Boxed takeout food, baked bread, and besting your family at quizzes – the three B’s of 2020. Who knew that when you were counting down to 12 last year, that these things would be so important in the new year. You may have learned to practice gratitude, or incorporated a little hygge into your life – but it’s possible that in all the surviving you forgot to reevaluate your career. To ring in the new year, we’re giving you six ways to reevaluate your career to kick-start an impactful 2021.
- Make time work for you
You know that phrase about everyone having the same amount of hours in a day? Well, we’re not going to lie, it’s hard to hear – especially when there are so many good things out on Netflix these days. But it’s true – Albert Einstein, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Beyonce – they all had the same 24 hours you do.
Recognize that this year, more than any other year is the time for you to settle in and take advantage of your time. Set aside weekly goals for that side hustle you keep telling your friends you’re going to start and get going – update your resume, spruce up your LinkedIn profile, get started on that app idea you can never get from ideation to creation.
- Make a vision board
Posterboard or Pinterest, now that you’re utilizing your time correctly, start mapping out your desires for 2021. Are you finding your current role fulfilling or is there something different on the horizon that you haven’t tapped into yet? Start thinking about what drives you in your current or your last role and choose pieces that resonate with that. By the end, you’ll come out with much more clarity.
- Meet a mentor
We don’t want you to stalk anyone, but one of the greatest parts of social platforms like LinkedIn is that you can look at similar roles that you’re aspiring to and see how that person got to where they are. What you’ll find is that many people go from seemingly disparate industries and get to their dream job. This applies to job roles in general as well. Try looking at roles that have qualities or skills that you possess. You might be surprised at the kinds of jobs that are better suited to your abilities and interests. Some people discover roles they hadn’t even heard of and others might happily make a parallel move.
The best thing you can do is speak to someone or shadow a role you’re interested in. With COVID, you can’t shadow in person but informational interviews aren’t a thing of the past just yet. See if you can book one in.
- Evaluate your experience against your current role
If you’re like most people, your job probably doesn’t use all of your wonderful talents and abilities. If there’s an area that you’re eager to explore further, try taking some courses on the subject to expand your knowledge like those in our Member’s Club modules.
Your job shouldn’t feel like it’s on an endless loop – groundhog day if you will. Take a look at your job description and think of what you’ve learned, what you’ve enjoyed and how you can convey to a potential employer what you want.
If you don’t have all of the experiences the job is asking for, dig deeper. Have you participated in a club that allows you to use the skill they’re asking for? Do you volunteer on your time off? These kinds of experiences are absolutely valid to use on your resume.
- Plan your path
Now that you’ve evaluated similar paths to the one you want to take, try planning out your journey to getting to that next role. If you’re doing a 180-degree career switch, it’s not going to be overnight but more so a few roles before you get to that dream job. Trust the process and don’t get discouraged if your first job on this path isn’t exactly what you’re going for.
- Look for ways to make an impact in your current role before your next
Most of us didn’t expect the kinds of shifts we needed to make in our current roles before the start of the pandemic. If you were in a more junior role, of course, you expected to take on a lot of new skills, but nothing could have taught us what the pandemic is – no matter what industry you are in.
We have no idea what 2021 will hold for us or the job market, but you now have the tools and the resilience to get to where you want to be. Just keep your resume updated and your skills sharp – you’ve got this.
Looking to kick-start your career now? Start by subscribing to our newsletter to get access to our Creating your Life Mission course for free!