With the start of a new year comes a predictable stream of ‘new year, new me!’ resolutions, and with the start of February comes the hashtag #alreadyfailedresolutions. I think I’ve cracked the reason why. Starting with huge goals that would involve a complete overhaul of your life is no fun and works against us, we’re demotivating ourselves before we even begin! Making big changes career-wise can be daunting, so instead of making that one goal of becoming CEO of the world, I suggest making a number of small monthly goals that work toward the end result. One month is nothing in the grand scheme of things but it’s definitely long enough to develop a habit and make a difference to your end goal. Take a look at my ideas on how to make this year the best of your career:
Set Your Goal
First and most importantly, you need to have a clear idea of where you want to be at this time next year – whether that’s moving businesses, climbing the career ladder within your current company or changing industries altogether. This allows you to keep your eyes on the prize so to speak, and prevents those ‘so what’ feelings that lead to failure.
Build Your Confidence
Career changes can be scary things, so you want to begin this journey in the right headspace. Whether that’s simply writing down 10 things you know you’re good at professionally, volunteering to help with training more junior members of staff, or trying something new outside of work, now is the time to give yourself some credit!
Improve Your CV
This is the place where recruiters can fall down – you know what a CV should look like, but does yours really present you as well as it could? Make time to allow yourself to do this. It may take you what seems like an age but it will be worth it once you’ve got it looking just right, truly reflecting the standard of your experience and giving an outline of your goals.
Re-engage Your Network
Have you slipped into the routine of telling your network all about the jobs you’re working on and skipping over everything else? We’ve all been guilty of it at some point! Take the time to reach out to individuals periodically; you don’t need to be making best friends, but a ‘congratulations’, ‘happy birthday’ or a catch-up over coffee can work wonders when you’re looking to make changes in the coming months.
Choose Your Target
Focus on quality rather than quantity – there is little point in sending generic applications out to companies you don’t know much about, keep an up-to-date list of companies you admire and hone in on them. You work in clinical recruitment and want to make the move to more hands-on medical and healthcare recruitment? Think about targeting a company with multiple branches, these guys may be more likely to understand the transferable nature of the work you do.
How are your resolutions going so far this year? Leave a comment below and let us know your tips on making real changes if you’re still on the wagon! If you’ve fallen off – get back on! Remember, resolutions aren’t a one shot deal and you have the chance to make some big changes at any point in the year.
Credit: Image from ratch0013 via freedigitalphotos.net
