Find your place in the new reality, or Who will hire whom?

Gone are the days when we came to enterprises as young specialists after school or college. And then, after 30-40 years, we were solemnly escorted from there to retire. Today you will not surprise anyone with the search for a new job. Some professions disappear, others appear, which no one heard of yesterday. The world is changing rapidly, and we are adapting to its speed. But it seems that the requirements of the time for us are becoming more and more.

“Not everyone will be taken into the future” – this phrase was first launched into the world in the title of a samizdat article back in 1983 by the artist Ilya Kabakov. He recalled how the principal of the school selected children for summer camp. “This chilling phrase,” he wrote, “contains the initial division of all people, like children, into three categories: “Who will take”, “Who will be taken”, “Who will not be taken”. Who is accepted and not taken in the present and what needs to be done to be in demand in the future? What is the current and future world that will “choose” and “take” with it the professionals it needs?

Who will take

Those who are ready to offer us a job are becoming fewer today. The outside world – the very one “who will take” us into the future – has already become different. What? The country has entered into a confrontation with the West, the economy has irrevocably changed since 2013, entering a phase of complete lack of growth, so when talking about the labor market, several factors should be taken into account.

“Business will continue to operate with very limited resources – this is the first thing,” says Konstantin Borisov, founder and head of the executive search company. — Second, international companies used to gladly hire our managers, but now the main employers are Russian. And the third: if before the “buy-sell” sphere felt good, today consumer demand has fallen.

This trend will continue for at least five years. Consider that the climate has simply changed, a conditional global cooling has come. This does not mean that everyone will die like dinosaurs. This means that we need to adapt a lot. Applicants who take this logic into account are more likely to succeed.”

Employers appreciate those who can adapt and quickly navigate the situation. “Our contemporary, in order to respond to the challenges of the time, needs to be the first,” explains psychodramatherapist, recruiting consultant Miljana Blažić. — Therefore, we constantly promote ourselves — we publish selfies in social networks, share successes, create personal brands.

The era of individualists has come, when the competition among the “first and best” is very high.” What adds anxiety to our already fussy and unpredictable life. Sometimes we want to turn away from this and live quietly as before, but this is unlikely to succeed.

“To deny changes in the external world is absurd. You can sit in the middle of the room in shorts, pick up a cocktail and repeat: “I’m in Hawaii,” but it will still be minus 30 outside the window, ”notes Konstantin Borisov.

Today, in business, no one dares to make long-term plans – for a maximum of a year or two. Who could have imagined ten years ago that the taxi market would become as large as it is now, and that there would be completely different work algorithms and logistics?

“In the 90s, a taxi driver allowed himself to smoke in a car, if you don’t like it, take another one! And now, if the driver does not turn off the chanson at the first request of the client, he will receive a bad review in the electronic service, his rating will decrease and there will be fewer orders, explains Konstantin Borisov. Who could have imagined that in 2019 we would order food on the Internet and it would be delivered to us in 15 minutes to our apartment? Bots are already “working” in call centers, whose voice cannot be distinguished from a human one.”

Even now, standard legal documents are compiled by computers, they analyze a large number of cases faster than a person and choose the best one for a specific situation. Somewhere we will give way to artificial intelligence, but – good news – we will be able to service, repair, program it, we will master more qualified professions.

It is unlikely that the program will ever replace a brilliant lawyer or actor. A person will still be the main one where creativity, innovative thinking and emotional contact are required.

“Before you look for a job, ask yourself the question: is something threatening my profession and is it worth thinking about a radical paradigm shift? — suggests Konstantin Borisov. – In the next two days, no profession will disappear, but it is worth analyzing the trends. It takes time to retrain, it makes sense to do this in advance.

Who will not be taken

At risk are those who have an extinct look: complaints about life, wrong bosses, difficulties at home and other “whining” are categorically not liked by the employer. “They love applicants with burning eyes, courage, and if a candidate has no internal energy, he has little chance,” Konstantin Borisov is convinced. – Employers do not like overweight people.

Recently I had a consultation with a top manager who has been unable to find a job for a long time. I correctly drew his attention to the excessive fullness, which does not fit with the dynamic position for which he claimed. There are generally accepted ideas about a successful candidate. The logic of the employer is simple: the candidate is noticeably overweight, which means he moves little and eats a lot, which means he is lazy – although this may not be the case at all.

The same attitude towards those who look untidy: either the candidate has problems in life, or he will not be able to take care of business, since he is not able to take care of himself. But focusing solely on beauty is rather an outdated myth. After all, beauty is a subjective concept.

Good candidates, whose “parameters” are the most suitable for the requirements of the employer, do not sit on the bench for a long time. There are rare positions in narrow specializations, such as a perfume taster – you can really wait for them for a long time, because there are objectively few jobs here.

“But if you are applying for a common job, such as a sales manager, and you haven’t found a job for several months, it’s time to think about what you are doing wrong and contact a career consultant,” advises Miljana Blazic.

Who will be taken

We gladly take those who quickly adapt to changing requirements. If earlier an employee almost always had a single employer, be it an enterprise or an individual, today we have to get used to the fact that we can have several customers.

“For example, once a housekeeper was a permanent, practically a member of the employer’s family,” explains Konstantin Borisov, “and now there are convenient services with the help of which the employer orders a specialist for two hours twice a week, and different, already selected qualified staff.”

Raising the retirement age has frightened many people with age discrimination that is already occurring today. But is the stereotype “They won’t take me anywhere – I’m over 40 years old” true?

“Yes, quite often mature and middle-aged candidates are rejected. But often it’s not at all because they have the wrong year of birth in their passports,” explains Miljana Blazic. – Most Russian candidates over 50 look deeply tired, but there are those in their 20s. From the photograph, a person is looking at me, who himself does not believe that he has a resource. But if he doesn’t believe in himself, how will I, headhunter, believe? And there are candidates at the age who are young in spirit, open to change and new things. And such experienced and energetic people are in demand.”

But it is necessary to declare and confirm these statements about your productivity. “A huge number of applicants tell in colors how they did their work, but they cannot show real results,” says Konstantin Borisov. – But everything can be measured and presented, if it is not a trade secret. Diligence, assuming that the employee will be given a ready-made solution, is no longer needed by anyone.

Now they are looking for heroes who overtake the market due to super efforts. They are looking for those who are able to bring ideas and ways to solve problems under constantly changing circumstances and high speeds. Present a high level of energy – if it is not, go in for sports, it will definitely help increase your battery charge. It is worth conducting an audit of your own competitive advantages: what am I the best in the profession, what ideas and solutions can I offer?

“Digital reality is taking over more and more territories,” says Miljana Blazic. – It is not enough to have knowledge in the profession and work according to a scheme that has been proven over the years. You need to constantly develop, be in trend, at the center of change. There are those who understand this, they go to different courses, trainings, get the second, third, fourth degree.

“Alas, there are only 20% of such conscious people,” continues Konstantin Borisov. – For the remaining 80%, large corporations create academies, training centers. But the balance will change – companies are less and less willing to drag on their hump those who are not personally interested in professional development. Learn from the best in your field, try on their shirt, watch how they say they know how, how they behave, what they achieve. Try to understand what are the new criteria for success in your profession. Either we change voluntarily, or the world itself will build us into its system. And it’s not a fact that this place will make us happy.”

How not to lose yourself in this new Matrix? “To look for a balance between digital and human, if you are the first, then not everywhere, but in one thing,” recommends Miljana Blazic. – And remember that we have feelings and the queen among them is love. Love yourself, loved ones, colleagues and understand that a happy person will do the same amount of work faster and better than an unhappy one.