- Take an inventory of your unique strengths that can help you stand out from others in your organization. Make this unique set the foundation of your plan for the upcoming year.
For example, while everyone in your group may share similar job skills, you might be the best at research or social networking. Plan to utilize that strength as the "secret weapon" that will move your career forward in 2010.
- Identify projects for 2010 that not only meet management's objectives but also showcase your strengths to get you noticed. If you are great at training, organize a brownbag lunch to train fellow employees on a hot topic.
If your strength is attention to detail, offer to maintain a spreadsheet with critical information at your fingertips so that the boss relies on you for data when it's time to create her important presentations.
- Request regular reviews from your boss. Sit down with your supervisor once a quarter either formally or over a coffee chat about your performance. Request a detailed written review once a year.
- Let your boss know your career goals and ask for guidance on how to achieve them. Your boss is not a mind-reader; make your desires known so that your boss knows what to focus on.
- Identify an industry conference in 2010 to attend for your professional development. Ask your employer to pay the registration fee. Explain how your development will
benefit the organization and offer to give a report about the event to the team upon your return.
- Take a realistic look at your career challenges and what might be holding you back. Are you seen as a poor communicator? Someone who does not delegate well? Someone who procrastinates too much? A sloppy dresser who does not project enough authority to be promoted? Seek out resources such as books or a career coach to help you address your challenges.
- Change roles within the organization. If you are in a dead-end job or a role that does not make use of your best career strengths, request informational interviews within the company to find out about other opportunities.
You might even negotiate with your boss to make changes to your current job description which can lead more satisfaction, security, and advancement.
- Find out what energizes you, because when you do that work, you will excel. What are the projects you've most enjoyed over the past years? What were the sub-tasks required that you most enjoyed? How can you do more of those types of tasks this year?
- Take the long view. What is your ultimate career goal? Where do you see yourself in five years? Twenty years? Think about how you can round out your experience now to prepare you for that ultimate career.
If you cannot get that experience in your day job, seek it out in a volunteer job or a class on the weekends.
- What might feel like drudgery now can help you reach your dream. Research shows that when you devote thousands of hours to practicing a skill you become truly great. In what area do you want to become great? It's time to get started.
Clock in those hours and know this sustained focus will move your career forward in 2010.
Elizabeth Wagele is a foremost expert and one of the most popular writers on the Enneagram. Her published books include The Enneagram Made Easy, which has introduced over 140,000 enthusiasts to the Enneagram personality system and has been translated into 17 languages.
Are You My Type, Am I Yours? also co-written with Renee Baron, centers on relationships, subtypes, look-alikes, and famous types. In addition she wrote The Enneagram of Parenting, is regular contributor to Enneagram Monthly, and is often featured at International Enneagram Association conferences.
For more information about Elizabeth, visit www.wagele.com
About Ingrid Stabb:
Ingrid Stabb is a Yale MBA and organizes career workshops and events. Stabb chairs the career development committee on the international Board of Directors of the Yale School of Management Alumni Association.
In 2004 she co-founded a continuing summer internship program designed to introduce college students to various career tracks. Stabb writes the regular column on careers for TALK Journal, a trade journal for business coaches and psychologists who teach the Enneagram.
A marketing executive by profession, Stabb is Director of Internet Sales for Blue Shield of California. Winner of the E*TRADE President's Award, she has developed and marketed products for Fortune 500 companies such as E*TRADE Financial, Charles Schwab, and Thrivent Financial as well as a non-profit Russian adoption program for World Child.
Most notably, Stabb developed and marketed the first SCORE! Educational Centers for kids, which was sold to the Washington Post in 1997; www.escore.com
Please join Elizabeth Wagele and Ingrid Stabb for a Free Career Workshop at Kepler's in Menlo Park:
Tuesday, February 9, 7:30 p.m.
Kepler's
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: 650-324-4321
Website: www.careerwithinyou.com
About the book:
More people than ever are considering new careers- but deciding on a new career path can be daunting. How can you be sure you're making the right choice?
Most career advice follows the one-size-fits-all principle. "THE CAREER WITHIN YOU" celebrates the fact that each person looking for work guidance is different. Readers can benefit from being led on an internal journey where they are introduced to nine distinct career types.
Elements of each of these in varying amounts are within us, with one being predominant. By the end of the journey the reader can be able to make realistic appraisals of themselves from which to make superior career choices.
This career guide employs the Enneagram Personality Assessment System- with its very sizeable audience- to find a career specifically tailored to any reader, by offering a quiz designed to identify their type, and thus, the best career paths for them.
In addition, this guide includes quizzes and interactive exercises to both help the reader identify their own strengths, and practical job-hunting tools to launch the perfect career.
>> Buy this book on Amazon: The Career Within You: How to Find the Perfect Job for Your Personality
