The COVID-19 pandemic has given a new perspective to many people across the world. For some women, it's made them consider whether the career they've chosen is the right one.
A new survey by AllBright Collective, a membership-based club created by women that aims to provide inspiration, career coaching, networking and more for women around the world, shows many women are ready for a change.
"And so what we wanted to do was, rather than just guess what people were thinking, we wanted to do this global survey to really try and understand how women were thinking about their careers when we emerge," said Anna Jones, the CEO of AllBright Collective. "And we were actually very pleasantly surprised."
Jones says AllBright surveyed 800 members during the pandemic, and 61% of them said they were going to be pivoting in their career.
"Now, that may mean pivoting to a different industry or different job, or it may be pivoting within the organization they're working in. But we were very pleasantly surprised that it was quite positive and women were very keen to kind of grab this time as an opportunity and make their ambitions a reality," Jones said.
The survey also showed 25% of women were already in the process of changing their careers.
"I think we've all gotten used to working in a different way," Jones said. "We're all sitting on Zoom and connecting digitally in a way that we could never have imagined. I think for many women who wanted to work more flexibly, they're proving that they can."
Elizabeth Middleton, a former teacher and mom of four, isn't surprised by the survey's results. She, too, is in the middle of a career change, starting her own business, Forward Function Health.
"It's been a major life shift," Middleton said. "I knew — and it wasn't just because of this pandemic, fortunately — before the pandemic, I was making this shift. But the pandemic just confirmed that it's the best for my family and self, and I think the pandemic has woken everybody up. It woke me up."
Middleton is nearly finished with her courses relating to nutrition and wellness counseling and is thrilled to find a career that fills her soul.
"We launch fully in 2021. However, I've had already quite a few people on board with needs with this coronavirus," Middleton said. "I'm looking forward to helping people."
"I also think that maybe it's just that we've had a bit of time," Jones said. "Admittedly, people have been juggling a lot. Juggling their households, chores and household responsibilities and their work but I think we've all had a little bit more time to think about, Well what would we like to do?"
AllBright is hoping to continue working with its members who need additional support to make their new career moves — taking newfound time at home and turning a business idea into a reality.