Obby Khan knows what it’s like to face a career shift — he was unexpectantly cut from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2012.
“I was totally blindsided by it, but I said OK, I have to have a bigger plan, I’ve got to have another vision — staying positive and working hard — OK, those are the two biggest things, in any industry, in any field, in any pivot,” Khan said Friday, sitting in his Shawarma Khan downtown location.
He had been planning to launch a food service business before his professional sports retirement, leveraging his persona as a popular football player, but still, the shift was daunting, Khan said.
The restauranteur and entrepreneur has advice for those who’ve lost work. About 74,000 Manitobans were unemployed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic-induced economic shutdown, according to Statistics Canada data, while others saw their jobs change drastically.
“We’re living in drastic times right now with COVID and a lot of people have had to pivot or shift, work from home. A couple things I remind myself… you’ve always got to be optimistic,” he said.
“You’ve got to look at your inner strengths, qualities and think, what can I bring to the table to offer someone?… Really look at that, forgetting what you do right now and just look at what your strengths and skills are.”
Human resources consultant Barbara Bowes suggested a similar tactic to people facing dramatic shifts in their day-to-day work responsibilities or who have lost employment.
“If you have a positive attitude and what I call a learning attitude, at any age, you can learn something new and if you have that positive learning attitude, then you will go into a new job or other additional responsibilities with a positive attitude that will enable you to move forward,” Bowes said in a phone interview.
“It’s really important… to redo that resume because it gives people confidence, to say, wow, I really have these skillsets, I can do this or I can do that.”
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