The Quebec labour market is undergoing a period of continuous transformation. Mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, the rise of artificial intelligence, strategic realignments—for most professionals, these realities are no longer isolated events. They are now part of the landscape.
Recent data from Statistics Canada confirms this. In 2023, only 36.1% of Canadian workers aged 25 and over had been in the same job for 10 years or more.¹ Nearly half—44.1%—had been hired within the previous five years.¹ Among workers aged 25 to 34, that proportion rises to 70.2%.¹ The “one employer, one career” path has become the exception rather than the norm, particularly among younger generations.
Organizations are also transforming at a faster pace. McKinsey notes that major organizational transformations, which once occurred roughly every five years, are now becoming more frequent and more demanding.² For employees, this means navigating an increasingly rapid succession of changes in structure, teams, leadership, and responsibilities.
This constant movement is reshaping the way careers are built. The traditional linear model—joining an organization, moving up through the ranks, and retiring from it—is still possible, but it is no longer the dominant path. Today’s typical career involves several employers, several roles, and sometimes several industries. Between these stages, there are also internal transitions that no one planned for: a new manager, a redefined team, or a role whose nature changes over time.
A reality that calls for a new relationship with work
A career in constant motion cannot be managed in the same way as a career in a stable environment. The reference points change. The questions change. Habits that worked well in a more predictable context can become obstacles in an environment that is continually evolving.
One of those habits is viewing periods of transition as something to get through as quickly as possible while waiting for stability to return. For a long time, this approach was effective: it allowed people to preserve their energy for more productive periods. Today, however, it can lead people to spend a significant portion of their careers in a state of waiting. When change becomes permanent, that waiting can gradually erode something essential: confidence in one’s own ability to handle whatever comes next.
The shift required in this context is to stop viewing transitions as interruptions to a career and begin seeing them as moments when a career is actively being shaped.
Committing to a trajectory rather than a position
Our relationship with work has traditionally been built around stable reference points: an employer, a title, an industry, a team. These reference points provide a valuable sense of belonging. They remain meaningful, provided we understand what they have become: points along the way rather than permanent anchors.
Committing to a trajectory rather than a position changes the way we define ourselves professionally. Instead of introducing ourselves through our current title, we describe ourselves through the series of choices we have made and the coherence we see among them. That coherence is rarely obvious while we are going through a transition. It emerges afterward, when we look at our career as a whole and recognize a common thread made up of values, interests, and strengths that have developed across different environments.
Building a career around this idea requires more effort than simply aiming for the next promotion. It requires taking the time to understand what we do well, what motivates us, and what we want to develop next. It is a process of clarification that unfolds gradually and becomes easier with practice.
Curiosity as a career mindset
When faced with a new manager, a merger, or a reorganization, some people navigate the situation more effectively than others. The difference is rarely technical expertise. It is usually a matter of mindset.
People who manage change well tend to share one simple quality: curiosity. When they enter a new context, their first instinct is to understand it. Who are the new stakeholders? What motivates them? What opportunities are opening up? What strengths can they contribute in this new environment? This curiosity gives them access to the conversations and opportunities that emerge during periods of transition—and there are often more of them than we realize.
In this context, curiosity is less a personality trait than a discipline. It can be developed through small habits: taking the time to ask questions rather than immediately asserting a position, listening to a different perspective before evaluating it, and accepting that we may not have the answer right away. These are simple actions, but over time, they can significantly change the direction of a career.
Skills that carry across transitions
Another useful observation is that the skills that prove most valuable over the long term are rarely the ones that are explicitly taught.
Judgment in ambiguous situations. The ability to mobilize teams around an unclear objective. An understanding of organizational dynamics. The ability to learn a new field quickly. The confidence to say, “I’ll look into it.” These abilities rarely appear in job descriptions, yet they are often what make the greatest difference when everything else is being reconfigured.
Investing in these skills often involves taking on unfamiliar experiences: an assignment outside one’s comfort zone, a cross-functional project beyond one’s area of expertise, or a temporary role within an unfamiliar team. At the time, these experiences may feel like detours. In hindsight, they often turn out to be the moments when the most meaningful learning took place.
Three questions to get started
Constant change can feel like an abstract concept—until it becomes personal. Here are three questions that can help you assess where you stand.
When you look back at the past five years of your career, which changes did you not see coming? This question helps reveal the extent to which your career has already been shaped by factors outside your control. The answer is often longer than expected.
What skills did you develop during those periods of transition? These are often skills we do not name because we acquired them in response to circumstances rather than through formal training. Identifying them makes it easier to recognize and communicate their value.
If you knew that a major change was coming to your organization within the next 12 months, what would you start doing today? This question often brings to light things we already know: conversations that need to happen, skills that need strengthening, and relationships that need attention—but that we tend to postpone while waiting for things to settle down.
Sources
¹ Statistics Canada, Job Tenure, 2023, Quality of Employment in Canada, published October 15, 2024. View source.
² McKinsey & Company, Change Is Changing: How to Meet the Challenge of Radical Reinvention, November 2025. View source.
