Career Management: 4 Steps To Achieve Professional Happiness
Unhappy with your career? Do yourself a favor and start managing it!
According to an employee satisfaction survey, the majority of workers are dissatisfied in their careers. An employee may feel stuck, lack job growth, or isn’t able to consider a move. When you’re faced with a situation in which you don’t know what your next move should be, it can be difficult to stay engaged. Whether this involves improving your current situation, looking for a new job, or making lateral moves, you’ll be clear minded and happier when you have a firm grasp on what you’re doing.
So, what are some easy ways to achieve effective career management to improve your professional job outlook and overall happiness? Check out these steps:
Note all accomplishments from day one
Whether you’re an intern or a seasoned professional, it’s important to note all of your job accomplishments from day one. This could be as small as giving an effective presentation to landing a huge client. Regardless, jotting down the career wins you’ve made over your employment history helps you to see a workable timeline of your progress in your past or current job.
How this helps with career management: When you note your accomplishments, it helps you to back up any claim you make in regard to your professional performance. This is especially helpful when applying for new jobs or networking. Plus, when you note your accomplishments in real-time, it helps you to remember events you may not be able to in the future.
Track results
The accomplishments you make are one thing. What happens to them once they’re out in the open are an entirely new ball game. For example, let’s say you were an in the advertising field and a project you worked on started going viral. Suddenly, the ad you created is everywhere, bringing in tons of hits, company pageviews, and customers. While you created an awesome ad, the result of that ad may be just as important as the accomplishment in the first place. Use concrete numbers and stats to track your career milestones and monitor your reach.
How this helps with career management: The results of your professional efforts help to show your strengths over a set period of time. So, if you needed to illustrate to your boss how effective a strategy was, you’ll be able to do so because you tracked the results of that strategy.
Be visual
No matter what you’re trying to accomplish, visual aids can always help you to explain things a little better. Portfolios, websites, videos, and even out-of-the-box methods like infographic resumes are all elements that can help you to tell the story of you through alternative mediums.
How this helps with career management: Visuals show the outside world how you got from Point A to Point B in a compelling way. Not only is this a more appealing to the eye, it will be easier to organize and promote your accomplishments as they’re pieced together effectively.
Have regular mentor meetings
Managing your career is obviously an important element to your overall job satisfaction. However, it’s important that other people, such as a boss or an old professor, are aware of your progress, as well. Regular mentor meetings don’t have to occur every day, but they should be often enough so your mentor is constantly aware of how your career is going.
How this helps with career management: Having regular mentor meetings helps you to see an outside perspective. For example, although you created that awesome ad, it may not have done so well with a certain audience. Your mentor can help you to see this, which may not have happened had you gone at it alone.
Managing your career doesn’t have to be a huge chore. In fact, it should be part of your day-to-day activities. When you do so, you’ll be able to improve your overall employment satisfaction and navigate your future better, no matter if you want to stay in your current job or seek opportunities elsewhere.
What do you think? What are some other steps to effective career management?
Image: Courtesy of paryloOO
