Let’s look at some numbers. Over the course of a full career we will work roughly 480 months, or 1,920 five-day weeks, which is 9,600 days! We’ll hope you agree, it’s pretty important to be in the right career or have a portfolio of great jobs during that time.
It’s important to stop and reflect on where we are every once in a while, so here we’ve simply listed ten questions that we believe will allow you to do that.
Regardless of your current situation, whether you are actively thinking, or looking to make changes, or you’ve been made redundant, grab a pen, or a device and start thinking/writing and take stock of where you are:
- Why do you work? List all of the reasons you work.
- When you started working what was your dream job? How, if at all, has that changed?
- What are you most proud to have achieved in relation to your job/career so far? Why are you proud? Write a list of all the things that you absolutely love doing and that give you energy
- What are you motivated by in relation to work? What gives a boost work? A clear sense of purpose, personal development, achieving, being in charge, connections with others etc
- Describe your network. Start thinking about all the people you know. Can you easily call on a wide range of people to help you out?
- Pick the three most important people from your career so far. How would they describe you?
- If you are thinking of career change, or have had one forced on you. How much risk are you prepared to take to find the right job or career? To push beyond your normal boundaries and to think creatively about approaches to your search. Who can help you?
- How much effort are you prepared to put into finding the right next step? How much of a priority is it for you and how important is the next step?
- What three things do you want a potential employer to hear or read about you from your resume/CV or from other people? How will you make sure that happens?
- What’s the first step you need to take to get the next great career or job move?
Most of us work for a large part of our lives so to find a job or career that you enjoy makes a huge difference. Think about one or two actions you might take to steer yourself in the right direction.
It’s easy to become paralyzed by thinking too hard about ‘what if this? or what if that?’ and before you know it five years have gone and you’re doing the same thing. There is nothing to say you can’t explore new avenues and a few mistakes along the way can prove to be extremely valuable in cementing what you really want to do.