Create Your Career Strategy In Ten (10) Steps
Making a decision on what you want to do
in the future can often be difficult. Career strategy simply means developing
series of actions that you will take each day on your career goals in order to
achieve them. You need to decide where you want to take your career, what the
options available are, and how you can make an informed decision on the right
career path for you. How do you attain your career goals?
This is to develop or come out with career strategies in a manner as discussed
below.
Developing a career strategy starts with
assessing yourself to know your strengths and weaknesses. Before you can start
to explore the right areas, you need to focus on yourself. Also, you need to
know the things you are really passionate about, your interests, your hobbies,
your career preferences, your career aspirations. You need to consider; what
your strengths and weaknesses are? What motivates you in the workplace?
Assessing yourself is a combination of what you are good at and enjoys doing, your
motivations and interests as well.
Since your career or work turns to be a
greater part of your life, you should attach great importance to it thereby
focusing your attention on your values and needs as you plan and develop
strategies. Taking time to explore yourself in these directions cements the
whole process of initiating a career strategy.
Once you have a good idea of your
strengths and motivators, you need to identify your comparative advantage. This
is something that you can do uniquely well, compared with the people around
you; a strength, skill set, or quality unique to you that will fill a niche and
add value to your organization. It's important to know your comparative
advantage because using this trait or skill will help you succeed in your
career. According to George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright, he said, "The people who get on in
this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and,
if they can't find them, make them."
If you find it difficult discovering your
own comparative advantage, think back to the last few performance reviews
you've had. Did your boss praise or commend you for particular skills, traits,
or successes on a consistent basis? If so, this might offer some clues as to
your comparative advantage.
Situate your skills, interests, abilities
and knowledge within the career options you think are available to you. With
this, you find out the exact roles your skills and/or abilities can match. The
ultimate aim in this step is to match your skills, knowledge and personal
qualities to jobs you would like to do. You will become mindful of the knowledge,
skills and the personal qualities you may need to achieve your career goals. It
is important to understand that your ability to perfectly and genuinely assess
all these things are crucial to planning a compelling career strategy.
So now you know the exact skills that fit
the exact career option that interest you. The next thing is make up your mind
on the exact career. It is important to be certain and have your mind made up
because that is the energy you’ll need to go all out and live your dream.
To build expertise, identify the
knowledge, skills, certifications, or degrees you'll need to reach the role
you'd most like to have. Don't rely on luck, or on people "taking a chance
on you". Make sure that you have the training and qualifications needed to
take advantage of your opportunities.
Professional
networking is an important aspect of creating a career strategy.
After all, people can only help you if
they know much about you.This is why you need to get to know the people who can
help achieve your goals.
Remember, you can network with colleagues
in different departments, attending conferences and other career related
gathering to get to know more about those in your career field and relate as
well as suppliers and professionals in other organizations. You can also network
using tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. LinkedIn for example,
involves professionals who are branding their companies and networking at the
same time.
The only way to make a strong affirmation
and go after your dream with all the energy and passion is to set goals.
Develop simple, measurable, accurate, realistic and time bound goals for your
career and get to work immediately. It is very important to clearly define
exactly what you want to achieve and you need to write short statements you can
work with towards achieving your goals.
After clearly developing strategies to
reach your career goal, it time to do the most important thing that will bring
you result. Take action by implementing the strategies.
Do something every day regarding your
career goals, that will take you close to the ultimate goal. Here, you can
build a professional resume for yourself, which will help you acquire the job
position you need
As you go about implementing your career
strategies, you realize there is the need to review your strategies, making it
more relevant and trigger at your career. Reviewing gives you the opportunity
to make changes that will ultimately take you to your desired career.
After the review process, think through
your finding and adjust your strategies accordingly. After taking a review and
identifying areas that need some form of change, go ahead and do the changes.
This is what adjustment is all about. Making the strategy more purposeful and
more relevant to your career goals.
Building a successful career takes time
and effort. The greatest mistake is to settle where you are without any plans
of career development.The only way you can stay on the right path is to take
control of your life. Design it, work and live. If you need further direction,
training, or coaching regarding how to develop strategies for growth in any
area of your life, please check out Munnira Sheikh or
send mail to info@munnirasheikh.com
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