What is Career Cushioning and why you should be doing it.

In a world of redundancies, automation, quiet quitting, and volatile job markets, you need to rethink the way you view job security. Gone are the days when staying loyal to one company guaranteed a secure and linear career path, with a job for life and a final salary pension at the end of it!

If you’ve ever found yourself lying awake at night wondering “What would I do if I lost my job tomorrow?”, you are not alone. And that’s exactly where the concept of career cushioning comes in.

So, What Is Career Cushioning?

Career cushioning is the practice of proactively preparing for career changes, setbacks, or disruptions, while you’re still employed.

It’s like having an emotional and professional safety net.  Building a set of skills, relationships, resources, and backup plans that ensure you protect yourself, no matter what happens at your nine to five.

The term has been around for a while, but its gained traction after the global Covid pandemic and with good reason. When the rug can be pulled out from under you with little notice and through no fault of your own, career cushioning helps you take back control of your professional future.

Think of it like financial saving, but for your career.

Career cushioning isn’t disloyal or dishonest, you can be fully engaged and excellent in your current role while still thinking ahead. In fact, the most successful professionals are always planning three steps ahead and always have their CV up to date.  It was one of the earliest pieces of advice I got from a senior executive when I worked at a very famous department store at the start of my career, he told me to ensure my CV was always up to date when I started a new job because you never knew when opportunity was going to come knocking.

Career cushioning is smart, strategic, and in the current climate, necessary.  If you can agree with any of the following, career cushioning should be high on your agenda:

• Your industry is facing disruption, think redundancies and/or restructures

• You’ve noticed changes at work (budget cuts, leadership turnover, hiring freezes)

• You feel unfulfilled, undervalued, bored or burnt out in your current role

• You want more freedom, flexibility, or purpose in your work

• You haven’t upskilled or updated your CV in over a year

• You have no professional presence or credibility either online or offline

• Your income relies entirely on your job (you only have one source of income)

• You often wonder what you’d do if you had to leave suddenly

Career Cushioning is not to be confused with job searching. I’ve had conversations with people who are secretly job searching while employed because they are so unhappy in their roles, and they think this exercise is part of career cushioning. Please do not confuse the two, here’s the difference:

• Career cushioning is proactive, long-term, and includes personal brand building, income diversification, and skill development.

• Job searching is reactive, it usually starts after something has gone wrong or when you’re desperate to leave.

Career cushioning ensures that when it’s time to make a change, whether by choice or circumstance, you’re not scrambling or panicking.

5 Ways to Start Career Cushioning Today

Here are 5 ways to start career cushioning.  Each of these can be built out in more detail however to get you started I have kept this simple.  One action per point for you to take small steps today and get started.

1. Get clear on your Personal Brand

You are more than your CV and job title.  Have you ever felt you were perfect for a role but someone else has been offered the role?  In my experience in HR and interviewing hundreds of people with hiring managers, the person who got the role has built their personal brand.  Unless the role is very specialised, the hiring in manager hires the person who they like.  Is it fair? No.  Is it right? No. Does it happen?  Every single day.  Getting clear with who you are means you are better placed to be able to ‘sell’ yourself alongside your expertise.

Action - Schedule time create a 2nd CV. The traditional CV has its place, the one that you create for prospective employers, however there is the other one that is everything else about you, that you stand for, that you know, that shows your interests.  Who are you aside from work?

2. Networking

Relationships matter more than your CV. If you only network when you need something, you’re already too late. Career cushioning involves regularly investing in professional relationships, inside and outside your industry.

Action - Reconnect with 3 people in your network this week. Comment on posts, send a check-in message, or invite someone for a virtual coffee chat (these are so powerful).

3. Diversify Your Income Streams

This is a big one and where the hybrid career path comes into play. Whether it’s freelancing, consulting, coaching, or launching a digital product, having a side stream of income (or multiple) gives you more autonomy and less panic if your main role disappears.

Action - Brainstorm 3 side-hustle ideas that align with your skills. Start researching or piloting one this month. For example, I do consulting for small starts up, I mentor other HR professionals, I’m a career coach for people wanting to build a hybrid/portfolio career and I have a suite of digital products.

4. Upskill for the Future You Want

The skills that got you here might not get you to your next chapter. Career cushioning involves proactive learning, not just to stay relevant, but to steer your career in the direction you choose. You need to be really clear here on what your ideal career would look like, once you are clear on what you want your future to look and feel like, try the below exercise.

Action - Identify a skill gap that you might have that will move you closer to your ideal career.  Commit to bridging that gap within the next three to six months.

5. Have an Exit Strategy

Even if you love your job right now, life can change quickly. Having an “exit strategy” doesn’t mean you’re planning to leave, it means you’re prepared if you have to.

Action - Create a simple plan on how you are going to build a freedom fund (three to six months salary buffer) and what you would do in the first 7 days if you lost your job tomorrow? Who would you call? Where would you look for work?

My final point to state on this topic is this - Your Career Is Your Responsibility!

No one is coming to build your career cushion for you. Not your manager, not HR, not your company, not your colleagues or peers.  The professional world is and has evolved rapidly, and the people who are thriving and landing on their feet are the ones who stay prepared and have realised that what they have always done, is no longer going to get them to where they want to be.  They’re learning and growing by pushing themselves out of their comfort zones to do things differently.

You don’t have to make massive moves overnight. Just start. One step, one conversation, one new skill at a time, because the best time to build a safety net is before you need it.

Want help building your hybrid career cushion?

Download my Design Your Hybrid Career Path Workbook to start cushioning your next career move today.