Considering all of the uncertainty which 2020 managed to cram into its twelve months, businesses and workers alike were forced to incorporate a higher level of flexibility to their working practices than ever before.
As such, it’s no surprise that the Association of National Advertisers decided that the marketing word of the year was “pivot”, whether in relation to going “from in-person to virtual” or simply changing career paths.
However, pivoting isn’t just a question of going from one industry to another, and it’s just as easily applied to digging deeper into a certain area of your own sector where you feel most comfortable. These roles often revolve around having a far more niche knowledge related to a specific part of your job, which can lead to being known as a specialist in your field. Here, we’ll explore a few of the most profitable career niches within your career that you might not have considered moving into. If any look right for you, a greater level of recognition and reward could be just a pivot away.
SAP (Project management)
Particularly when you consider the tumult of the year gone by, it is no surprise that 7 out of 10 companies “have suffered at least one project failure in the prior 12 months.” At the best of times, though, project managers provide an essential function to businesses in all manner of sectors, helping to improve corporate efficiency in a hugely significant way, with one report predicting that most work will be project-based by 2027.
However, with project management in such high demand, finding a niche is essential as a way to meet specific demands and cater to different businesses. The easiest way to do this is by specialising in certain project management software, with one of the most popular being SAP which incorporates business logic, human resources, and even the supply chain in a single package. Once you learn how to use the software, you’ll be able to choose from a range of SAP jobs wherever you are, with demand for freelancers and in-house specialists equally high.
User Experience (Design)
Any designers reading this will know just how varied their work could be on a day-to-day basis, from commercial art to photography. However, it’s online where the greatest number of opportunities are available, with user experience (UX) in constant demand, in both agency, client-side and freelance settings.
Becoming a UX designer requires developing an understanding of how people use the internet on a range of different devices, finding ways to improve the design and layout of a company’s website to make it easier for visitors to navigate. As the Interaction Design Foundation points out, this draws on a number of different disciplines, “aspects of branding, design, usability and function.”
A career in UX doesn’t just revolve around design itself, though — it takes a great deal of customer research and direct engagement with users to fully comprehend what they want out of a website, as much as how your clients want their online presence to look. That said, the main goal is simplification. UX is primarily about making a user’s journey through a website completely seamless and intuitive, whether by creating the most effective calls-to-action or improving accessibility to ensure that as many people as possible are able to navigate a site.
Online tutor
An ideal career path for anyone who is knowledgeable and passionate about a subject in any field, eLearning has become huge business in the wake of the pandemic. However, even once things return to something resembling normal, people will most likely wish to continue their studies on a remote basis, particularly if they have formed a connection to the subject, or indeed, their instructor.
And while broader subjects such as mathematics, fitness training, or languages are in considerably high demand at the moment, you could harness your niche skills to pass that wisdom on to others. For example, LinkedIn has reported a threefold increase in how long users spend on their eLearning resources, with their most popular courses of 2020 helping users to develop home working and time management skills, as well as specialist coding languages and general communication skills.