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25 Tips to Jumpstart Your Career

Don't leave your career management to others. Be proactive. Create your own opportunities. Maximize team productivity, drive results, and take charge of you own career. Here are some tips that will help you take charge of your career:

• Volunteer for high-profile projects - this will increase your exposure to key decision makers.
• Share your career goals with your boss.
• Discuss what skills you need to strengthen in order to achieve those goals, then arrange for appropriate training. Find a mentor.
• When you are faced with difficult situations, ask his or her advice. Or, ask your mentor to evaluate your decisions.

Career Management

Careers need to be managed as much as people do. Your career can benefit from the same skills you bring to project management, team leadership and conflict resolution. And, as in all of the former, your approach must be pro-active - wait for your career to manage itself and you'll likely wait forever. Use the following tips to make career opportunities for yourself:

• Be a team player and make your best effort to shine on the team. Encourage others to reach team goals on time and within budget.
• Volunteer for high-profile projects. Doing so will increase your exposure to key decision makers.
• Stay out of political camps. If you have to make a choice, wait as long as you can to increase your chances of backing the winner.
• Conduct yourself with integrity both on and off the job. Tell the truth no matter how difficult it may be. As Mark Twain said, "this will gratify some people and astonish the rest." Everyone wants to work for, and with, people they can trust.
• Always work collaboratively. Running others down or refusing to co-operate will only lead to senseless conflict. Your chances of a promotion are slim when you are continuously in the center of controversy.
• Think like a top manager. Stay in tune with the "hot buttons" of the day and find ways to help meet corporate objectives. If there are critical roadblocks preventing the organization from moving forward, look for ways in which these can be removed.
• Establish a joint vision with your boss of your career objectives and the road by which you will achieve them.
• Let your boss know your career goals. Ask whether your goals are realistic, whether you have the skills to achieve your goals, and what training you should take to improve yourself.
• Develop action plans that are goal-oriented. Review the goals and mini-goals regularly to see if you are on track. If you are not, evaluate your steps and adjust your plan accordingly.
• Find a mentor. Identify someone in the organization who is well regarded and whom you admire, someone who complements your skills and traits. When you are faced with difficult situations seek advice, or ask your mentor to evaluate your decisions.
• Project a "can do" approach. Don't burden others with problems, doubts and roadblocks. Speak about opportunities and solutions, not problems.
• Always be positive; think of the glass as half full rather than half empty. Remember: more people are fired for poor attitudes than for any other reason.
• Focus your energy on jobs that will
  * best use your skills
  * have the greatest chance of success
  * require an optimal amount of effort and resources
  
  
• Do, and be seen to be doing, things that help your organization:
  * Pass on sales leads.
  * Look for and suggest ways to reduce costs.
  * Become a source of information. Keep up with news trends by scanning business and trade publications. Circulate materials to people who can benefit.
  * Undertake less popular assignments.
  
  
• If unpleasant news is on the way, let your boss know first and early. Nobody wants unpleasant surprises, particularly ones that might embarrass them.
• Know what your boss expects of you. If possible, agree on measurable goals so that your achievements are indisputable. * Ask for more authority and autonomy. Stretch yourself. Take on more than you think you are capable of to prove to yourself, and others, what you can do.
• Compete against yourself and let others judge whether you are better than your peers. Competing against your peers will increase their resentment towards you. You will become the subject of sniping and back-stabbing.
  
  
• Be willing to accept criticism. The critique will be most effective if you do the following:
  * Control your emotions. Don't be defensive. Be objective.
  * Put yourself in the critic's place. Would you take a similar view?
  * Treat each criticism as an opportunity to learn and grow.
  * Defend yourself if, after reflection, you feel that your evaluation was unfair.
  * Thank the person giving the criticism, even if you disagree with the content.
  
  
• Learn from setbacks. You will get no benefit from blaming others or continuing to be angry. Find out what you did wrong. Try, as hard as it may be, to be objective. Above all, fix the problems and focus your energies on avoiding the same mistake.
• Acknowledge the help of others publicly. This will increase your network of supporters.
• Learn to get what you want, while still being liked. Don't alienate important people since you never know when they could be influential in picking the next person to be promoted.
  
  
• Sign up for workshops, seminars, discussion groups, or whatever else you see as skill-enhancing.
  
  
• If you sense that a desirable job will be available in the foreseeable future, make yourself a leading contender by
  * taking on extra work to demonstrate your skill in that job
  * letting the right people know of your interest
  * updating the skills and knowledge required for the job
  
  
• Never stop learning. In our information age, we should all consider ourselves lifelong students. Sign up for any related training or courses your organization provides, both onsite and off. And let it be known at work that you're the consummate perennial student.

Career Planning Continued » Continued Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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