Ho ho ho! Tis’ the season to reflect on your career!
The festive season is upon us, and as you take the time to plan for the end of year vacations, we’d like to urge you to consider doing the same for your career. How do you feel about the progress you have made towards your long term career aspirations this year? What shifts should you be making in 2020?
Undergoing a career self-evaluation allows you to track the progress you’ve made, and identify opportunities to tap into, for your growth.
To kick you off, grab some warm chocolate and muffins and indulge in these reflective questions. Alternatively, you could consider taking our newly launched Career Happiness Assessment Tool.
- What is the proudest career goal I achieved this year?
Look back at the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year. Did you want to get a new job? To get promoted? To switch careers? To start your own business? Learn a new skill? Expand your network? Whatever it was; evaluate what steps you took to achieve them, and progress made. If you did not take any steps to achieve any of the goals, ask yourself why this is the case and come up with a strategy to implement your goal in the next year.
- What new things did I learn, that expanded my skills and knowledge?
Who are you becoming? When you look back at who you were at the beginning of the year; what new skills and knowledge have you gained? How did they add value to your work? Learning is a never-ending process that should always be a part of your career journey. If you did not learn any new skills, this likely means that you did not find new ways to improve the way you do things; whether in your work, in how you communicate, how you search for jobs or network, and so forth. This is regressive, and should not be the case in the New Year.
- What mistakes did I make this year, and what did I learn from them?
One of the many ways we are able to become better is by acknowledging our mistakes and taking the initiative to learn from them. Thomas Edison tested 10,000 bulbs to find the one that would light up our world. Here is an article we did that talks about being personally accountable at work. We hope you can also apply this article to other areas of your life.
- What are the areas I need to improve in?
In order to identify your areas of weaknesses, you need to honestly self-assess yourself. If you’re finding this difficult, you can utilize the relationships you have at work, or in your personal life to ask for feedback. Additionally, you can take up self- assessment tests on the internet to help you get a clearer picture of your strengths and weaknesses. An example is the 16 personality test that you can take for free.
- How did I step outside my comfort zone this year?
One of the key components of growth is how uncomfortable it can be. Often at times, getting to the next level in your career requires you to put yourself out there in diverse scenarios that may not be as conventional as you would like. This may include things like attending networking events to pitch a partnership as an introvert, or taking on more responsibilities outside of your JD, volunteering on the weekends in order to transition into a new career, and so forth.
- What does success mean to me?
Everyone’s definition of success is relative. For one person; it may be a healthy work-life balance, for the next; it could be a fat bank balance, for the next person; it could be the ability to work remotely as they please, and for another; it could be to become a CEO of an international company. So how do you define success for you? If your career life does not represent this definition, in what ways are you working towards it getting there?
- What changes do I need to make, to have a more fulfilled career life?
In all honesty, how satisfied are you with your career life? Do you not enjoy the work that you do? Are you unhappy with where you are now? Are you not adding value to your current workplace? Are you unaware of what career path you want to take? Now would be a good time to draw up a plan that can change this narrative. It may involve updating your CV and LinkedIn profile to kick off a new job search, taking up online courses to increase your skills, attending a career coaching program, and so on. No clue where to start? Talk to us, our Career Happiness Satisfaction Tool might kick you off in the right direction.
- What are my goals for the next year?
Last but not least, the next step should be to come up with next year’s goals. Take this opportunity to compare how they have changed from the goals you had at the beginning of the year and point out which areas you will need additional support in. As always, your goals should be SMART. If you’re afraid you may not hold yourself accountable to a high degree, now is a good time to seek out a trustworthy accountability partner. Read this article on, 8 ways to help you set and achieve your career goals in the New Year for more context
We hope you found the above questions useful. In addition, we’d like to share with you our recently launched Career Happiness Center where we have a myriad number of tools (articles, videos, checklists) as pertains to job hunting, succeeding in interviews, managing your boss career transition, etc. to help inform your 2020 goals and help you smash them!
As you begin to indulge in the festive season, we leave you with this profound quote by the late Anthony Bourdain; “If I am an advocate for anything, it is to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river”.
Happy Festive Season!