How to future proof your career

How do I future proof my career?

This question is often asked by members of our early talent community when they apply for internships, traineeships or roles within the ANZ Graduate program and when they think longer term about their careers.   

As we move into our post pandemic careers, the skills we have developed over the past 12 months can help set us up for success for years to come.  

Here I outline five key areas of focus along with some tips, which may be helpful to develop our careers.  

Relationship building and networking

If we have learnt anything from the COVID-19 lockdown, it is how important relationships are; the importance of connecting. When we work remotely, we miss opportunities to learn by osmosis.

As we transition back into workplaces, we are reminded of the value of incidental conversations that can happen over the desk or when we pass each other in the kitchen. The importance of relationships and connection will continue to be important.

Resilience

In 2020, personal resilience helped us to face challenges in our daily work and personal lives including responding to market conditions, increased workloads that came from additional and changing customer needs, and the personal challenges of managing carer commitments while working.

Think of resilience as how quickly you bounce back when something challenging happens, and how you overcome setbacks. Personal resilience is also correlated with persistence; taking ownership and seeing difficult tasks through to completion.

Curiosity

They say curiosity killed the cat. I’m not sure I agree. I think over the last year, the cat would have found new sources of food and a comfortable place to live and raise its kittens.

In 2021 curious minds will change the world.

At ANZ we look for people who are curious as they’re more likely to seek out diverse views and data when solving customer problems.

Developing a curious mindset helps us challenge ourselves and others to try new and better ways to achieve goals, and to think about why things are the way they are.

Growth mindset and continuous learning

At ANZ, we believe that cultivating a growth mindset helps us to learn, grow and adapt. 

This concept, founded by Professor Carol Dweck, encourages us to create a safe environment to experiment with new ideas and to understand everyone can grow with purposeful effort. 

What we learned in 2020, was that the people who were most successful were those who were intentional about actively listening, learning and adapting to the challenges presented.

A strong growth mindset helps us to be willing to see things differently and keep our mind open as well as our eye out for new ways to solve problems.

Strong values starting with integrity

We consider strong values as a “ticket to play” in our organisation.  Our values influence our actions which then lead to stronger trusted relationships and therefore better results. We need employees who always act with integrity. That means being honest and fair and making thoughtful, balanced decisions.

We look for people who will do what’s right and act with courage.

Not sure where to start?

Ask your colleagues and clients for feedback!

When we set development goals with our early talent, we encourage individuals to focus on 1-3 goals at a time over 1-3 months at a time depending on the development goal.

Focus on leveraging your key areas of strength and improving on your key areas of development. At the end of the day, it’s all about being proactive and accountable for your future.

This piece has been adapted from an original interview in Lifestyle (Herald Sun).