I am really looking forward to the day the COVID-19 pandemic will be declared over. Oh boy, I cannot wait for life to go back to normal or even back to a semblance of normalcy. This situation has had me thinking of my professional life after witnessing companies across the globe lay off people or close because of a financial crisis, and this is at the onset of the pandemic. How many more will be jobless when it is all over and people start counting losses? People’s careers are certainly going to be affected. I saw someone on social media complain about an employer that had asked employees to apply for leave, silently I thought it could have been worse; some people are being paid half their salary or being sent home for good. A young man called Nkurunziza is not sure he will have a job at the hotel when all this is over. Such a person would quickly jump on an opportunity to apply for leave. Let us talk about preparedness, no matter how hard the blow life throws at you is, you’re always safer being found prepared. This is in the sense that you can survive for at least six months without a job. Yeah, sounds familiar? You must have listened to motivational speakers and financial advisors. Also, preparedness, in the sense that you can easily get a job and fit into a new organisation because you are a competent worker! When there is need to lay off people there are those that go first, mainly the ones taking the most pay, or they that do not add much value to the business. At your organisation today do you do the work for which you studied or are you there because you are a sponge that can soak in any assignment given to you? What skills have perfected and can do anywhere else not just with your current employer? What kind of employee are you; the surviving or thriving one? IS your organisation blessed to have you or vice versa? At the height of employment, Sarah had a company car at her disposal, she lived in a posh house paid for by the company and did not plan for life after. When she lost her job she had to move back to her grandmother’s home and she who had what we could say ‘all’, had to borrow money from her host. Across the globe jobs have been lost and possibly after this experience, several people will go back to prepping and improving their CVs because they will need new jobs. What role are you going to apply for? What are you extremely good at? It is important that we ask ourselves these questions because soon, they could be reality. Well, even if it is not a resultant of COVID-19, it is a harsh reality in the job market, today you have one tomorrow it’s gone. Can somebody else find you admirable and snatch you from your employer, or will they skip you and pick your colleague? As we will be emerging from the pandemic and our professional lives will be taking the beating, where will you be standing and what would be your option B just in case the rug is pulled from under your feet? My heart goes out to everyone that has been adversely affected in one way or the other, may our latter days be greater.
