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WSJ Your Money Briefing
How to Put Your Career Back on Track While Working From Home
00:10:33
More companies are delaying the date on which workers will return to the office. For a lot of people, that means the career aspirations they had before the pandemic could remain on hold. WSJ careers reporter Kathryn Dill joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss ways workers can put their career goals back in focus while working from home.
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- [00:01]
A
This episode is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day, but what policy changes should investors be watching? Washington Wise is an original podcast from Charles Schwab that unpacks the stories making news in Washington right now and how they may affect your finances and portfolio. Listen@schwab.com WashingtonWise.
- [00:31]
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Here's your money briefing for Thursday, September 9th. I'm J.R. whalen for the Wall Street Journal. Go ahead, admit it. You thought by now we'd be back in the office, enjoying some kind of a return to normal and getting your career back on track. You probably felt that way a year ago, too. But as the road to life back in the office keeps passing mile markers for some, it's getting harder and harder to put their career into high gear.
- [00:55]
A
We're seeing increasing numbers of people reporting just a feeling of overall blah. That applies to, you know, managing their broader career as well as, you know, ginning up that the energy for one more zoom call every single day.
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B
So what steps can you take to advance your career from home, all while spending much of the workday in a small box on your computer screen? We'll talk to WSJ careers reporter Katherine Dill about that after the break.
- [01:22]
A
This episode is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day, but what policy changes should investors be watching? Washington Wise is an original podcast from Charles Schwab that unpacks the stories making news in Washington right now and how they may affect your finances and portfolio. Listen@schwab.com WashingtonWise.
- [01:54]
B
If somebody asked you five years ago, where do you see your career in five years? Working from your living room in sweatpants and fighting with a mute button on your computer probably wouldn't have come to mind, but here we are. For many people, working from home for the past year and a half has slowed their career path, but there are ways to put it back in the fast lane. Katherine Dill covers careers in the workplace for the WSJ, and she's been talking with career coaches, CEOs and other professionals about how workers can stand out. Kathryn, thanks for being with us.
- [02:23]
A
My pleasure.
- [02:24]
B
So, Kathryn, working from home has been a new way of life, at least their work life for a lot of people, since March of last year, with plans for going back to the office, popping in and out of the calendar. But what has changed compared to, say, six months or a year ago?
- [02:39]
A
Well, I'd say a lot has changed, but that hasn't necessarily made things any Easier. You know, initially, of course, people were in ongoing active crisis at all times. You know, they were adjusting to this new way of working. They were trying to create continuity and stability with everything working against them. And also, people were incredibly worried about getting sick, having the people in their lives get sick, or in many cases, got sick, and were, you know, concerned about recovery school interruptions, this whole host of things that many people were anticipating would be resolved clearly by now. And so a couple of months ago, you know, particularly as the vaccine rollout gained steam, offices became more confident about their return to office plans. I think people were really prepping for a much more organized congruent. You know, we're back at it. You know, we're going back to work in whatever shape that's going to take. Though, of course, people have been working like crazy this entire time. But I think people were anticipating a little bit more shared certainty right about now that the delta variant has made things consistently uncertain again.
- [03:47]
B
So, you know, Catherine, it's no secret that most of us have conducted our work lives over zoom for much of the past 18 months. What's also pretty common is zoom fatigue, which can draw on people's energy. How can workers overcome that?
- [03:59]
A
Well, it's certainly a challenge. I mean, we're seeing increasing numbers of people reporting just a feeling of overall blah that applies to, you know, managing their broader career as well as, you know, ginning up the energy for one more Zoom call every single day. And so a number of experts that we spoke with have said this is a really good time to reevaluate a little bit and to consider what you're getting out of Zoom meetings. And one of the things that they suggested was not to worry about sort of bringing it all to the call and making sure you get to talk a lot and getting upset if you get interrupted or talked over. Several of the experts we spoke with for this story suggested the virtue of follow up. So, you know, going back to a manager after the meeting and bringing up something additional or making sure that a point that you made got across either in the chat function or in a message sent after the meeting.
- [04:56]
B
Yeah. Some career experts you spoke to said that Zoom calls can actually get in the way of effective and valuable communication.
- [05:03]
A
Yes, you know, certainly. And we, we've been hearing this now for well over a year, that, that a day still stacked with Zoom calls doesn't necessarily achieve anything tangible. And so finding those ways, figuring out what it is you're trying to accomplish in these calls, what it is you're personally trying to convey and then not worrying so much about making sure that you get to talk 14 times and that everyone sees you, but being sure that you get your point across either through using the chat function if you're not able to interject on the actual video call, or following up with a colleague or a manager afterwards via email or a phone call. You know, don't, don't worry if it doesn't all happen in the meeting, essentially.
- [05:50]
B
But we're all still working every day and trying to be sure our work stands out. That's not necessarily an easy task when you're just delivering a lot of work over zoom or email. So how have workers learned over the past year and a half to adapt to that challenge?
- [06:03]
A
One of the things that experts recommended is not assuming that your good work is being noticed, which, that was good advice. You know, even back when we were many people were in the office five days a week. You can't just rely on the fact that you'll quietly do a great job and everyone will pick up on that and you'll get promoted. But even more so now when people are still in remote or also in hybrid setups, it's important to be sure that you're getting those wins, but that you're making sure they get logged as well. And one of the recommendations was don't once a month send a five page email to your boss with everything you've done. Make sure you check in every, every couple days, every day, even with a short email, a progress report, an update, so that they know what you're working on and you don't sort of fade into the background just because they can't look up and see you from their desk.
- [06:57]
B
You know, there's a physics theory, a body at rest tends to stay at rest. A few of the career experts you spoke to cited the dangers of getting too comfortable or complacent sitting in front of a computer all day at home.
- [07:08]
A
Well, they're real. And you know, many people, I think were sort of looking forward to the time after Labor Day as I either their office was reopening partially or fully, or maybe they had sort of felt like they were on pause for a long time. But now with kids back in school with this anticipated sort of return to, quote, unquote, normal, many people were gearing back up to make changes in their current job or to look for a new one. And of course, the delta variant sort of, you know, scattered all of that to the wind and made everything much more complicated again. And so, you know, the complacency is a real issue. And, you know, many of the experts we spoke with said, take one step, start by taking tiny steps. Follow some companies you're interested in on Twitter. Are you interested in what they're talking about? Watch a YouTube video about the new career that you're thinking you might be interested in launching. Talk to one person, listen to one podcast, and certainly if you're ready to make bigger changes, go for it. But if you're feeling unable to get motivated for that or overwhelmed by the prospect, these little changes can help create forward momentum.
- [08:15]
B
And as the timetable for returning to the office keeps getting extended. What are the career experts you spoke to saying about people being able to make progress in their career goals and aspirations?
- [08:26]
A
One of the things is, we're seeing people describe this feeling of just sort of, you know, the word that keeps coming up is languishing. They felt like maybe the safest thing to do or for many people, the only thing that they could manage to do was just to sort of go on pause. You know, all I can do is put one foot in front of the other and continue doing my job. The idea of thinking about advance at my job or changing jobs or starting a new career was just sort of beyond the scope of possibility. But the longer that this persists, this level of uncertainty persists, the less true it is that you can remain on pause if you do have these sort of forward looking goals. And so that's where this idea of taking small steps comes in. You know, one of the experts we spoke with, Lindsay Pollock, describes this as recalculating. It's, you know, what your GPS would do if you missed a turn. You've still left the, the house, you still have a destination in mind, but now there's traffic or there's some other input and so you're just going to have to rethink your route a little bit. And that's how she suggests workers and those on the job hunt contend a little bit with their professional reality as well.
- [09:34]
B
Also, not being in the office means that people who might normally take steps to advance their career have not had access to things like hands on training or seminars to broaden their skills. How can they work around that?
- [09:44]
A
Certainly there are steps you can take on your own. You know, experts recommended, like LinkedIn learning courses, again, the some of those more readily available digital resources. But this is also another case where you're just going to have to put your hand up and ask, you know, don't assume that your boss will remember that you're interested in adding that additional skill that you mentioned 18 months ago and bring that up, you know, get right out there and ask, and what
- [10:10]
B
about new hires at companies or maybe younger people who are newcomers to this new age of the workplace? How do they adjust and get some kind of track?
- [10:18]
A
You know, in some ways, they're seeing some advantages here because companies have been at this now for the better part of two years. And so they've had to bring lots of employees on board now without ever meeting them in the interview process, let alone during the onboarding process. And so to a certain extent, you know, companies have learned some of the ins and outs here of doing this successfully. But again, on an individual basis. As the new hire, you're going to want to actively ask your questions. You know, you can't rely on the idea that you can sit at your desk and kind of see if you can figure it out by watching what everybody else is doing. But the advantage is that people know that. And so just ask the question, how should I be doing this? What are the typical ways that we communicate about something like this? Is there a particular process I should be following? Just ask. Which, again, was good advice before the pandemic and is even better advice now that everyone has lived through a year and a half plus of these challenges.
- [11:16]
B
All right, that's Wall Street Journal reporter Kathryn Dill. Kathryn, it's been great having you on the show.
- [11:20]
A
It's been great being here.
- [11:21]
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And that's your Money briefing. I'm J.R. whalen for the Wall Street Journal.
- [11:26]
A
This episode is brought to you by Charles Schwab. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. But what policy changes should investors be watching? Washington Wise is an original podcast from Charles Schwab that unpacks the stories making news in Washington right now and how they may affect your finances and portfolio. Listen @schwab.com washingtonwise.