Grit and grind will always matter in the job search as much as having adequate hard and soft skills. But hard work in years to come will look much different as a does today. Partly due to how job seekers will market present themselves to the world long before a single employer is interested.

 

Many surveys including Remote.co predicts half of the population will be remotely employed by 2020. This will require a significant change in the way we navigate our careers. Everyone should imagine what 2020 will look like for their career. I have, and this is what I saw as takeaways.

Read 12 Ways to Mute Your Personal Brand and Not Get Heard or Hired

Your life lessons matter in your job search

Although hardships are not a direct career accomplishment, it is part of the fiber of your career trajectory and success building blocks. Resilience is what employers will need to see more of as opportunities are more global and the work/life balance lines burr. Navigating your career becomes the “Scylla and Charybdis” because a mobile job search is not a haven everyone thinks it will be. The cost needs an assessment whether it’s lifestyle changes or career choices. It won’t be easy. Just be ready.

 

Compensation negotiation is constant

As you consider salary as a priority, you’ll also need to look at how much everything else means to you in your negotiation package. Healthcare packages become more costly and on the fringes of unaffordable for the long term. Packages will change during the duration of one employment stint, not just from employment to employment. Pensions and social security will have changed.

Read Is Your Career Search Comfortable Yet? No? Good

A clear career trajectory ten years ahead will be rare if not impossible

Technology shifts are impossible to predict five or ten years down the line. Everything is about automation through robotics or virtualization. Time and productivity for everything are measured, so unless you can prove you can do things quicker, better, and faster, it will be harder to compete for technology careers. You will need to show it before you can consider being competitive in the market.

 

Your network is your job search navigation

Those who are vigilant and connected to their networks discover jobs more seamlessly than ever. Social proof is the norm rather than the exception. There is a clear difference between an active network and a weak one based on the relevance of your connections, and their connections. Not only your direct connections matter but also 2nd-degree connections matter more.

Listen to Preparing Young People to be Job Ready

Your team will matter more than your boss

We’ve seen the rise in teams interviewing job candidates. In 2020, a candidate enthusiasm for working at a company based on his or her projected team. Remote work as a norm will promote team branding and the entrepreneurial spirit.

 

Be Mobile, agile, visible, and adaptable in your job search

One of your options may not include physically moving, but understand roles with movable parts are interchangeable. Technology will create opportunities as much as opportunities will fade as the need for companies to alter business plans and objectives. Although the quality of your work is stellar, doesn’t guarantee its relevance from one year to the next, or between companies.

 

Career title focus signals a failure to brand

Having one job is complacency–so we understand. The problem will stem from pursuing one job. If you want to brand yourself beyond 2020, several roles are needed. The preparation to use different skills within different roles is critical. Although most will say you can’t be an expert in everything, you must offer several specialties because it’s likely you’ll have three or more part-time jobs while you’re young for years to come.

 

Failure to take control of your job search now will become more involved in 2020. By then, the cliches such as “fill out many applications as you can” and “send your resume everywhere” are heard in movies as a punchline, not as viable advice. If you want some indications of how your brand appears now, look at your LinkedIn headline and does it speak value, or does the title of your position stand out. If it’s the latter, it’s not too late to relaunch your brand for 2017.

This article was originally published on Jobs2Careers.com!