Do you want to be a victim or an actor?
This is the question to ask in a recession. The truth is, rough seasons like recessions can be seen as challenges or opportunities. To be an actor, you embrace your circumstances as opportunities to take action. You do what you can with what you have.
Think about it this way: you’ve been here before. You’ve made it through economic downturns and come out the other side.
Studies have shown that the best companies accelerate out of a downturn in this way. Who’s to say you can’t do the same in your Encore Career?
Now, if you’re specifically asking what you should do next, last week’s episode of Creating Your Encore Career was made for you. Let’s talk about the various options available to you during a recession.
Develop Your Skills
In general, recessions will go on for 12 months. This is what you should expect when entering a recession. Even if it ends up being shorter, being prepared for it to go on for a year will set you up for the most success.
Think about those 12 months as an opportunity to build up your skills. Use the time you have to develop multiple skills including new ones.
Some options available to you are to keep working, go ahead and launch your Encore Career, take a small step back and look for adjacencies to your current work, or establish a side hustle to practice your ideas while you continue to work. Starting something new like this is a way to develop your skills no matter the economy.
Digital Skills
The pandemic sped up tech adoption and remote work. This has made digital skills extremely important.
During a recession, you have the opportunity to build your digital presence and skills more than ever before. Doing so prevents you from being a “hidden worker.” Hidden workers are people looking for work who are passed over by automated hiring systems and companies due to their ethnicity, age, or another demographic. You can set yourself apart in your Encore Career by developing your digital skills.
