2020 - A very difficult year for so many

2020 has been soul-destroying difficult year for too many. Natural disasters mired with adverse global climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, political upheaval, economic uncertainty, family disruption, minimised international travel, and the constant looming spectre of job losses has created the flux we’re in. Those job losses are hitting closer and closer to home, and if you’re affected, you certainly have our sympathy. Hopefully, you have the encouragement and support you need now, and if you are job-seeking that it’s a painless process…hopefully. Don’t just tick the boxes, especially if a job search is involved. Go all in and give yourself a confidence boost in a difficult year where it’s seemingly in short supply. This year is certainly turning out differently, and that probably won’t dissipate soon. And now we have “new normals” (sic), and hopefully, some of them stick around for a long time. Our online world is changing us and making us.

Zoom is here to stay. Working from home will be encouraged (some of us knew about this all our work life). Not going out when we’re sick will be encouraged. Professional social media will play a more substantial role in our life, whether they’re internal systems or publicly available. Education, whether manifestly practical (via STEM) or those wrongly perceived to be unnecessary (Arts), will enrich our lives, primarily via digital means. Story-telling in all its aspects; cultural events, news, media, movies, TV, gaming will continue to grow online and become ever more sustaining. Medical care and diagnosis will be more efficiently delivered online. The standard and quality of online presentations will grow. As a consequence, I suspect we will become more uniquely identified with our work irrespective of the size of the businesses and organisations we’re involved with. Because what we have realised is, we miss us; people. Perhaps even the least outgoing and gregarious are noticing. We’re drawn to humans; to collaborating, coexisting, being in conversation, and being within the vicinity of one another. We like seeing each other. And that’s the long way of saying – get yourself a great headshot.

You’ll need it on Linkedin, possibly on other social media, and occasionally on applications. Human Resources (you probably aren’t keen on them at the moment) tend to value the headshot as a sorting mechanism. So confidently apply with your professional headshot. It gives those assessing applications an incredibly strong reason to be confident about you, right from the word go.