Recognizing the new year is a great tradition. Having that one time each year to reflect, take stock, and plan for the future is a valuable practice for progressing our growth and development. Well, it is that time of year again to look back over what has transpired, but more importantly to gaze ahead at the year to come with anticipation and a plan.
When it comes to making our lives meaningful and satisfying over the next twelve months, our thoughts should turn to making some impactful decisions regarding the direction of our careers.
If you are considering, as I recommend you do, determining some new year resolutions for your career, then here is my list of the six most helpful practices for refining your livelihood. A word about the current economic context before I begin — the cruel grip of the Great Recession is starting to ease. The fear that has slowed employment mobility for the past two years is lessening. Although the latest 2011 consensus of economists in a recent New York Times article was bullish regarding business growth for the upcoming year, there will remain a stubbornly high national unemployment rate.
However, in New Hampshire, where we now show an unemployment rate that is little more than half of the national rate, there is cause for more optimism. Hiring will likely be more robust here than in many parts of the country. Not great but improving. And given the reported amount of pent-up desire among currently employed workers to shift to new employers as soon as possible, this will be a year when we should see a pick-up in hiring. Given this scenario, here is how you can prepare:
Know What’s Going On: Be knowledgeable about your industry or chosen line of work. Research, read, and listen. Be on top of trends, practices, and opportunities that matter for industry growth and for your own bottom line.
Step Up Networking: Make sure to invigorate professional connections by maintaining genuine communication with those you respect. Offer to help and share. Show more interest in them than you expect to receive.
Assess Your Career Track: Ask yourself, are you really doing what you want to for work? Is it time to consider a course shift? There is no better time than now to make these critical decisions and to plan for change.
Got Social Media?: One way to advance all three of the above is to engage with social media, in particular LinkedIn. Gathering information, networking, and processing the quality of your career can all be helped along with social media.
Building Your Online Profile: A huge advantage of participating in social media at a professional level is that it positions you for establishing and maintaining a strong online profile. Controlling your presentation, to the extent you can, is becoming increasingly important.
Resume Rewrite: It is a rare person that does not need to revisit their resume at least once per year. It is equally as rare to find a resume that does not need at least a little improvement. Whether you need to tweak, upgrade, or completely revamp this important document, the present is a time to get started.
Sure, there is more that could be done to improve and advance your career. Careers are like properties — there is always something else that can be worked on. But, if you are looking to break inertia and get the most from your career in 2011, then taking on one or more of these suggestions may be just the thing to help make the new year one of significant and sustained growth.
