, you are increasing your learning agility. The half-life of a skill is currently five years and rapidly declining, so being able to pick up a new skill in weeks or months is increasingly essential for long-term career success.
How to grow your knowledge
Competencies are acquired over time in a number of ways, including the need to practice and grow them on the job. Similarly, if you’re learning a difficult skill, like a new language or coding, it’s a good idea to find real-world applications as soon as possible, as it reinforces what you’re learning and makes it more memorable.
Keep track of your achievements
Keep track of the learning and real world experiences you are doing to show you have a skill. You can refer to this record any time you have a performance review, present a promotion or raise, or when looking for new opportunities. This record is not a resume. It’s a portfolio of what you’ve learned, the experience you have, and what you plan to do next to further that skill.
Review your record at least once a year, but ideally once a quarter to ensure your skills are keeping up with changes in your role and the market, and are still the skills you want to focus on based on your career goals.
Know your limits
When learning is combined with work, trying to juggle it all together can sometimes be overwhelming, especially if you also have commitments outside of work. While there are techniques that can help you balance learning with your work life — like small learning modules, for example — sometimes it’s okay to take learning to the back burner if you have pressing priorities. But avoid going more than a couple of weeks without developing one of your core competencies, as this could have a negative effect on your learning.
Likewise, there may be times when one ability takes precedence over the other and that’s okay too. When you review your overall abilities and feel like you have a good balance between current and future power and build, you’ll be in a good place career-wise.
Get in the habit of talking with your peers, whether they’re colleagues or friends, to see what they’re learning and what insights you can share (and vice versa). This informal peer-to-peer learning can broaden your horizons and help you discover new skills to focus on, as well as give you the opportunity to practice teaching others.
It’s worth considering a mentor or two, who can also guide you on the best skills to grow in your current role and your future goals. This does not have to be your line manager, it could be someone else in your organization, or it could be someone in your industry. Whoever you feel will give you valuable information to help you grow.
Consistency breeds resilience
His 100-year career is built on a foundation of consistency and dedication to learning. Like everything in life, there will be times when you don’t feel like doing the work and there will be times when you feel energized and reap the benefits of your learning. Keep going, because the extremes will justify the work you are doing now.
Debora Mioranzza Débora Mioranzza is the Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean of Degreed, the platform for the improvement and requalification of the workforce.