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How are you doing on your goals for 2021? Typically, this time of year, those goals and resolutions you made in earnest in January start to fade away. Think about how the gym typically looks (when you could go to the gym) in January and how it looks in February.

But we’re here to help you stick with those goals, whether they are personal or career-focused. The key strategy is simple: keep them visible.

Have a visual cue.

You want a visual reminder every day of what your goals are. When something is in our field of view, you unconsciously stay connected to them, and this can help you make micro-decisions to keep you on track. For example, if you are trying to save up for a vacation home, put up a photo on your bulletin board. If you want to become a Chief Technology Officer, write it down and display it somewhere.

Set up recurring reminders to keep your resolutions front of mind.

Use your task manager, a calendar, or an alarm to remind you of your goals regularly. The task could be to review them or use it to block out time in your day to work towards achieving them.

Use a whiteboard.

The whiteboard can be used as a mind map to plot out ways to achieve those goals or use it as a visual reminder. Write down all the action steps needed, break them up by short term or long term goals, or use it to write down motivational quotes to keep you motivated.

Turn your device into your goal board. 

We know that photo of your kids or pet is a lovely welcome to start your day when you open your laptop. But what about creating a background with your goals on it? By doing so, you’re making a constant reminder of what it is you’ve set out to achieve. You don’t have to be a graphic designer or use photoshop to put it together. Use Canva or PicMonkey, which are free drag-and-drop design tools.

Install Momentum for your browser. Replace a new tab with a personal dashboard featuring to-do, weather, and inspiration. It starts with the questions: “What’s your main focus today?” It’s a great reminder for when you may begin to lose focus to draw you back in.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Repetition can solidify your goals in your mind and in your life. Rewrite your goals or read them as a part of your morning routine. You become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams simply by writing them down regularly. This exercise allows you to reflect on where you are and what action steps are needed to move closer to where you want to be.

Now it’s time to take action. Start by choosing one of these visual tips and implement it as a part of your daily routine. The results will keep you on track not just for January but throughout the year.

While there are a lot of unknowns in the economy and the pandemic the job market is bouncing back and 2021 is going to be a big year for a lot of us.  Here are some hiring trends to look out for as we slowly enter a vaccinated world.

Remote Work is the New Norm 

At the height of the pandemic’s initial surge, Gallup found that 51 percent of employees said they had been entirely remote since the start of the pandemic. While some people gradually returned to worksites as new health and safety protocols emerged, a large number of U.S. workers remained fully remote. By October, 33 percent reported that they always work remotely. The 67 percent who aren’t regularly remote are likely working in hybrid models with time split between the office and home. Expect this model to become the new norm, even post-pandemic.

That’s because both employers and employees discovered key advantages to remote work, and it’s emerging as a must-offer benefit for employers that wish to remain competitive. Two-thirds of those who worked remotely during the pandemic want to continue doing so. By offering candidates a remote option, employers not only have an edge for attracting top talent, but they also gain the ability to increase diversity and inclusion. With the ability to attract great talent from anywhere, employers can source from a talent pool vastly more extensive than their local markets.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Are you ready for Gen Z? The oldest members of Gen Z will turn 24 this year, and members of the most diverse and most educated generation in U.S. history are flooding the workforce. When its 66 million members are looking for work, a recent Monster.com survey found that 83 percent say a company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is essential when selecting an employer. For those looking to hire in 2021 and beyond, that’s a hard number to ignore.

To hire top talent from this generation, employers will have to put their efforts to be diverse and inclusive as a top priority — and those efforts will have to go beyond mere lip service. With so much at stake — and with many employers now having the opportunity to hire talent from literally anywhere — low progress on the DEI front will make hiring harder than ever.

Expect a Surge in Hiring in Healthcare & IT

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) these jobs in the IT and healthcare sectors are expected to grow at a faster (or much faster) rate than average and their 2019 median pay.

• Specialized Engineers – Hiring for these engineering roles grew nearly 25% between 2019 and 2020.
  • Top job titles: Full Stack Engineer, Frontend Developer, Game Developer, Web Developer
• Registered Nurses – Demand for nurses grew nearly 30% year-over-year in 2020.
  • Top job titles: Registered Nurse, Certified Nursing Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, Intensive Care Nurse
• User Experience (UX) Professionals – Hiring for these specialists grew 20% between 2019 and 2020.
  • Top job titles: User Experience Designer, Product Design Consultant, User Interface Designer, User Experience Researcher
• Data Science Specialists – Hiring for these roles grew nearly 46% since 2019.
  • Top job titles: Data Scientist, Data Science Specialist, Data Management Analyst

We may not know what the future holds, but we do know that these trends are expected to dominate today’s hiring market. Of course, with all the other obstacles businesses face today, attracting the top-talent is easier said than done. It’s also why so many of them turn to INNOVA People for help.

We use our nationwide network of qualified talent, a comprehensive talent acquisition, and human resources solution that leverages data without losing sight of the human side of the business. Our tenured recruiters are specialists in tough-to-fill positions even in the toughest hiring market on record. Contact us today to get started.

Mindset is everything. Whether you’re talking about career success, a career change, or getting through a global pandemic, having the right mindset can change the outcome.

The concept of mindset became popular from Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck and her book: The New Psychology of Success.

Success in almost every aspect of life can be influenced by how we think about our talents, abilities, and potential.  Her decades of research revealed most people operate in two different mindsets: a fixed and a growth mindset. Once we harness the power of a growth mentality, studies show that it can be essential for career success.

Fixed vs. growth mindset

In a fixed mindset, people see their qualities as fixed traits that cannot change. With a fixed mindset, talent is enough to lead to success, and effort to improve these talents isn’t required: one is born with a specific skill and intelligence that can’t be improved.

On the other hand, a growth mindset is based on the idea that your essential qualities can cultivate through your efforts.

According to Dweck, those with a growth mindset aren’t afraid to fail; in fact, they see failure as a springboard to success. In her book, Dweck writes, “After thirty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value.”

Develop a growth mindset

1. Embrace failure. Have you ever been demoted or fired from a job? View that failure as a positive rather than a negative. Think about ways that you can learn and grow from the experience.
2. Become a lifelong learner. Those with a growth mindset actively seek learning opportunities, which result in more career success.
3. Ask for feedback. Not to hear about how great you’re doing but to find ways to improve. Growth-oriented individuals are interested in developing and challenging themselves. They aren’t afraid to be criticized or judged. Once you understand that you are responsible for your growth, you will have the confidence to ask for feedback, value it, and learn from it.

Do you feel like something is holding you back in your career? Maybe it’s your mindset.

If you want to future proof your IT career, having a solid grasp of the top programming languages is essential. Yes, we mean more than one.

While languages seem to spike in popularity, others have sustained the test of time. Here’s our list of the top programming languages to watch out for in 2021.

Python

Python touted as the most favorite programming language for developers in 2021. Its popularity stems from its ease for beginners to learn because of its readability. Machine learning and deep learning applications are common uses for this free, open-source programming language.

Python is used by popular websites like YouTube, Quora, Pinterest, and Instagram.

If you’re new to Python, start your learning journey by heading over to python.org, which offers a beginner’s guide. Also, Microsoft has a video series, “Python for Beginners,” with dozens of short, Python-related lessons.

JavaScript

Java is a more complex language to learn, but experienced developers with Java coding skills are in high demand. With its object-oriented structure, this general-purpose programming language has become a standard for applications that can be used regardless of platform (e.g., Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, etc.) because of its Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA) capabilities. As a result, Java is recognized for its portability across platforms, from mainframe data centers to smartphones. Today there are more than 3 billion devices running applications built with Java.

It’s no surprise; JavaScript will continue to serve as the engine that powers the web well beyond 2021, primarily as new generations of students utilize it for websites’ scripted behavior.

Kotlin

Keep an eye on Kotlin. Built to be better than Java, and people who use this language are convinced. Big players like Google embrace its use for Andriod development.

Kotlin’s portability gives the language a considerable breadth; from mobile to server-side (via frameworks like Spring) to web frontends (via compilation JavaScript), Kotlin can operate in various environments.

Some companies using Kotlin include Coursera, Pinterest, PostMates, among many others.

Go

Developed by Google over a decade ago, Go is growing as the most popular aspiration language to learn.

Go is no surprise; its simplicity and ability to handle multicore and networked systems and massive codebases attract developers. Its also gaining in popularity among data scientists because of its agility and performance.

Companies using Go include Google, Uber, Twitch, and Dropbox.

TypeScript

TypeScript is an open-source language that builds on JavaScript by adding static type definitions.

TypeScript is easier to maintain than JavaScript due to its type of safety features and has become the go-to language for greenfield, scalable frontend applications.

In the Stack Overflow Developer Survey, some 67 percent of developers surveyed said that TypeScript was a programming language they loved, just ahead of Python, Kotlin, and Go. It could be a dark horse for a breakout in 2021.

Do you feel like you’re working more and harder than ever? It’s not just you; it’s everybody else too. 

A new Harvard Business Review study analyzed the emails and meetings of 3.1 million people in 16 global cities, and here’s what they found, we’re swamped:

• The average workday increased by 8.2 percent (or 48.5 minutes) during the pandemic.
• Employees sent 5.2 percent more emails a day.
• Emails had 2.9 more recipients.
• About 8.3 percent more emails were sent after business hours.
• People attended 13 percent more meetings. 
• The number of people invited to each meeting rose by 14 percent.
• Each meeting was 12 minutes (or 20 percent shorter) than average. 

A likely factor in the shrinking meeting time, video conferencing fatigue has long set in for many employees. Meeting in-person doesn’t seem as draining as staring at a screen of yourself. 

“There is a general sense that we never stop being in front of Zoom or interacting,” says Raffaella Sadun, a business administration professor in the HBS Strategy Unit. “It’s very taxing, to be honest.”

Sudan offers three pieces of advice to leaders of remote workspaces:

• Empathize with workers’ unique circumstances. Managers need to know what their employees are juggling to provide the right professional support.
• Focus on output, not hours. It’s virtually impossible to track how employees are using their time. Instead, managers should focus on the quality of their work.
• Expect vast differences in productivity across employees, for now. While some people find working from home energizing, many employees probably won’t be as effective as they would be under normal conditions.

You can find some helpful tips on how you can start your day on the right track and some signs if you are starting to feel work from home burnout.