How can I find an ideal career for myself? Ask anybody this question and he will be at his wits end to respond. You will have to do everything yourself, be it introspection, self-evaluation or contemplation. Can you be better poised to take control of your career track? The following steps, if gone through will render you in command of not just the course but also on you as an individual:
· What do you want to do?
You should be single-minded in your approach and first identify your life’s purpose. In addition, the principal impelling factors that influence your executive and supervisory skills also need to be ascertained in clear terms. Goal avowals generally exist for nearly everybody – they could have been worked out by well-wishers, own beliefs and convictions and viewpoints surrounding us. Now is the appropriate time to ponder over your life’s goal avowal and make attempts to reduce it to writing.
· What are your inclinations?
You should be aware of your interests and know what you are cut out for. It is important to be sensitive to things that you love doing, both at work and at leisure. It is also equally important to know what you do not like doing. The foregoing is not an easy affair and in case of a quandary, you can undergo a career assessment test that many institutes offer. Most of these evaluations will complement your awareness, concentration and leisure pursuits with your career turf.
· Have you gone through SWOT scrutiny?
You, as an individual and your career should both be subjected to a SWOT analysis. Your plusses and minuses as pertinent from the angle of an employee; and prospects and vulnerabilities in your present as also future work assignments need to be examined in detail. The examination facilitates knowing where you stand presently and formulation of plans to make the most of the situation. In case you are considering multiple career paths, it is recommended to study them in detail.
· Have you reviewed your workplace ethics?
You need to be reviewing your workplace standards. People on the hunt for jobs invariably look forward to accomplish particular and definite ethics from their workplace. These place-of-work standards, notions and perceptions that you harbour have a significant influence on the level of contentment that you may derive. And this contentment is not just limited to your work; it is equally relevant in all spheres of your life. When you appreciate and comprehend principles and ethics you revere the most, you can gauge if a particular employer champions them or not.
It may be possible that despite the above, things may not materialize. Under such circumstances, seeking the help of a career counselor to formulate a career plan is a good option. One may land up in an ideal career, but yet not be successful. This is because they do not probe into the shape and size of success in their own context and never ever attempt to chart out a course to attain it. Though destiny matters, success is never a fortuitous attainment. Therefore, one needs to display foresight, prepare shrewdly, assess things periodically and most importantly, display commitment of a very high order.
Some important guidelines to assist you to realize your career aspirations are:
· Ambitions: For heavens’ sake, never have unduly lofty goals; you will never be able to achieve them. Priorities in life should be laid before attempting to work on your career goals. The issue of what you are willing to compromise and what you are not should be clear – and this pertains to health, family, money matters and own improvement. If there happens to be any dichotomy amongst them, the possibility of success will always be grim. Having fewer goals is being wise pragmatically, but it is wiser still if a timetable for their attainment is also set.
· Brand-image: To be able to create and sell a brand image, you need to be upbeat in promoting yourself. Your individual achievements should be acknowledged by the environment in general and people who matter in particular. It is necessary that you also build relationships and muster support from everybody. You should be able to enjoy a good reputation so that people remember you. Brand image is also about having good communication skills so that others are at ease with you and look forward to your advice. It is also important that your portrait does not smack of non-professionalism.
· Commitment: Setting goals by themselves do not usher in success. You need to be persevering enough to ensure that they are achieved. You should have foresight so that hurdles get removed as soon as they appear. There should be no question of losing out on sincerity of purpose midway; occasional negative feelings would crop up but they should remind you of what you set out for and intend achieving eventually. You should, as a matter of principle concentrate on attainments rather than being the ‘my horse also ran’ type.
· Development: Marching forward is simply not enough, it is important that you keep an eye on yourself too. Are you moving on the correct path and with the correct speed? The answer to this question is crucial in measuring the progress that you make. What is important is that you remain sensitive to the effect of your actions on your employer’s sine qua non – profits, losses, new deals, time conserved and procedures initiated, to name just a few. You should always try to convert your actions into money form so that their impact on organizational balance sheet is kept track of on a continual basis.
· Enhancement: You need to be continually sharpening your skills. That is what enhancement of abilities, expertise and competence is all about. And sharpening is not just enough – you also need to upgrade your skills. Any assignment completed and any predicament resolved leads to something new learnt. Learning is crucial for individual development, progress and success. So, you ought to be discovering newer training routes that plug all possible fissures in your skills, supplements your capabilities and above all, lets you remain in a forward-thinking and forward-looking mode.
Remember that it is never too late to be better poised to take charge of your career path and to accomplish higher levels of professional triumph!
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