Technology can change the nature of an occupation to the point that it calls for different personality traits and aptitudes.
Procedural skills are partly replaced by technical literacy and most importantly a new set of business and soft skills, such as communication, building relationships, critical thinking or creativity. The type of competencies you would tend to find in very different jobs, occupied by very different people.
For a lawyer passionate about making pastries, opening a bakery might be an easier reorientation than for an accountant to shift from crunching numbers to spending most of his time communicating with a variety of stakeholders.
Considering that such a change in role is a transition that can be completed with some training and reskilling, is not counting that personal characteristics and aptitudes are rooted in our DNA. While we can all grow and even transform, it is not a given and there must be a desire to.
When reskilling is necessary, it is important to understand how much the new role becomes a stretch job for the employee, based on personality traits and not only the disposition to develop and deploy new competencies.
Employees should be able to evaluate the gap and whether the new role is an opportunity to grow personally and professionally, or a wrong direction. By relying solely on the employers’ perspective on their profiles, employees could find themselves constraint to make difficult transitions or face redundancy.
Getting in the driver’s seat
Knowing that a job change is inevitable, and that it could look more like a reorientation than a transition, it is worth taking a proactive approach:
- Understanding the orientation of the current job
- Clarifying personal traits and how they apply to the future job
- Assessing the potential to make a transition
- Exploring, reflecting, learning and planning
Doing some research on the direction the occupation is taking and the industry trends helps staying ahead of the curve. It is also important to keep abreast with what is happening within the organization. Digital Transformation programs usually span over several years, but at deployment, the shift to the new roles/jobs is almost immediate.
Personality assessments clarify strengths and weaknesses, give insights on career orientations and provide suggestions for development. Talents and aptitudes are good indicators of job fit, as they are natural inclinations that can be further developed with minimum effort for maximum results and personal fulfillment.
Assessing the potential to take on different responsibilities and perform new tasks comes on top. The potential is a mix of transferable skills, personal disposition and drivers.
Finally, transitions and reorientations take time. Time to think and to prepare. Don’t wait until the new job is at the door to evaluate your next transition.