Ever think about what kind of job you’d get if things don’t work out with your current one? It turns out, it’s pretty common, as a new survey of 2-thousand American office workers finds that more than three-quarters (77%) admit they’ve started to prepare for their backup career, just in case something happens to the one they have now.
According to the research, nearly half (48%) are now “career cushioning” - or exploring what kind of backup options they’ll have if their current job doesn’t meet their expectations.
- But what would lead them to pursue that backup career? Respondents say they’d be motivated to do so if it gave them the opportunity to do something they actually enjoy (29%), gave them a better lifestyle or less stress, even if the pay is the same (29%), or if they lose their current job (29%).
- While a lot of employees are considering a second career, 91% have been in their current job for at least two years.
- Many feel optimistic (27%), calm (20%), excited (19%) and hopeful (18%) about the stability of their jobs. More than half (54%) believe there’s little to no risk of them losing their current job or needing to find a new one in the next two years.
- Another 52% haven’t considered a backup career because they feel they don’t have time (27%), worry about being too old to start over (26%) or have concerns about having to start at an entry-level position again (20%).
- Almost half (46%) of those who’ve stayed put in their jobs say their responsibilities and duties have changed significantly during the last two years, from having to learn new technologies (36%) to picking up extra work for colleagues (20%).
- Overall, 79% of those polled say they’ve learned new skills for their current job, including using AI chatbots for work tasks (34%) and keeping up with new technology and business lingo (30%).
- Thanks to that, workers believe the skills they recently learned have boosted their confidence (44%), given them a better sense of job security (36%) and led them to teach peers their new skills (30%).
- Nearly nine in 10 (87%) of those who learned new skills believe they’ll still be relevant in two years.
Source: Talker