The year is unfolding amidst much uncertainty and mixed expectations, and you may be wondering if now is a good time to make a career leap.
The truth is, there is no perfect time. There’s just ‘now’ and the opportunities in front of you.
If you want to supercharge your career and become the leader of your career, here are eight tips to get you started.
1. Press the reset button
In this year’s World Economic Forum Global Risks Report, most respondents were either worried or concerned when asked, ‘How do you feel about the outlook for the world?’
The year didn’t start as expected for many people, with disrupted holidays, events, and plans. With all this swirling around, it’s easy to get caught in the maelstrom; to feel tossed about and like you are ending up where you don’t want to be.
If that’s you, it’s time to reset. This process starts by setting aside time to reflect on your goals, progress and where you want to get to next.
You can’t divorce your career from the rest of your life, so your reflection needs to consider your ‘whole of life’ goals.
2. Be ready to adapt
Next, elevate your awareness of what is happening around you.
Find out how your role, profession, industry and sector is changing. Automation and artificial intelligence will continue to affect the nature of work and how we work. You want to position yourself to take advantage of the changes.
Also, look at developments in other industries because it helps widen your view about what’s possible for your next career step.
3. Know your value
Everyone brings specific skills and ways of operating in the work they do. You can think of this as your unique selling proposition. It’s what makes you stand out from everyone else.
Being able to articulate that value and how you can help an organisation, business or client achieve their objectives is essential.
4. Become the go-to expert
An expert is known for something, having spent considerable time establishing a reputation as the expert in their particular field.
When you find your niche, you are known for what you do, and the work will often find you. Experts don’t need to hoard knowledge; they willingly share it to benefit all.
So, find ways to share your ideas and learnings. For example, speak at industry conferences, host or be interviewed on podcasts, share insights on social media, or write a book.
Workplace expert Michelle Gibbings.
5. Gather the evidence
When you do excellent work, make sure you keep evidence in an easy-to-find location. It can be in an electronic notebook, a word document, an excel spreadsheet, or using tools such as OneNote or Evernote.
Your evidence may be a portfolio, a record of awards and achievements, or testimonials and endorsements. It’s everything that helps showcase your work.
6. Fall in love with learning
Stay across the latest thinking from your profession and different fields to supercharge your career.
Plus, don’t wait for the organisation you work for to develop you. Successful people know that learning is crucial to future career success and constantly seek new ideas and ways to stretch themselves.
As part of this, balance your acquisition of technical skills with competencies, such as emotional intelligence, problem-solving and critical thinking.
7. Get connected
It’s almost impossible to build a successful career alone. Your network is vital, and you want to have a network of people who will advocate for you.
Remember, relationships go both ways, and if you want a good network, you need to spend more time thinking about what you can do for others than what they can do for you.
The more you proactively help others, the more they’ll want to help you.
8. Back yourself
Don’t undersell yourself, and don’t oversell yourself. There’s a balance.
You have to be able to sell the work you do and what you’ve achieved, but if you want to have a good reputation, don’t claim credit for work that isn’t yours.
If it was a team effort, appreciate the group effort and detail your contribution. Also, never criticise the work or actions of others.
In planning your career, remember the words of the philosopher and writer, Ayn Rand, who said: “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me”.
