What would need to happen for society to have a normalised expectation that people have multiple careers in their lifetime? 

Spurred on by the learnings and partners from our Careers can change campaign, which aims to inspire people to see that they can change careers successfully, I have been listening furiously to podcasts old and new on this topic.  Whilst the super practical weekly Squiggly Careers instalments and thought provocateur Avivah Wittenberg Cox ‘s regular 4 Quarter Lives, have become staples of my playlist,  one of the most surprising and interesting was ‘Thank you, next: breaking up with the job for life’ from Ed Miliband’s Reasons to be Cheerful. The varied experiences and reflections from among others Lucy Kellaway, ex-FT journalist and co-founder of Now Teach and Dr Ali Budjanovcanin, from King’s College London alongside powerful potential policy recommendations, helped crystallise much of scale and shape of change needed to deliver a cultural change in how we navigate successful careers.

Multiple careers is a key opportunity of longer lives. But what would make career changes as frictionless and successful as possible? And what’s achievable?

Squiggly career expectations

We would have replaced the old expectation of a ‘job for life’ with a new expectation of multiple careers over longer lives.  Whilst many people’s reality and ambition is a squiggly career, the idea that you set out on a linear career path, with progression based on promotions, sticks stubbornly in our collective psyche.  This is as true for individuals as it is for leaders, managers and recruiters. If we specifically set out to prepare people for doing at least 2 or 3 quite different careers in their lifetimes, then we could build in expectations that there will be periods of retraining and of starting over again, and plan for periods of potentially not earning or earning less. And we could expect employers to enable that in how they recruit, develop and progress colleagues.

Adult careers advice and guidance

It would be commonplace for all working adults to access good quality careers advice and guidance throughout their careers.  This would be supported by a government all-age careers strategy as set out in the Careers Guidance Guarantee, as well as a thriving mix of providers across commercial, voluntary and social enterprise sectors.  The recent Investing in Careers report estimates that current government investment is equivalent to £26 per adult per year, compared to £35 in 2009 (adjusted for inflation), and makes a strong costed argument for this to be increased.   

Career change entry routes and retraining opportunities

More professions would have established entry routes for experienced workers who are changing career working hand in glove with a vibrant and flexible range adult education opportunities that support and enable retraining for different careers at all ages.  Our research has found that individuals want help to ‘derisk’ career moves as well as demand for courses and training to have strong links to job opportunities. 60% of people agreed that government should only expect people to be willing to retrain if they are guaranteed employment afterwards. The FT recently highlighted developments in approaches taken by employers like Octopus, colleges and the recruitment industry to fill the green skills gap.  And we have the brilliant Now Teach, who have helped the over 55s to account for the biggest rise in new trainee teachers.  And the recently launched Now Foster. But where are all the replica ‘Now This’ organisations for other sectors, particularly in hard to recruit industries?

Financial support when career switching

There would be a range of financial options that support, or stronger still incentivise people to change career, and tools that support people to calculate and plan their finances through periods of change. The Lifelong Loan Entitlement has a role to play here but our polling previously found that it made no statistically significant difference in whether participants would retrain or not.  Perhaps employer investment in outplacement services could play a greater role here too? 

The language of career change

The words we use are important, so the final big societal shift would be to have a clearer language describing and enabling different career changes, making it easier for non-experts to consider and recognise their options.  Career changes come in many shapes and forms, whether doing a similar role in a different way, for example going freelance, moving to a totally different role potentially in the same organisation, or setting up a totally new side-hustle.  Personally I love the 4 different career possibilities from our friends at Amazing If who urge people to consider moves in terms of the (i) obvious, and (ii) ambitious, as well as a (iii) pivot, or (iv) dream. 

Do you agree?  What have we missed?

If you are considering a career change yourself find out how our Careers can change partners can help you.