How To Take Control Of Your Career
There is no doubt that what we do for a living shapes our lives. With our jobs taking up 50% of our waking hours during a working day, there is good reason to want to take back control of your career if you’re feeling unhappy.
When it comes down to it, most of us fall somewhere between one of two categories. Person A feels satisfied in their job. It not only pays the bills but leaves them feeling fulfilled.
Person B feels dissatisfied with their job and finds every working day a drudge. They view their careers as a way to pay the bills, spending their weekends in fear of the dreaded Monday morning.
Instead of waking up in a state of angst every Monday, it’s time to take back the wheel. Remember – you’re in the driving seat in this life!
Luckily, there are lots of steps you can take to find happiness with your job. Without further ado, let’s explore some of the ways in which you can take control of your career and spend those Sundays feeling dread-free from now on.
Taking control of your career: check out our top tips
Undertake a career assessment
As part of the career planning process, we recommend you start by analysing your abilities and interests in the form of a career assessment. This can easily be carried out by yourself, to do this, you simply need to put pen to paper and review the following:
Strengths & weaknesses:
- Consider where you natural excel and where you struggle
- What skills do you have and which areas need work?
- What type of job would these strengths suit?
Interests:
- Review what excites you & look for jobs that are linked to these interests
- Consider what bores you & try to avoid these areas
The goal is to identify a career that links your strengths and interests in order to feel maximum satisfaction in your job. There are even handy tools online to help you identify which career would suit your skills & interests. Check out the government version here.
Once you’ve assessed the above areas, you can create a personal career management plan based on your insight. Your personal career management plan will outline all of your positives and the most suitable careers for you.
Consider your short and long term goals
We’re all wonderfully unique, which is why it is useful to consider your own career goals. Some people aspire to lead a team, whereas some people want to branch out to launch their own business.
Having an idea of your short and long term goals will help point you in the right direction if you’re feeling a little stuck in your career trajectory.
Consider your short term goals as areas you want to work on in the next 6, 12 and 24 months. These can be areas relating to your current skill set, such as improving your presentation skills or undertaking leadership training.
Your long term goals may not come to fruition for another 10 years, however there are steps you could be taking now to prepare yourself for them.
We find that having a note of your goals and checking in with them regularly can help to keep you on track and motivated; there are countless reports that show how effective writing down goals are.
One study found that those who wrote down their goals were over 40% more likely to achieve them, so be sure to follow this step!
Focus on personal development
Working on yourself at a personal level can go a long way to helping you take control of your career. For example, someone whose job has impacted their confidence levels may find it easier to find a new position once they have overcome low self-esteem issues.
Things like learning new skills or picking up new hobbies can support you to flourish in your career. This is because by working on yourself, you’ll likely uncover new skills and areas of interest that were previously dormant.
Start by creating a personal development plan – identify areas for improvement and set yourself goals. Cultivating transferrable skills as part of your development plan will be really useful for opening up new doors whilst exploring a range of career options.
Having lots of elements to discuss with prospective employers will also help to make you stand out from the crowd during interviews, which can get you on the right track to your dream job.
Work with a career mentor or coach
Still feeling stuck in your career? Shine a light on your career path with the help of an expert.
Acting as a career consultant, a coach or mentor can help you understand your strengths, whilst helping you identify a new career path. They can also utilise their networks to open up opportunities to help you break into new industries.
Depending on whether you want the advice of a successful mentor who has been there and done that before, or you want to be coached along the process step by step, we’ll have the right support for you.
The process of browsing over 100 experts to find the right match can seem daunting, so take the guesswork out by speaking with our Service Manager – Tom. He knows our network of experts inside out, so for a quick and easy solution to finding the right support be sure to contact him here.
Get 1-2-1 support from a career coach or mentor to help you achieve your goals, or discover lots more helpful career tips on our blog here.
