The pandemic has prompted us to reevaluate our approaches and philosophies toward work—not just our work-life balance, but our working lives as a whole. When the world could so suddenly change, what is that we value most?
In August 2021, 4.3 million workers quit their jobs, another dramatic step during the so-called “Great Resignation.” I have explored a variety of creative outlets over the last few years, from creating music to an online design store to dabbling NFTs. When I tell others about my various creative endeavors, many people respond that they “wish they could do something like that” and tell me they don’t believe they are a creative person. Creativity is a skill that can be developed over time, and it can lead you down paths and into careers you never considered.
Create for yourself first
One of the biggest obstacles to creativity is fear, and worrying about what other people think of your work. When I used to create music, I would ask my friends what they thought. I would cling to every piece of feedback and would be hurt when someone didn’t like the piece of art I had worked so hard on. It would paralyze me from releasing songs and the music would change into something that didn’t feel authentic. I quickly learned that when creating art, don’t ask for feedback, make what feels authentic and true to you.
Octavia Goredema, author of Prep, Push, Pivot: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women, echoes the sentiment saying, “Don’t get attached to validation. Often, people won’t get what you’re doing while you’re creating something, or even after you’ve created something. That’s okay. Validation often comes long after the hard work is done. Not all opinions are equal.” Value your own opinion and you will feel assured about whatever you create.
Try new skills you believe you’re bad at
We tell ourselves we can’t do things before we even consider them a possibility. Then it becomes a habit, involuntary: “I’m not musical,” “I can’t paint,” “I don’t understand poetry,” etc. We believe these things because we may have tried these things once when we were schoolchildren and did not immediately excel or show talent with. I can vouch for this idea of charging ahead. I began making music with zero experience, purely because I love music and now my songs are considered for placement in television shows and movies.
Practice visualization. Mehta Mehta, a creative director at an international agency, suggests, “Visualize in your mind, the moment, the position or the feeling you want to achieve. See it in detail, move around it, make it real in your mind and explore the many possibilities.”
Build a community of fellow creatives
Although people often view creativity as an individual effort, that creatives may start for themselves, many creative people I’ve talked to have a community of creative colleagues they engage with on some level or another. These circles are composed of cohorts they trust to bounce ideas off of.
Justin Gignac, a founder, and CEO of Working Not Working, a community for creatives, says, “My most successful personal projects were ideas I sat on for months, even years. The ones that kept popping back up and I couldn’t shake them. I’d tell my friends about the ideas so much that they’d finally ask, ‘That’s great, man, but when are you going to do it?’”
Inspiration can spring from those moments when your friends push you to try something new. Collaboration can also move this process along.
“Learn from the best,” says Meng Kuok, Founder of Bandlab, an app that helps those with no musical experience to create their own songs. “Listen, watch, consume whatever you can find online. Imitate, copy from your favorite artists note for note, stroke by stroke—the more colors you add to your palette by learning from the best, the more ideas and options you’ll have at your disposal when you try to paint your own picture.”
Make the time for yourself
Creativity requires daily practice, and it’s important to put in the work. Dedicating some time each day is ideal, but that’s not always conducive to every individual’s creative process. Whether it’s a small daily practice or carving out full days for yourself, it’s important to make the time.
“Every day, I challenge myself to come up with a list of 10 new ideas to grow my business,” says Ajay Yadav, founder of Simplified, an application that allows non-creatives and creatives alike to create their own graphics. You don’t have to be lifting heavy weights every day, even a little quick exercise can help keep your creativity fresh.
Build up to greatness gradually
You’ll find that even the smallest steps can lead to big strides in progress. Chase Jarvis, CEO of CreativeLive and the author of Creative Calling, underscores the importance of patient effort: “Don’t underestimate the power of creating something small every day, whether that’s a photograph, doing something interesting in the kitchen, or picking up that dusty guitar in the corner. Even for just a moment.”
No matter what your schedule is or what you have going on, it’s possible to bring your dream projects to life. When you dive in and face new challenges, you lead yourself down a path of a more purposeful career and life.
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Over the past two years, companies and employees have had to adapt to new ways of working, ranging from shifting how they serve customers to where employees work. But now, things are changing again. Many companies have or are planning to welcome employees back to the office, at least part of the time.
When the pandemic hit and many knowledge workers went home to work, organizations still needed to hire new employees and shifted to remote recruiting and onboarding. Now, says Mike Hudy, chief science officer at Modern Hire, things are changing again. And companies need to be sure they have the right talent to navigate that shift.
“I think a lot of companies [before the pandemic] were pretty stable in what they were looking for. And then, moving into the pandemic, obviously, things changed,” Hudy says. “We saw other types of competencies and questions become more emphasized—things that have to do with how much work ethic you have; how conscientious you are; how comfortable you are working independently.”
Some of that will remain, but companies have a range of new concerns and priorities as many bring employees back to the office, and become hybrid workplaces. Here are some of the types of topics and questions experts say prospective hires should be prepared to answer in 2022 and beyond:
Vaccination status
As employees head back to the office, nearly two-thirds of employers are mandating vaccines, according to staffing and recruitment firm Manpower Group. So, expect questions about your vaccination status, says executive career consultant Sarah Hutchison. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued guidance that generally allows employers to require employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated. And an August 2021 survey from Resume Builder found that roughly a third (33%) of hiring managers reported eliminating résumés that don’t include it.
Communication
As roles shift from remote to in-office or hybrid, prospective employers will want to know that you’re an agile communicator across different platforms, says Christy Pruitt-Haynes, a consultant with NeuroLeadership Institute, a global consultancy that advises companies like Microsoft, Netflix, and Zoom on workplace culture, leadership strategies, and other issues. Whether your colleagues are in the office or in another time zone, the ability to ensure that everyone is getting the message is essential, she says. “Historically, the people on the screen have gotten lost in the process,” she says.
Pruitt-Haynes says you may get asked about a time when you had to communicate the same information to several different audiences in several different ways. “Or tell me about a time you were communicating both with some people in person and some people participating online. How did you make sure that each of the audiences was engaged and successfully received your message?” she says.
Preferences and needs
In this tight labor market, prospective employers are trying to do their best to ensure that they’re offering the benefits and accommodations that candidates want, says HR and leadership consultant Omar L. Harris, author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams. “Employees expect trust, stability, hope, and compassion from their employers as well as enhanced well-being benefits, virtual or hybrid working opportunities, and to see their employer taking on the causes that matter most to them,” he says.
As a result, more interviews are including questions about what, specifically, the employee wants and needs in the role to ensure the fit is right. Some of the questions that Harris is seeing emerge include:
- How many days per week would you be willing to come into a physical office space?
- What is the best experience you have had with a manager and what about their style worked for you?
- What are some causes that matter to you and how can you see this company contributing to these causes in a meaningful way?
- What sort of wellness benefits most interest you?
Hudy says that interviewers are also likely to ask questions about preferences to be sure that the interviewee’s preferences are in alignment with what the company is trying to build. Questions about various technologies the company is using—especially communication technology—and each candidate’s aptitude with them are also important, he says.
Diversity equity, and inclusion
Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become greater priorities for many companies. Hutchison says she’s seen an increase in the number of clients telling her they were asked to provide their thoughts on diversity, equity, and inclusion in their interviews. “They’re saying, ‘I’ve been asked to provide my thoughts on diversity and inclusion’ or ‘How, as a leader, I [will be] sure to have those as pillars of my leadership,’” she says. As more workers prioritize DEI as an integral part of their company’s culture, asking such questions in an interview setting shows candidates that DEI is a priority and that the company is looking for candidates who care about those principles, she says.
Return readiness
Pruitt-Haynes is also seeing more questions that relate to return-to-office readiness. Employers are “really trying to get to the core of ‘Are you ready to be back in person?,’” she says. “We know that the answer is going to vary a little bit from one person to the next.” Employers want to know if prospective hires are truly at the point where they’re ready to re-engage in person, she says. “Different employers have different preferences.”
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