Post-Pandemic Proof: 3 Skills for Career Success in the ‘New Normal’

Along with blue skies, sunshine, and the buzz of Brood X, this summer has brought with it signs of a long-awaited return to normalcy. In fact, this week, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that he will lift the covid-19 state of emergency and all associated mandates and restrictions effective July 1—making the light at the end of the tunnel closer than ever.

But what will normalcy in the business world look like in the coming months? The coronavirus has impacted all aspects of business and companies have faced tremendous challenges. In many cases, these challenges have translated to job functions changing and a shift in the skill sets most valued by employers. To help make sure you’re on the path to post-pandemic success, we talked to a few of our faculty experts about what these skills are and how to be prepared for the inevitable challenges of the “new normal.”

Here are the top three skills identified by our faculty:

Flexibility

Most people, no matter their industry, have had to exercise some level of flexibility over the past year, and according to our faculty experts, that’s not going away any time soon. “The one thing that the pandemic has taught us is that we have to be able to adapt to change, whether that change is intended or unsuspected.  Without an ability to be agile, employees will fall behind,” says Dr. Dave Luvison, Executive in Residence. 

Jeremy Schwartz, Associate Professor of Economics added that “Workers will continue to need to be able to deal with colleagues and clients in a variety of different modes and be able to change how they collaborate very quickly.” 

Problem Solving

 As firms begin to rethink their workforce coming out of the pandemic, employees should prepare to take on greater levels of responsibility and self-direction at an earlier stage in their careers. According to Luvison, “While organizations will continue to prescribe work to be done by employees, they are increasingly looking for people who can anticipate challenges and needs, undertake the analysis necessary to arrive at solutions, and then have the initiative to begin to solve them without direction, or, if necessary, lobby the organization to bring the solutions forward.”

Schwartz adds that in addition to initiative, creativity will be key in problem solving: “Workers that can demonstrate that they can use a variety of different tools creatively will do well post pandemic, while those that are limited to a smaller set of solutions applied to a finite set of problems will have more trouble.”

Communication and Collaboration

As companies decide how to move forward with their work models, strong communication and collaboration skills will help set you stand out in the post-pandemic world. According to Auburn Bell, Executive in Residence, “Best in class communications skills are highly important. Employees will find themselves working with colleagues in various environments, and rarely face to face.” Luvison adds that “more organizational work is being done by teams, so collaborative skills are becoming an increasingly important skillset to bring to the workplace.”

You’ve heard from our experts what employers need most from their employees post-pandemic,  so what can you do to get there? If you’re serious about wanting to level up your career post-pandemic, consider applying to the Loyola Professional’s MBA program. In our part-time, self-paced program you will learn the latest body of knowledge in both quantitative and qualitative skills to tackle the inevitable post-pandemic challenges that businesses are facing. You will expand your business and leadership skills and, as Schwartz puts it, become a lifelong learner: “Students are not just able to tackle the challenges we know about today, but are set up to think creatively and be flexible so they can adapt to the business environment as it evolves.”

Learn more about the Professional’s MBA curriculum or contact a recruiter today.