Career Goals Assessment
Is it true that you are charged up for what's workable for your expert life this year? Do you have a plan to grow? We are already towards the end of the year and hopeful that life will return back to normal very soon.
I am guessing that beginning of 2020 each one of us had plans with regards to our career. It could be one among the below:
• Excitement about continued success and growth
• Resolution to figure out how to fix a bad or 'so-so' professional situation
• Desire to continue coasting or enduring your professional situation.
In my view, working with a huge number of customers throughout the years, regardless of where you fall, there's advancement and opportunity ahead for you.
In the end, by taking informed decisions, your life will definitely take a turn in a positive direction with decreased risk/increased security, increased opportunity, greater control over your path and destiny, greater professional satisfaction, and overall increase in one’s well-being.
There are endless approaches to develop and gain ground that does exclude an advancement or profession move. I challenge you to be deliberate, certain and gutsy, on how you see your career.
Here's are a couple of thoughts on how you can make substantial (and possibly groundbreaking) progress this year.
• Evaluate your current state and create a plan
• Proactively and tactically continue to build your capability in target areas
• Cultivate key relationships, build new ones and expand the community around you
• Build your reputation so that your manager isn’t the only one who knows how great you are
• Get out of being average and dare to think big about an exciting future!
• Tune-up your brand (your social media presence)
• Take stock of your performance in your current role
• Figure out whether where you are now is a great place for you, and if not develop a plan to get out of there and into something that fits you better
• Or create a proactive plan for the next chapter of your career, whether that involves a promotion, an interesting lateral move, a job search.
You might be at whatever stage in your career journey, a fresher, a manager, or a self-employed professional, I see a noteworthy future for you all.
Career Assessment Tool:
Let us all do a self-evaluation which can show us a path towards our desired destination. I expect each of you to answer truthfully to make the most of this assessment tool. To embark on your fulfilling journey, I would like you all to write down in your personal diary the answers for:
1. Which of the three states (mentioned earlier) best describe how you feel about your professional life and year ahead?
2. What are your ideas and priorities for your professional growth this year?
3. Given my life stage, personal and professional goals, career progress, personality, life and financial situation, what is important to me? ( Choose from the below options)
1) Optimize current role (get good opportunities, good performance)
2) Get Promoted, move up the ladder in the corporate hierarchy
3) Grow my income
4) Make a big change
5) Plan a new career
6) Build my “social media marketability”
7) Build capabilities ( leadership, up skill , new trends)
4. Which of the following best represents your career stage / level?
1) Late Career: Looking at how best to stay relevant and make the best of the time I have
2) Executive: Make smart decisions, build reputation, how to get to the next level
3) Self-Employed: Focus is on doing something of your own
4) Mid-Level Manger : Building capability to grow my career, identify a smart next move, understanding the career paths
5) Fresher: Looking out start strong
6) None: I don’t know
5. The extent to which your current work meets your needs for growth, impact, meaning and joy. Rate your overall fulfillment in your current (or most recent) role / job.
1) Hate it. I am suffering and going backwards
2) I am good in some areas and not great in others
3) I am joyful , happy and fulfilled•
6. Compare what you get out of your role (income, benefits, colleagues, well-being, experience, prestige, learning etc) with what the role costs you (work time, travel time, commute time, taking work home / off-hours, negative stress, negativity, ethical dilemmas, etc.) against your values, family/personal situation and life objectives.
1) My health is suffering
2) It is in a balance state now, good mix of good and bad
3) I feel blessed with all the good my job has to offer
7. Where are you going? What are your next steps? What kind of exciting professional and personal future have you defined for yourself?
1) I am stuck , I don’t know where I am heading
2) I have ideas about the future and possible next steps, but no clarity, not sure they're workable and don't know what to do with them.
3) I am thrilled with my career path I have planned for myself
8. Professional confidence comes from a beliefs that you can make things happen and change your circumstance. There may be evidence based on:
a) your past success behaviors, and
b) market validation (if applicable)
Rate your degree of confidence in being able to successfully take the next steps or make needed changes in your career.
1) No confidence
2) Mixed Confidence
3) Extremely Confident
9. The extent to which you see your career success, path, decisions, and generation of future opportunities as yours to manage and develop and not your employer, society or the state of the economy. Rate your sense of personal ownership over your career.
1) I rely on my employer to take care of me
2) I can logically see that this is true. But struggle putting it into practice. Was kind of hoping that my manager would take care of me.
3) I am in charge of myself, I take full ownership for all my doings.
10. There is a level of value you create in the work sphere in which you operate and a level of demand specifically for you (both current role & externally). Rate your "market power" taking into account how much value you create, how valued you are in your current environment, and the degree to which you have professional opportunities
1) I think I am not valued and do not receive any new job opportunities
2) I do get occasional job calls. My manager things I’m valuable, I also do have decent skills but not sure if people know about me
3) I am highly valued and have high market power
That's it! Great work in taking this solid step in the management of your career! Please, do not beat yourself up if you scored yourself between 1-3 in any of the questions.
By taking the time to do this assessment, and ask yourself some tough questions, you've put a stake in the ground. You can use this reality check to take action and make serious transformational changes this year. If you scored 4-5 in all of the areas, well done. You're doing a great job in managing your professional destiny.
Do not use this assessment not to sit and rest on your laurels, but rather lock-in and accelerate your progress as well as shore-up any weak areas.This is a wake-up call (or a celebration). Either way, it is what you need if you want to take charge of your professional destiny.
With respect and admiration for your courage,
Prachi
Prachi B is currently working as an HR consultant for organisations who are aspiring to achieve their business goals by optimising on their people and HR strategy. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
