Millions of Australians thinking about changing careers after pandemic

Millions of Australians thinking about changing careers after pandemic
Staff reporterDecember 8, 2020

More than three million Australians are thinking about changing careers once the virus subsides, says ING bank.

More than a quarter (28 per cent) have considered learning new skills to insulate themselves from future economic upheaval, including those with jobs.

The report noted a decade’s worth of technological advancement and skills evolution had been being compressed into 2020 due to COVID-19.

"The virus has unleashed a global ‘future of work’ experiment on us all and businesses have had to adapt at exponential speeds," it noted.

Almost a third (32 per cent) believe it will be difficult to find new opportunities, and almost one in four (23 per cent) feel anxious about the thought of job hunting in the current economic climate.

ING head of retail banking Melanie Evans said the pandemic has caused Australians to dream about a different life and consider whether their existing skills will always be needed.

"Looking at our current circumstances, there are many questions about the world we live in," futurist Anders Sörman-Nilsson noted.

The report noted almost 600,000 Australians lost their jobs due to COVID-19 in April 2020.

The research indicating one in three (35%) Aussie adults are likely to look for a new job post pandemic including almost half (45%) of all Millennials. 

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