How To Make Career Planning Successful During A Pandemic
5 Steps to Identify your Career Aspirations
Planning your career might seem like an impossible task if you are currently at the end of your studies. Having spent up to two years working hard to finish your degree, you are now faced with an economic crisis and little experience on how to navigate such a situation.
Together with Psychologist Martina Beermann, Director of Career Development and Employer Relations at HHL, we have identified five questions that can guide you as you reassess your career aspirations and learn to take action. Our students at HHL are fortunate to work with a Career Service ranked #2 Outstanding Career Service in Germany rated by our Alumni (The Economist 2022) to shape their future.
Times like these call for shared learning and community support. We hope these tips will help you wherever you are right now. Don’t give up, you have so much to share with the world.
Who am I and what do I expect from life? Where do I want to go? What am I capable of? How strong do I feel?
Moving from a fear to a learning zone
When the outside world abruptly becomes unpredictable and dangerous, we all have to focus on learning to control our emotions and thoughts. All of a sudden, we are faced with existential questions: Who am I and what do I expect from life? Where do I want to go? What am I capable of? How strong do I feel?
Controlling our emotions and thoughts falls within our sphere of influence. The goal should be to move from fear to a learning zone and eventually reach a zone of personal growth. In times of an economic crisis, self-leadership is in particularly high demand.
Learning to lead yourself
The ability to control your thoughts, emotions, and actions in order to improve your performance and effectiveness is especially important now. Only those who can lead themselves will be able to lead others in the future.
If individuals come out of the corona crisis with the experience that they have grown stronger from studies and life under difficult circumstances, they are well-prepared for the challenges in their future as managers. It is a part of every manager’s life to make important decisions in uncertain situations. Therefore, career planning is of significant importance for graduates. Psychologist Martina Beermann identified five questions to ask yourself.
Planning your career during covid-19
The following three steps, which are mostly in line with those defined by international bestselling author and university lecturer Simon Sinek, are the first measures that should be taken after the crisis. Everything has always started and will always start with authenticity.
When developing your career aspirations, you should assess your life experience, strengths, and inner convictions first. According to the Harvard Business Review, authentic applicants are 26 percent more likely to win the candidate competition. Entrepreneurs stand a higher chance of persuading financially strong investors if their pitch reflects an inner conviction.
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Keeping a positive outlook on the future
Follow these five steps to gain more clarity and start the career planning process. We are all faced with uncertainty, but you do have control over your emotions and thoughts. Choose progress and stay focused on your personal career goals. If you want some help structuring your days while working from home, we collected 10 tips to manage studying from home.
Keep positive and stay safe!
Not sure if your profile is the right fit for our program? Don’t worry, that’s why we are here for you. Just enter your LinkedIn/XING profile or link to your CV here and we will give you individual feedback on your eligibility.
Handing in a pitch deck with your business idea is optional. Your chance to get feedback from one of our experts after your successful application. Just send it to: jana.vogel@hhl.de
Martina Beermann was the former Director of HHL’s Career Development department until February 2022. With a background in psychology, Martina has extensive experience in helping students follow their unique career paths.
