For starters, a disclaimer: About two years ago, I made a significant career change within the Joint. From the position of Assistant Director General and Knowledge Development Manager at Joint-Ashalim (a division that focuses on socio-economic mobility), I moved to the post of Data Analyst. Effectively, I reskilled and upskilled at the same time.
Reinvent Yourself
Since the beginning of my career, I have been dealing with data and impact thinking. So the transition to the field of big data, even if it raised doubts and questions, seemed to be a very logical and natural continuation of my professional development.
Alongside the ability to adapt and reconfigure a skill set, it is vital to learn and change through the various stages of one’s career. This enables both the employee and the organization to stay relevant and compete. It requires getting out of our comfort zones and dealing with the struggles of learning something new, but this is inevitable in any process of transition.
No Quick Fixes
Professional transitions do not come in an instant, but rather, they are the result of small steps that ultimately lead to the right destination. In addition, there are more opportunities to reframe a career in times of change.
Strategic planning at the Joint is an important catalyst both for employees who are at a professional crossroads and looking for the next challenge, and for the organization that seeks to sustain its values through human capital.
Staying in the Ecosystem
After two intensive data analysis courses (funded by the Joint) at Elevation, a skills training program that helps companies retrain workers, I was able to upgrade professionally without leaving my organization. The Joint enabled me to delve more deeply into data science while promoting its mission and values in this developing field.
In effect, I moved up the street (and now know the whole neighborhood ?). I benefited, but so did the Joint because 90 percent of employees who move to other positions within an organization tend to stay—at one-sixth the cost of hiring new talent!
According to LinkedIn, 94 percent of employees say that they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development. Research shows that more and more people are bucking lifelong careers in favor of job-hopping, wherein employees switch careers multiple times.
This growing trend is a win-win: It prevents burnout and high turnover among workers and is an effective retention strategy for companies who can save time and money on acquiring new staff.
For more information on the benefits of intra-company mobility, read this article in the Globes newspaper
