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IT Careers: How to Bounce Back from a Setback

By Vahid Haghzare, Director Silicon Valley Associates Recruitment &

Victor Chen, Senior Recruiter, Silicon Valley Associates Recruitment

One of the top IT Recruitment Agencies in Hong Kong, Dubai, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Singapore, and Japan, SVA Recruitment is an IT and employment agency that provides jobs, executive search, and recruitment services.

At some point in our life, we experienced the hurdles of life before becoming successful in our chosen careers. Same to every successful IT career path that many professionals already achieved right now. The political issues and the pandemic have devastating IT jobs in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Asia Pacific. Many IT careers were affected, such as IT salary rates and even some IT recruitment processes. Some workers even have to stop for a moment. Most of us go through a career setback at least once in the course of our careers.

Career setbacks can be devastating but shouldn’t be unexpected because it’s only common to experience some struggles before knowing it is the right journey to take. Career setbacks can come in many different forms. For example, you've passed over for a promotion, you miss out on a big project, you're disciplined, and it goes on your record. However, it’s not about the setback that counts, but how IT professionals recover from a setback.

SVA Recruitment highlights some tips on how to bounce back from a career setback. Overcoming these challenges will define your career in life and your field in Information Technology for years to come.

1. Take Advantage of the Situation: Self-reflect

We often feel disappointment and think about the ‘what ifs’ of the situation that caused our setback. We question ourselves if we are good enough in the IT field or the project we worked on. Such feelings can take a toll on our confidence and self-esteem. However, it’s also essential to understand that not all setbacks are about you.
It would be best if you did not allow setbacks to prevent you from moving forward and enhancing yourself to become better. What you can do is to take time to determine why you lost and what areas you can improve. After that, determine how to seize the right opportunities.

2. Instill and Promote a Growth Mindset

Blaming and feeling sorry for yourself could hinder your motivation to grow. So, it is better to spend your time creating a mindset that promotes self-growth and empowerment. Setbacks can be a source of feedback. Instead of dwelling on the negative things from that experience, you can take it as a life lesson to become a better version of yourself.
Failure is a critical part of a successful career, and how you handle it is a big indication of your true potential. Use it as an opportunity to approach it from a growth mindset. Always ask questions like,’ What can I learn from this?’ and ‘What are other ways to improve myself?’ Don't let setbacks define you.

3. Setbacks Improve Yourself

Setbacks are not always negative. Like the adage, we often hear, ‘The comeback is always stronger than the setback.’ Conquering adversity in life makes you a strong individual. Failures and downtimes are pretty common, and we must acknowledge them to take their life lesson. Failures prepare you for many scenarios you may encounter during your success because you will know what to do when these situations arise in the future.
The field of Information Technology can be very complex, competitive, and demanding. Taking failures and addressing them the right way really matters to improve yourself. Once we are in the situation, it allows us to thoroughly assess our strengths and lapses. Therefore, failures can teach you so much about yourself, your impact on the world, and how you may not be in alignment with who you are.

4. Galvanize and Empower your Team

As we said, a setback is not always about you. This means that other people may factor or have also been impacted by it. So as an IT leader or professional, your team looks up to you with how you handle the challenge. Your behavior influences how they would handle theirs. If you aren’t excited about overcoming these setbacks, you can’t expect your team to be. Therefore, act as a role model and an agent of positive change. Keep your team in the loop on progress.

SVA Recruitment Key Takeaway:

Major career disappointments happen even when you seem to be doing all the right things. Successful IT stories on how IT professionals recover from setbacks make us realize that even a dramatic career failure can become a springboard to success if you respond in the right way. Recovering from a serious setback requires insight, resolve, patience, tactical planning, and even a certain amount of courage. Without setbacks, you really have not grown at all.

Visit our Job page for more Job opportunities and the Current Candidate page for available candidates.

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Silicon Valley Associates is ideally positioned to support the continual demand from tech companies and IT Departments looking to hire in Hong Kong, Asia, and Worldwide. Please let us know if you would further advise on the above topic or your hiring needs