Three things you can do to enhance your career in one week.
A one-week career initiative can lead to new and exciting opportunities. How can you make an impact in just one week? It’s all about assessment, connection, and building your critical assets.
Before you can figure out where you are going, you need to determine the direction in which you want to move. This is something that will change and evolve over time as you gain experience and access resources. Take a minute to examine the current state of your career. Assess your skills, experience, abilities, and interests. Consider what is most important to you from both professional and personal perspectives. How have your career goals changed? Will the current path you’re on lead you to where you want to go? A critical assessment of your current situation along with your career goals will allow you to identify a potential change in direction or confirm your current trajectory. Either way, it’s an important to conduct this analysis to ensure you are moving in the right direction.
In some cases, you may not know what else is out there in terms of career options or advancement. A great way to discover this information is to connect with a professional who can share relevant insight. Either via a new connection accessed through your network or LinkedIn, identify a new contact that works at a company or within an industry that interests you. Reach out and connect for coffee or an informational interview. Ask great questions related to how your skills and experience can be a fit for new opportunities, and how the industry, company, or career field is evolving. By learning from a new person in your area of interest you can identify opportunities that will allow you to grow in your career. Better yet, identify challenges and then as you connect with new opportunities showcase how you can solve them!
Every person has training, experience, and/or skills that qualifies them to do their jobs. You build upon these elements over the course of your career. As you look to boost your career, identify a new skill or talent that will allow you to expand your qualifications and then figure out how to acquire it. You can learn a new computer program or language, or gain a certification. Investing in your career in these ways will not only enhance your qualifications, it will allow to you connect with people and resources that you can add to your professional network.
You can make a significant impact on your career in just one week. Focus on assessing your current position and career goals, gaining knowledge through a new professional contact, and adding a new skill or qualification to your career toolbox. Invest in yourself now to receive a return on your career investment that may pay dividends on the future!
