When history isn’t remembered, it tends to repeat itself. There are valuable lessons to be learned. And sometimes this is an important part of looking at those burning labour market questions that students have (even if they don’t recognize them as labour-market related). The “what can I even do with this degree or diploma?”, “what part-time jobs will help me get a better job later?”, or “what’s a good career path?” kind of questions.

We all know the current trends in labour market impacting our roles as career educators and campus recruiters. But our focus tends to be just on those current trends, like AI, the economy, tariffs, and ever-changing immigration rules. While current trends are a vital part of the equation, we must remember how the not-so-far-off past has and is still impacting our world.

An enormous event was rocking our entire world just 5 years ago. Yes, that thing. The Covid. And I’ve noticed that we don’t talk about it much anymore. Sure, it was “so 5 years ago” and its impact seems much smaller now. However, we learned a lot of lessons about career development, the world of work, and the importance of health (both mental and physical) during that time that we shouldn’t forget.

So here are 5 important lessons we learned during that time that are worth remembering and are still applicable for both the students we work with and ourselves today. Perhaps even more so as we shift into another ‘new normal’...

1. Pivot

How often did we hear this word during the early pandemic? So much. And is it still relevant? So much. One of the most important things that I really try to teach my students when they’re starting to explore or are just embarking on their careers is that they need to expect the unexpected and have some ideas about parallel pathways. Hiring freezes at that big tech company you wanted to work at? Pivot to a tech job in agriculture where business is booming. Need a master’s degree to become a counsellor and can’t afford it, but that’s your dream? Pivot to finishing your bachelor’s degree with experience working in the mental health field to boost your chances of counselling in the future while you pay off student debt.

There are always ways forward, they just sometimes look like a slide to the left or a wiggle to the right. Pivot.

2. Work-life balance

What does work-life balance really look like? Healthy boundaries. During the pandemic, many of us had to juggle too many things and some return to normal was helpful (no more sharing a ‘home office’ with partners and roommates in less space than desired or having to homeschool kids while also doing our own jobs). However, have we really learned what our work hours are? Do we still answer emails at all hours of the day and night?

And then there are the mental boundaries. How much of your time do you spend worrying about work when you’re not at work? How much of your energy is spent doing the things you hate doing at work? Now of course we all have tasks we don’t like doing that we have to do in our jobs (except of course career development and campus recruitment professionals, we love all the admin work just as much as the people-focused time, right?!).

Now I don’t have answers for everyone in each of your jobs and organizations, but you know who does know? You do. You do really know yourself better than you think, and I’m sure you found strategies to cope effectively during the pandemic that can be used or adapted to your current work-life situation to find that balance.

Don’t burnout because we’ve forgotten how to fight for the balance that’s important to keeping our mental health healthy and us doing our jobs to the best of our abilities. Put your own oxygen mask on first.

3. Lifelong learning

When we all had a bit more time on our hands, many people chose to learn new things. We need to keep doing this in whatever capacity makes sense. Maybe it’s getting a mentor. Maybe it’s professional development. Or maybe it’s teaching yourself to knit on your lunch break to get off the screens. What can you be doing to keep feeding this need, and how can you provide helpful resources and opportunities for students to do the same?

4. Social connections matter

It doesn't matter if you ‘have to’ return to the office, continue working remotely, or do some hybrid - how are you maintaining positive relationships with your coworkers?

It doesn’t matter where you stand on the “can co-workers be friends” debate, you want to be friendly with your team.

There  have been many studies on the importance of social connections, including pre-pandemic, and it would take up too much space here to include them all. Instead, I think you all know anecdotally in your own organizations that when given the preference, most students choose to attend in person for meetings, workshops, and events because they see the benefit of engaging in these activities.

This is true for us as professionals, too. Keep in mind that work-life balance we reflected on earlier as sometimes you need to find some flexibility in where you physically work. But how are you engaging in social connections in a meaningful way? Emphasis on meaningful. Just physically being in a meeting doesn’t mean you’re paying attention. Instead, how can you make your people time a time to feed your energy?

5. Priorities

It's appalling to me how during the pandemic we took our choices so much more seriously when they could have a potentially enormous impact on our health (well, many of us did). But now? We seem to have lost that perspective. I'm seeing anxiety in my students and coworkers more than when we were all worried about a global pandemic. Global. Pandemic.

I’m not saying that our current worries aren’t valid. I’m not saying that we don’t have things that we need to work through, that there are no problems in the world. However, we don’t talk about perspective in the same way anymore.

I’ve been trying to be intentional working with my students in making them think about career planning from both a short-term and long-term perspective because for some they get too caught up in one or the other than they’re not seeing the useful connections between the two.

Do you need a job right now to pay for tuition? Sure. Could it also be a job that gives you experience in a field you want to explore? Also sure. And then vice-versa. If you have big career plans, don’t discount the work you’re doing now as ‘unrelated’ - there are always transferrable skills, experiences, and even connections that could help build to that bigger picture. It all comes back to perspective and priorities.

And with all things, this rings true for ourselves as well as our students. Take a breath and get some perspective on our current troubles.

Now obviously we can’t go back to the world of lockdowns, and I don’t think anyone wants to, in order to achieve this. Instead, we need to treat it as any major global event and remember the lessons we learned during that time, so we don’t keep making the same mistakes.

From our vantage point as professionals, we need to remember how to walk the walk as well as show our students ways to embrace the learning of the past to build the best possible futures in a continuously uncertain world.

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Katelin Pietrusinsk (she/her)i, MA, CCC; Career Educator Faculty at Thompson Rivers University

Katelin joined Career and Experiential Learning at Thompson Rivers University as a Co-operative Education Coordinator in September 2022 and is currently the Career Educator. Before relocating to Kamloops, she worked as a Career Centre Programs Coordinator at Douglas College. She holds a number of credentials, having earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Career Development Practitioner Certificate from Simon Fraser University, and her Master’s Degree in Theology, Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Also, a Canadian Certified Counsellor, Katelin believes that experiential learning and mental wellness go together. She aspires to mentor students on their journeys to build their best potential into dream careers through thoughtful decision-making, intentional development, and continued direction checks and re-mapping. Outside of work, you can find Katelin enjoying walks in the park, spending time with her growing family, or curling up with a good book.