Deciding what to do about your career resolutions this year?
by Karen Adamedes
Welcome to 2018! Another fresh and still sparkly year.
I just did an online search for “New Year Resolutions” and got over 56 million results. Although I do think 55 million of these are selling weight loss and fitness programs it suggests that many of us take the calendar turning over to a new year as a chance to take a breath and think about what we want to do differently.
What career success looks like for you is entirely up to you (scary isn’t it?). It could be more money, more balance, more networking, more skills, more responsibility, more flexibility…(you get the picture)…it’s up to you to define success for you.
If you’re not sure what you want to do differently here are some ideas from an earlier post of questions you can ask yourself to work out what you really want.
If you do know what your goals are, here are some quick tips for a few scenarios of what you might like more of in your career:
More Money
- Evaluate if you should/could be paid more for your current position. If so, schedule a meeting with your manager.
- Don’t just ask for a raise… ask what you could do in order for a promotion or an increase in salary to be possible. Work out a plan and a time frame with your manager and then do it.
- If your company is not willing to pay you more or help you advance – consider options with another organization.
- Be realistic with your expectations. You may need to do something different. Think about the additional skills you might need or if it’s time for an alternative career.
More Responsibility
- Is it a promotion that you aspire to, payment of a bonus or simply the satisfaction of more interesting work? Understand your motivation.
- Ask. When you understand what you want and why – asking your manager to give you more responsibility will usually lead to being given additional tasks (if not straight away – in the longer term) or feedback about why it’s not possible now (which give you insights about if you need some patience or a Plan B) and at the very least, a conversation about your career.
- Help a colleague out. Often the best way to show you can do more is..show you can do more.
More Skills
- Find a mentor. They know stuff and will share it with you.
- Network. Within or outside of your company – it doesn’t really matter – it’s amazing what you can learn when you talk to people.
- Read. Blogs, books, magazines – in your field, related or irrelevant. You can always learn something new. Worst case scenario you might expand your vocabulary, have a laugh or be inspired to find something else!
- Formal training. If you need a specific skill – go and learn it.
- Learn your craft. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to move onwards and upwards in your career. Make sure that you have mastered your current role – this will set you up with a much greater chance for success for what you want to do next.
Whatever your goals are for this year…think of some ideas and options to achieve them. Write a list on your phone, talk to a friend. Work out what you want. Have a plan to take you beyond the freshness of the New Year. And then, do something about it.
Happy 2018 Career Crew!
Karen
P.S. My resolution is to write more…so lots of tips, blogs (and a couple of books, well maybe one) headed your way in 2018!
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Karen Adamedes is an experienced executive, author and career-tipster. In her most recent book ‘Professional in Pajamas: 101 Tips for Working from Home’ Karen shares many of the insights she has gained during a decade of working from home, where she has negotiated multi-million dollar deals, led national teams and delivered major projects. She does admit to sometimes working in her pajamas.
Excellent and intelligently written post … this will help me out of the funk I’ve found myself in lately .. thanks!
Glad to hear it helped! – Karen