Embracing change

Although change can often feel scary, it also offers many opportunities to learn, develop and move forward, if we can just learn to embrace it. Onon Sukhbaatar, Chevening Alumni and Senior Advisor at the British Embassy in Mongolia, shares her best advice for how to embrace change for career development.

1. Develop expert knowledge in a particular area in your field

In recent years, the job market has become increasingly competitive. This has driven change in the types of skill sets employers are looking for.

Generalists tend to have a broad range of skills across a variety of disciplines within their field. Specialists on the other hand tend to have a specific set of skills within a particular area of their work.

Although being a generalist can be useful if you’re at the beginning of your career and still deciding how you’d like to specialise, having a specific skillset gives you a much better edge to compete successfully in the job market.

My advice, particularly if you’re hoping to work internationally, is to become a master by developing expert knowledge in a particular area in your field.

2. Take every opportunity to learn something new

Learning new skills is crucial to keep up with rapidly changing working environments. To stay relevant, we now need to get out of our comfort zones more often, and seek ways to improve ourselves wherever possible.

Look for ways to broaden your perspectives, have new experiences and never stop learning!