New Year New Job?
It's that time of year when some people start to think about the next step in their career.
But making the most of your career takes more than just landing your next role…
Recently several people have asked me to help them apply for their next role. The start of the new year gets people thinking. The reasons for looking are varied:
- they have heard about a role. Someone in their network told them about a job. Or more likely, that standard job alert they set in Seek or LinkedIn some time ago has dropped an ad into their email
- there is a restructure at work. They want to apply for one of the remaining internal roles, or be ready in case their role is retrenched
- they don’t want “another year like the last one”.
For a very few, it is about pro-actively managing their career. We have busy jobs and busy lives. It is all too easy to be so focused on your current job that you don’t make time to plan what’s next.
Also, we have a natural desire to belong. We spend so much time at work(1), it becomes one of the key places we belong. This builds a sense of loyalty to the company. An admirable quality that can pay dividends. Even so, a sense of loyalty should not stop you from managing your career. In larger companies, this could be planning an internal move. Sometimes it means looking elsewhere.
If you want to make the most of your career, here are three practical steps to help you get there:
Some people have a long-term plan. They know they want to be in 5 and 10 years’ time. Or they know they want to be CEO or an Executive, what size company they want to work in and what industry.
Others cannot see that far. They may be less futuristic(2) or may not understand their own potential. But everyone can consider what could be the next step in their career. What would your next step be? Add to that a timeframe for when you would like that next step to happen and you have a goal. Write it down. Tell key people. Put in place a way to remind yourself to keep moving towards your goal.
I see this as cycle with 5 elements:
- do great work in your current role,
- build the skills and experience to prepare you for your next career goal,
- network internally and externally without wasting your time,
- have an effective resume, LinkedIn profile and interview technique that positions you to land your next role,
- settle into your new role quickly then start again.
I’ll expand on this in my next article.
We all have our unique combination of strengths and personality preferences. When you know your strengths you can make the most of them. You also become aware of the strengths of others. This enables you to value the differences in others and collaborate to achieve more. If we all had roles that played to our strengths we would perform better and be happier at work(2).
Now to action. What will your next step be?
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