Relevance: Securing Your Place on the Mid-Career Mountain – and Beyond

This is one of my series on a new definition of “competence” and the 10 essential skills/traits for success you can’t attain by “googling.” 

Probably more than ever today, out of the 10 essentials for success I explore with readers in You Can’t Google It!, the attribute or skill that strikes an emotional chord with many people is relevance. Even 20-somethings worry about staying relevant. Change is happening so fast; occupations appear and disappear; learning pressures are pretty much continuous. This is even truer in the technical/STEM areas, though they are growing in employment demand. 

As coaching guru Marshall Goldsmith and Senator Ben Sasse pointed out in their books a few years ago, different skills are needed as workers aspire to progress from early career to mid-career and higher. And they are skills and attributes of a different nature in order to stay relevant to needs and in demand. For most fields, even the technical ones and for the self-employed the pathway to higher compensation and positions are more people-centered and abstract. The foundations are the liberal arts that in recent decades have been neglected in many institutions with regard to resources and encouragement because early career salaries are lower than in STEM. With the cost of education so high and rising, it’s not a surprise that the focus is short-term and financial. 

Yet, from the long-term demand and rise in compensation standpoint, the human relational and less tangible skills are the ones that may have the best future—and maintain the most relevance. 

The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ 2018 survey found that employers considered to be top three most important for college graduates are: problem-solving; ability to work on a team; and written communications. Also in the top 10 are: leadership; initiative; and verbal communication. 

And how are those skills acquired? Not by internet search but by dialogue and experiential education—interacting with human teachers and co-workers. You can’t “google” to learn acquire and practice them.

The transition to mid-career and beyond to managerial positions, higher professional levels and broader capacities also brings higher compensation and responsibilities that can’t be replaced by AI. And they include what is being called “super-jobs” that encompass both; they are performed by humans that understand, interact with and work together with robots. 

Mid-Career and Beyond Opportunities 

Longer working life increases the value of experience in human relationships and keeping your networks current and on the front burner, not only directly for your role and daily responsibilities, but also for introductions that benefit others and business development for the firm that employs you. Attention to these auxiliary roles boosts your continued relevance as long as your relationship skills are honed, including how to interact with and support generations younger than you as colleagues or as your managers. 

The key is being an astute interpreter of what’s behind the behaviors and attitudes of different generations and what may not be generationally related at all, but rather attributed to personal behavioral style, family influences, educational experiences, previous work environment and culture. Working on intergenerational issues for the last 15 years, I have observed that much of the blaming and hype is attributable to misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Reacting and responding to the “real story” will reduce conflict and maintain your relevance and employment value. 

Are you questioning if current skills align with emerging definitions of competence requirements? Contact me if you have questions or need help with interpreting the “whys” behind generational attitudes and behaviors and finding workable strategies to solve the disconnects in the workplace that hinder internal productivity and client relationships. 

© Phyllis Weiss Haserot, 2019