How COVID-19 changed my career plans

If the current way the world is going has taught us one thing, is that no-one really knows what they’re doing.

Whether that’s the politician in power of the most powerful nations on the planet, to your friends who post on Facebook all their successes after their school life. This idea of not knowing what you’re doing, especially when at university when you’re meant to be deciding on what you want to do for the rest of your life is incredibly scary! But you shouldn’t be scared. The world of work as we know it is changing.

I’m lucky in the sense that my degree has led me on the path of working with computers, and with that, the beauty of WFH (Work-from-home). Originally, the idea of work for me was one of the corporate 9-5, with the occasional site visit. Long hours, exhaustion, and little time for family and those closest to you. However, with the biggest shift in how workplaces are run since the technological revolution happening as we speak, companies have realised that we all have access to the internet, through which we can carry out our tasks in the comfort of our own beds!

This means that no longer are we tied down to one workplace or even country! If the job that you want is a longer commute than you’d be comfortable with in the world pre-COVID, you would most likely have to move! However, that is no longer necessarily the case, as with WFH, you may only be needed in the office one or two days a week!

This view that companies are finally being more flexible and realising that we should be spending the majority of our lives with our family and loved ones as opposed to work-colleagues, has broadened my horizons of what type of work I want to go into. With this flexibility and out of office nature, I am free to live where I want (within reason), as well as arguably seeing more people! Being freed from the shackles of an office allows for staff to be much more productive, gaining time otherwise lost through commuting, allowing for more opportunities to meet with their colleagues where and when they please – along with family and friends.

Personally, this new way of working hasn’t closed any doors, it’s actually opened them up, however this WFH way of things does have its downsides. For one, the company culture and making new friends is very hard over the internet, oftentimes feeling very forced! This has meant that I have been looking for jobs that aren’t entirely work from home, and have some in-person element to them, as I really want to fit into a workplace as opposed to just a job.

COVID-19 has affected everyone, especially us as students looking to move onto the next chapter in our lives, however, the virus having forced businesses to be more flexible has meant I feel I can take on more opportunities, fully-well knowing they will be much more competitive from here on out.