New Year’s tends to be a great time for personal and professional reflection. In addition, New Year’s is also a time of new beginnings, a time for change, and a time for setting goals.
Many people consider a career change or job change come January. Whether you’re growing tired of your current position or simply want to try something new, making sure you’re prepared to achieve your career goal requires extensive planning and preparation.
Are you ready to achieve your career goals in the new year?
Polish Your Resume and Review Your Skills
Businesses are always looking to hire the right people for their organizations. For you to stand out from other applicants, it’s important that you present yourself in the best light.
By updating your resume and taking an inventory of your skills, you can ensure your recent experience and successes are what employers see first. Taking stock of what you’ve done in the past can also help guide your future career path as well. By reviewing your career achievements, volunteer work, extracurricular activities, and academic history, you can potentially identify activities or elements of your past roles that you found energizing or the most enjoyable.
Recognizing your skills is an important task to accomplish since it not only boosts your self-confidence, but it also allows you to see yourself in different types of jobs. This is especially valuable when researching new and varied careers you potentially see yourself in.
Be Patient and Start Small
Keeping things simple is one way to approach your career goals in the new year. Now, “simple” doesn’t necessarily mean small or insignificant; rather, it means focused and precise.
By establishing particular and realistic goals (as opposed to dreaming about a general job in a particular industry), your job search becomes more manageable and achievable.
One way to be exact and calculating in regard to your career goals is to be patient. Don’t rush into making broad career goals or out-of-this-world dream job targets. Take the time to think about what you want to achieve, how you’ll go about it, and which metrics you’ll use to track your professional success.
It may also help to write down your resolutions for the year and keep copies around the home, all within reach. Don’t let your goals become daydreams. Be proactive and start planning for action. If you’re a visual person, create a worksheet or flowchart showing exactly where you are, where you’re going, and how you’ll get there. If you’re armed with a map, you can find your way towards your goal rather than getting lost in the uncharted territory of second guessing.
Keep Trying and Learn to Lean on Others
If you fall off the horse, get back on! Rejection is, unfortunately, a natural part of the job search process, but a positive attitude can work wonders. Furthermore, sometimes, people lose themselves when pursuing a specific goal. So, remember to check in with yourself.
Knowing how you’re feeling and how you’re doing during your job search is important. A good way to check in is to simply talk with friends. If someone knows how hard you’re working, you’ll feel 10x more motivated to show them your progress or celebrate with them when you’ve achieved your goal.
Overall, a new year is the time to start making your career what you want it to be. If you need help realizing your career goals, don’t hesitate to reach out to experts who can set you on the right path to success.
