Daily Career Connection

That’s the bottom line. Don’t leave your future to chance. Actively manage your career and systematically apply a few ways to do this. You will be able to achieve the most when taking a pro-active stance in guiding your career to the goals set out by you.

- You will need to know where you are going and how you intend to get there.
- You need to understand your options and how to make the most of them
- You will need to know if there is someone or anyone who knows about you and what they think of you.
- You will also need to measure your impact by seeking work performance feedback.

Let’s take the above and expound a bit on them. First of all, do you know your short and long range goals and what skills or training will be required to achieve them? Are you able to network with people who have the information you will need to help you in reaching your personal goals? Reading journals, newspapers and books on management and business, in general, is a good starting point. This will enable you to keep to date with the most recent information that is out there to help you in sprucing up your knowledge in your particular field of expertise.

Do you understand where and why work opportunities are either increasing or decreasing? Become familiar with company policies and practices on developing your career. Get involved in other office departments or problem solving groups. Develop contacts in work areas that are not necessarily your area of capability Let people know who you are. “Toot your horn” but in a business like fashion and in a way that doesn’t come across as being a braggart.

Find out what people are thinking about you. Develop a good relationship with your boss and if you are the boss, than with your employees and customers. After all they are the ones who are signing your paycheck, either by being employed or providing an income that enables you to run a successful company. Many people cringe at wanting to know their work performance. Yet that is one of the best ways to gauge how well you are doing and what areas you may need to improve on.

The times are uncertain and leaving your career to chance is foolish. Become an active participant in managing your career. Where improvements are needed, improve. Where adjustments are needed, adjust. By doing so, you become involved in the day to day operation of your company, whether as an employee or a boss, and will be able to reap a paycheck for many years to come. With a fluctuating economy, that is the best reward to strive after.