Trends that May Affect Your Executive Career in 2020
Unless you've been living on the moon, you know that the employment landscape has been evolving dramatically for some time. This has resulted in a sea change in what executives as well as professionals, managers, and blue-collar workers can expect as they advance in their careers. Here are some ongoing trends that you may need to take into account as you manage your executive career or write your executive resume in 2020.
Executive Resumes Must Be ATS-Friendly AND Graphically Pleasing
It has been a common perception among executives for some time that their job search and application process is immune to the requirements of ATS (Applicant Tracking Software) systems, and that as executives they can get away with dry, boring executive resume formats. Neither of these perceptions is true today.
Implications for You:
In preparing your executive resume, you or your executive resume writer will need to be mindful of both the intricacies and peccadilloes of ATS systems AND what will please the human being reviewing your resume.
Watch this blog for a more detailed upcoming post about optimizing your executive resume for both modern ATS systems and the humans reading it.
The Gig Economy Continues to Grow
We've all heard of the "gig economy," which is considered by many experts to be the future of work. As defined by NACO.org:
"The gig economy is made up of three main components: the independent workers paid by the gig (i.e., a task or a project) as opposed to those workers who receive a salary or hourly wage; the consumers who need a specific service, for example, a ride to their next destination, or a particular item delivered; and the companies that connect the worker to the consumer in a direct manner, including app-based technology platforms."
As a gig worker, you have accepted a temporary work arrangement, and you are paid only for that specific job. When the job is completed, so is your engagement. A gig worker can be anyone from a plumber to an interim C-level executive. In the case of managerial to executive-level workers, they may actually receive a salary instead of a fixed sum, but that salary definitely sunsets when the assignment is finished.
Implications for You:
This has huge implications for IT executives and even for VP’s, COO's, CFO's, CEO's, and other C-level executives who may be engaged to execute a turnaround or achievement of a specific business goal for an organization, after which their employment ends. The long-term employment with pension at the end that has already become passé has now retreated even further into our rear-view mirrors.
This needs to be taken into account in career planning. Saving and investing becomes more important to get you through likely gaps in employment, and complacency in any job becomes more dangerous to your career and financial future.
The New Retirement (or Lack Thereof)
Despite the articles you see about entrepreneurs retiring at ridiculously young ages, most people are working longer. The days of the gold watch and retiring on your 65th birthday with a party at work have faded away. One in five Americans age 65 and older are still working, and a significant number plan to work indefinitely or even "until they drop." (See Career Thought Leaders for more on this and other career trends.)
As Forbes puts it:
"The new retirement age is never.... People live into their 70’s on average, but peak earning years are your 50’s and 40’s (pay growth for college-educated women peaks at 40!). You need to be a good money manager to bank those earnings and stretch them as inflation increases and your average salary decreases over 20-30 years."
Implications for You:
As you grow older, you will be competing with much younger and usually less expensive workers. Maintaining your health and vigor becomes important to being able to continue working and competing. You may need to accept a lower salary than you did during your peak earning years. And this competitive crunch goes both ways… Those who are still relatively young will be competing with older, presumably wiser and more experienced executives.
Generation Z Rising
Believe it or not, workers born between 1995 and 2010 are beginning to rise into executive ranks. They are nimble, quick to mobilize, and more content with temporary, interim, or gig jobs.
Implications for You:
These rising executives will place increasing pressure on executives remaining in the workforce longer. Those in their 30s to 50s will be in a double bind: They will face pressure from both the seasoned executives who keep working beyond traditional retirement age and the young up-and-comers of Generation Z.
AI - Artificial Intelligence & Technology Automation
Many roles will completely disappear, and those that do not will inevitably be changed or greatly affected by AI and automation. Over 14% of jobs in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Japan are on the chopping block for automation.
This trend is so prevalent that SHRM sees developing the relationship between workers and robots as a priority for human resource departments. As automation becomes more prevalent, managing the human/machine experience becomes ever more important.
Implications for You:
You can no longer assume that the field you trained for and in which you have amassed vast experience and expertise will remain. Even if it does, you will likely be required to learn new skills, especially as related to using technology and AI/automated systems. Technology skills are now required in virtually every field.
Flexjobs points out that, "Job seekers able to promote their 'learnability' should be in high demand. With the business world changing so rapidly, employers value candidates who accept the need to be life-long learners capable of making adjustments and developing new skills."
EI Is More Important Than IQ – Soft More Important Than Hard Skills
Strictly intelligence and hard skill-based criteria in hiring have largely disappeared, and the trend continues toward highly valuing an employee's ability to recognize and manage emotions in themselves and others. 71% of employers now rank EI over IQ when making hiring decisions and evaluating employee performance. Soft skills are considered by many to be as if not more important than hard skills. BizJournals notes that “According to a Leadership IQ study, almost half of new hires (48%) fail within 18 months. Just 11 percent of those failures are due to a lack of hard skills; the rest (89%) stem from a lack of soft skills.”
Fast Company tells us LinkedIn has reported that creativity – or “solving problems in original ways” – is the most in-demand soft skill. This soft skill is closely followed by persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and time management. Other important soft skills are leadership, critical thinking, flexibility, willingness to learn, outside-the-box thinking, and tolerance of change or uncertainty.
Implications for You:
Well-honed skills in finance, business development, general management, law, etc. will not be enough to keep your career on track. You will need to cultivate and demonstrate your EI and soft skills as they apply to leading your teams, devising and executing business strategies, and relating with stakeholders in senior management, the C-suite, boardroom, investors, and the public.
Digital and Media Literacy Are Basic Requirements
Experts in Social Media and communications have been a hot commodity for some time. However, with so many workers having grown up using social media, the ability to use, evaluate, develop, and leverage content using new media to communicate with stakeholders and consumer audiences will become critical for virtually everyone.
Implications for You:
As stated by Workopolis:
"New media literacy will be one of the essential skills required as the price of admission for more and more roles. Digital literacy is the new literacy."
A Youthful Appearance Is Prized
Women have long faced the reality that looks and particularly apparent youth have a significant effect on their career progression and prospects. Today this is an ever-increasing reality for men as well.
This is especially true for those in Silicon Valley, where the Washington Post reports an executive can be considered over the hill at the ripe old age of 35 and some say cosmetic procedures are becoming essential.
The result is that many women and increasing numbers of men are paying a lot of attention to controlling their weight, maintaining physical fitness, coloring their graying hair, and even using plastic surgery or cosmetic procedures to cheat the clock.
Implications for You:
If your niche is in a very traditional, long-established industry, you may get away with minimal attention to your fitness level and appearance. However, if your space is in high-tech, digital, or other rapidly evolving, leading-edge industries, you’ll want to keep as physically fit as you can, and cosmetic surgery and procedures may well be something to consider if you want to maintain your competitive edge.