If you can change how you view your career, even if you plan to change your occupation at some point, you will find direct benefits. The development of a long-range view will help you to feel in control of your career, even if you are presently working within the least desirable circumstances possible. Instead of seeing a job or series of jobs as having no value, you begin to focus on the skills and knowledge that you are developing. The following steps can help you to start to develop a career focus.
Step #1: Define Your Present Occupation.
If you are constantly changing jobs, and there isn’t a clear pattern established for the jobs that you choose, it’s going to be helpful to define the bigger picture of what you want to do with your career. If you have been in the same position for some time or held several related jobs, you may find it easier to describe your occupation. It is also possible that some jobs also define a person’s occupation. For example, teaching can be described as both a job and a profession; although there are other education-related occupations that a teacher can work towards.
Step #2: Develop a Vision Statement.
Now that you have developed a description of the occupation you are presently working in, it is time to develop a vision statement for your career. This doesn’t mean that you have to describe what you will be doing for the next 20 years or that you have to settle on a particular occupation. However, consider what you want to work towards in the long-term. For example, are there various types or levels of jobs within your profession that you can work towards as you gain additional knowledge and skills? Look for those and see if you would be interested.
Step #3: Develop a Short-Term and Long-Term Career Plan.
Once a vision statement has been established, you can now develop a career plan, and this will immediately help shift your mindset and create a sense of control for your career. This helps many people overcome a sense of helplessness in their career, even if they don’t have immediate options to explore. A career plan involves establishing short-term and long-term goals that are related to your vision. While this does not mean it has to be a fixed plan and one that can never be adapted or modified, it does provide a starting point to work from, and this creates a proactive mindset.
Step #4: Develop Job-Related Milestones.
With a career plan established, you can now develop job-related milestones to maintain a focus on your career plan and vision. For example, if the short-term goal is to develop new skills as a means of advancing in a particular occupation, a milestone could be a 90-day check-in to determine if those skills are being acquired. If those skills have not been obtained, then next steps can be decided upon and range from asking for different assignments on the job, looking for other positions within the same organization, or finding a new job if the current post has reached a point where it offers no further long-term value. These milestones are reminders and provide an opportunity to reflect on the career plan to determine if there are any changes to be made.
Step #5: Conduct Ongoing Skills and Knowledge Self-Assessment.
About skills and knowledge, when you have a career plan developed and a long-range view of your occupation, you will also have a reasonably good idea of the knowledge and skills required to advance within this occupation. You can use this as a form of measurement for your existing skills and knowledge. It also helps you ascertain what you have gained or could acquire from your present job. Every job held throughout your entire career has contributed to what you possess now, and that is what you should consider as you evaluate what you have and what is still needed.
Step #6: Conduct a Professional Development Plan.
It is not uncommon for people to sign up for classes, workshops, or seminars without relating it to a career plan. You will find it to be much more beneficial to utilize these types of developmental opportunities as a means of furthering your occupation and being strategic in the decisions made to invest your time. You may have a job that requires professional development, and that may mean taking workshops or seminars that do not appear to be relevant or necessary. However, it is still possible you could learn something or at a very minimum, make a professional connection with someone in your occupation.
When you can view your career from the perspective outlined above, you will create a mental shift away from your present job to your occupation as a whole and the goals you have established for yourself. You will find that this gives you more of a purpose to your career. Eventually, you will develop a sense of self-empowerment for your jobs and self-actualization as milestones and goals become fully realized.
When you decide to change jobs or careers, you will speak to potential employers with a sense of confidence in your talents and abilities as you will be presenting your career from a perspective of capability and transferable skills rather than just a need for a job. A person who has a career plan and goals is a much stronger candidate as they have a clearly defined sense of self. A job doesn’t become a career; rather, it is part of an occupation that is developed over time and with a plan.
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