A career resolution is exactly what it sounds like: a resolution for your career intended to help you grow into a better professional. At Work It DAILY, we believe that you need to work on your career every day (yes, you do, in fact, need to "work it daily"). So, everyone should make a career resolution or two along with those other ambitious personal resolutions. They can be little things like learning a new skill or growing your professional network, or bigger goals like landing a promotion or getting a new job.
But how do you know what kind of career resolutions to make?
You can begin by asking yourself, "Am I where I want to be in my career?" If your answer is "no," you need to take a closer look at your career goals.
Here are five more career questions you should be asking yourself this new year to figure out how to grow your career and become the professional you know you can be.
1. Am I Proud Of My Job Title?
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You could be a janitor or a neurosurgeon, it doesn't matter. If you aren't proud of what you do for a living, there's something missing: passion and purpose.
Career burnout is real, but sometimes it's deeper than that. Our passion at 25 won't necessarily be our passion at 40. And that's okay.
When we are passionate about what we do, we are proud because we are doing what we think is important, what we love doing. We feel a sense of purpose. We are adding value to and making a difference in this crazy world—in a small, but significant way.
Every job is important. No matter what your job title is, if you aren't proud of it, and don't feel like you can leverage your strengths as a professional in the position, you should absolutely change that. Identify that one problem you want to find a solution to and go after it. What are you waiting for?
Remember, the only bad job is the one you aren't passionate about, the one that isn't allowing you to leverage your professional strengths and reach your potential.
If you don't know what your professional strengths are or what kind of work you'd find purposeful and fulfilling, we recommend taking our free career quizzes.
Take the quizzes now to learn your unique combination of professional strengths and how they can help you get better career results so you can be proud of what you do.
2. Do I Feel Secure In My Career?
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This is a bit different from job security. Actually, job security doesn't exist. Every job is temporary. Think you can stay in the same job for decades and then retire? Think again. While that may have been commonplace for past generations, today's workforce and job market are completely different than what they were a decade or two ago.
So what does it mean to feel secure in our careers? When we believe as professionals that we can add value wherever we are.
You are a business-of-one. A company won't want to invest in you if they don't know the kinds of services you provide, the kind of value you could add to the organization, and the problems you could solve for them. Here are some examples of questions that will help you determine if you're secure in your career:
- Are you adding value at your current job?
- Are you honing your skills, expanding your network, and building your personal brand?
- Do you feel confident that if you lost your job, you'd be able to find a comparable one in the same field?
- Do you feel confident you'd be able to demonstrate to potential employers how you add value?
Since every job is temporary, it's extremely important to constantly work on our careers and ask ourselves these questions frequently so we always feel secure in our businesses-of-one.
3. Will I Be Able To Achieve Wealth?
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When most people think of "wealth," they think of dollar signs and anything that you can attach a monetary value to. Our jobs help us build wealth. We're not going to tell you that money isn't important. Of course it is! It allows you to live the life you want to live. In many ways, money equals freedom.
But the truth is, there are other forms of wealth that are more important that you can't attach any monetary value to.
Real wealth comes in the form of family, friends, hobbies, experiences, knowledge, and community. If you don't have these things, money will never fill that void.
So, is your career allowing you to build this type of wealth? The intangible kind? Or are your relationships suffering because of your job? Is your work-life balance nonexistent? Do you have any time to pursue hobbies, learn, or volunteer?
Your career should never inhibit you from achieving real wealth. The best job isn't the one that pays the most. It's the one that pays the bills and gives you enough time to live, too.
4. Do I Have Any Regrets?
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Just asking ourselves this question can be difficult because maybe we don't want to know the answer. Acknowledging that you regret something in your life is the first step to making a change. Guess what? There's still time to chase your dreams!
If you do have regrets, that doesn't mean you haven't been a successful professional. That also doesn't mean you haven't had a good career. You could be the most successful person, but if you never got up the courage to start that business, make that career change, or go back to school, you'll most likely think, "What if?" for the rest of your life.
You'll never know if you don't try. Don't be afraid of failure. Life is just one big experiment, and it's your job to learn from those experiments. That's how you discover what works and what doesn't. That's how you discover what's possible.
And even if you do "fail," that's an incredibly more valuable experience than waiting out the clock on a mediocre career. So, don't give up on your dreams just yet.
5. Can I Reach My Full Potential In This Role? In This Career?
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When we feel like we have more to contribute to society, that's a sign we haven't yet reached our full potential. Do you feel like you're wasting your potential at your current job? Do you think you'd reach your full potential in another career?
Really think about what you want your professional legacy to be. It's a lot harder to get up in the morning when you don't find fulfillment in your work. When it comes time for you to retire, are you going to look back on your career and feel like you could have accomplished much, much more with those 50 years?
Everyone has unique gifts, skills, and expertise. When we focus on developing ourselves as individuals, as businesses-of-one, it's a lot easier to share those things with the world. Give yourself a chance to reach your full potential. If you haven't taken our free quizzes yet, your results will help you do just that. You may be surprised by what you can accomplish.
Before you get back into the same routine at work this year, we hope you take a few minutes to ask yourself these career questions. Listen carefully to how you answer them. You may need to make a career resolution or two.
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This professional felt like he met nothing but failure in his past job searches, but while it was a difficult experience, he learned valuable lessons that would impact his life and career. He shares his story and advice with us, as did other professionals, from a housekeeper to a night auditor.
I am an event promoter with four years experience in the industry. Though I got the opportunity to apply for my current job through networking with friends and previous employers in the industry, my career is certainly not without failures. Perhaps the most painful failure, and ultimately the most valuable, came with my very first application for event promotion.
I had been searching for a job for several months when a friend suggested I come with him to a local event he was scheduled to DJ and host. While there, I was introduced to several of the managers of the venue. We spoke for some time, and after developing some rapport I asked if they were aware of any openings in event promotion. They offered to set up a meeting with the venue owner, which I gladly accepted.
As the meeting neared, I began to second-guess myself. I was unsure of my qualifications and my ability, and I considered cancelling the meeting altogether. The day of the meeting, I was a nervous wreck. I met with the owner for about an hour, but I knew I had no shot at the job. At the end of the interview, the owner offered the advice that would profoundly change my job search, and in many ways my life. "If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will either."
It certainly seems trite now, the kind of advice you'd expect to see espoused by a self-help guru on television, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. I went home energized, and immediately set about working on the problem. Eventually, I arrived at several concrete issues that factored in to my lack of confidence, and they have since become a fundamental guide any time I find myself seeking a new job. If I were asked for advice in successfully applying for a job, I believe they are the most helpful points that I could share.
The first mistake I made was an utter lack of research. Although I had been determined to become an event promoter, I honestly knew very little about what the job entailed. Now I do as much research as I can before applying to a job, and it has helped immensely. If possible, I begin by talking to other people who hold similar positions. I try to get a sense for exactly what their job involves, the skills required, and how they feel about their work. I also do research on the internet, including browsing message boards and forums related to my field of interest. By researching a job before applying, I can be confident that I have the skills necessary to perform well. Having this knowledge also improves my desirability as a job candidate, as it demonstrates my willingness to put in extra effort and prepare thoroughly.
The second mistake I made in my search was failing to self-assess. Even if I had known exactly what the job required, I probably wouldn't have known whether I was capable of doing it because I hadn't taken the time to assess the skills I actually possessed. The key aspect of a job search is the ability to leverage your strengths and downplay your weaknesses, and in order to do that effectively you need to know what those are. If I had taken the time to assess myself before applying to be an event promoter, I would have been confident I had exactly the strengths needed to succeed, including strong interpersonal skills and a talent for organization. Of course, this process only works if you can be honest with yourself. It does no good if you convince yourself you have skills you don't actually possess!
Finally, I simply didn't sell myself effectively. It took a number of disappointing failures for me to realize just how important this fact is. Skills and technical proficiency are certainly important, but they're rarely enough to secure a job. I had all the skills necessary to succeed at the jobs I applied for, but I was sending the wrong message. Rather than conveying that I was an intelligent, charismatic, well-organized person, my nervousness and lack of preparation conveyed the opposite. Many employers make a decision on applicants within the first few minutes of an interview, and often much sooner. Since this isn't nearly long enough to communicate all of the skills and qualifications you may possess, it's absolutely crucial to manage your appearance and first impressions.
These experiences have become invaluable lessons, and I owe all of my success to these early failures. Because I integrated all of these lessons into my job search strategy, I was able to land the position that I have now. I researched the position extensively, spoke with several people who work in similar roles, and read any information I could find online. I then assessed my own abilities, and how effectively I would be able to complete the work required. Through doing these activities I gained valuable confidence in my ability to be successful in the position.
The day of the interview, I took every step possible to project the image I sought to present. I entered the interview confidently, conscious of my body language and speech. My preparation allowed me to convey the personality needed for my position, and my employer was very impressed with my knowledge of the work. Applying the lessons I learned through past failures allowed me to excel in my interview and secure the job. Ultimately, success is never guaranteed, but preparation and confidence can ensure that you present your best possible self.
JustJobs.com is a job search engine that finds job listings from company career pages, other job boards, newspapers and associations. With one search, they help you find the job with your name on it.Read more » articles by this approved business partner | Click here » if you’re a business Image from Matthew Williams-Ellis/Shutterstock
