At the end of this year and the beginning of the next year, our thoughts turn to New Year’s resolutions. We all try to make them and keep them, and sometimes we are successful, and sometimes not so much. Sometimes personal resolution
s are for eating better, stopping smoking, or for not procrastinating. Other times, resolutions are for external things such as getting a new car or getting a new house. We think one of the most important resolutions is your career. With a good career, one that you are happy at and get paid well for, a lot of other things will fall into place. So how can you jump start your career and make your life into a better one? Here are a few of our thoughts.
Change careers
Sometimes you feel in a rut with your career and its better off deciding to make a complete change and choose something new. Perhaps something you have always wanted to do. Maybe you always wanted to become a photographer. There are many interesting photography classes and you can get coverage for professional photographers at Next Insurance. Maybe you wanted to become a chef and work in a kitchen making many delightful meals. Whatever you do, you must think about it carefully and decide if it’s something that you would truly enjoy as a job, and if it will keep you happy. There have been many studies that show that enjoying your job is a keystone to being happy in your overall life.
Improve your present job
If you wish to stay at your present job, but you would like to grow within that job, sometimes you have to take positive action. You must let management know that you want to move up, or into a better position. You can do this by taking outside classes that enhance your job and letting management know. You can also have a face to face sit down meeting with management and let them know what your intentions are. They can give you feedback on whether they think you are on the right path or not. This can also let you know if there is a future for this job and whether you need to go look for another.
Change companies
If you enjoy the work you do, but you are not happy at the company you work for. You can often get what we call a sideways promotion. Start looking for a new job and putting your resume out there, but aim high. This may be an opportunity for you to have an increase in salary. If you are working presently, there is no harm in going for a much higher position, and asking for what you might think are unreasonable wages. If they say no, there is no loss to you as you already have a job. After you throw in enough lines for the fish and you get one to bite, you may suddenly find yourself in a dream job that you never expected you would have.
It’s a very good idea to get a good LinkedIn profile. It may not seem like much, but if you are going for any higher positions, this is where people will look to check you out. We suggest taking a professional course and putting up a great LinkedIn profile. This is, after all, the face that you will show potential employers. Just be careful not to put anything on your profile that you might not want your present employer to see.
Contacts, contacts, contacts
Did we say contacts? One of the most important resources you can have to jumpstart your career are contacts. The more people you know and keep in contact with, the more chances you have of finding that dream job that you want. When you are ready for a career move, contact everyone you know and let them know you are looking to move. It’s not a bad idea to join any social or business organizations as well so you can increase the amount of contacts that you have. Very often you will have opportunities that come to you that you can pass on to others that you know, and over time they will reciprocate back. We cannot emphasize this enough
We wish you the best in this next year. We hope that you launch your career, whether it is a rebuilding of your old one or a brand new one. Let’s make this next year a wonderful new year where we can all reach our goals. Good luck in that the dream job.
