Build your personal brand to prepare for the workforce of the future

On Friday last week readers of The Age opened their papers to a grim report about job losses in Victoria: 33,000 full-time jobs lost since April 2011, equivalent to one in every 60 full-time positions in the state Victoria bears brunt of job cuts.

Big corporates have foreshadowed job cuts and closures in coming months.  This warning will raise some frightening uncertainty among the staff of these companies, as well as observers from other organisations, wondering ‘who will be next?’.

So what will the workforce of the future look like?

Labour force and employment trends have changed so much and continue to change at increasing speed.  Fifty years ago people approached their work with a company as ‘a job for life’, but today’s generation of employees are far more mobile and flexible – they are loyal to their careers, not their companies.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development conducts regular studies of labour forces in participating countries to identify trends.  Their surveys of Australian employees in the past ten years show a gradual shift away from spending ten or more years in one role, and an increase in job tenures of between one and ten years. To view statistics visit OECD.StatExtracts.

This is driven in part by employers offering fewer permanent roles; as budgets tighten continuing positions with benefits and pensions are the first casualty and contract or rolling temporary positions are offered in their place.  Communications and public relations services are often the first to feel effects of cut-backs within companies that don’t appreciate where their dollars might be best spent in lean times.

A bleak outlook perhaps at first glance?  Not completely.  With a forward-thinking approach, consider these events in their wider national and global context, and how this environment should influence your individual actions.

Remember that more millionaires were made during The Great Depression than in any other era of U.S. history.  Identify and respond to opportunities to stay on the front foot with your PR career and include developing your professional profile as a key priority during this time.

Outsourcing and global (online) contracting/freelance have taken off in a huge way.  Companies are employing cost-efficient specialist contractors on a project-to-project basis.

This global contracting marketplace, facilitated by the reaches of the internet and digital technology, has enjoyed huge success through organisations like elance.com and Odesk.  For more read oDesk Announces Record Number of Jobs and Contractor Earnings on World’s Largest Online Workplace

The skills and services of contractors now transcend logistical limitations – the right people can be found, interviewed, reference-checked and engaged online regardless of whether they live next door or on the other side of the world.

Similarly, recruiters and companies that are hiring can do much, if not all, of their pre-placement research on candidates without even meeting them in person. Skype, social media, telecommunications and cloud technology have changed the landscape and created great opportunities for employers and job-seekers alike.  Some employers have even gone as far to say that web presence is the only way they will assess candidates’ suitability for jobs,  No More Résumés, Say Some Firms.

This is why it is so vital to build your personal brand if you want to succeed in the workforce now and into the future.  With such a fluid job market you can no longer rely on permanency at an organisation.  Instead, take steps to future-proof your career by understanding your career goals,  building your own brand to demonstrate ingenuity and a strong sense of your vision, mission, values and ethics which will serve as a  career roadmap.  Consider a video resume and develop an online presence that is easy integrated across digital media channels.

You should be proud to stand behind your brand.  It is an asset that will be with you for your professional life, and will prove especially valuable in times of job uncertainty.