Happy midyear!
It doesn’t sound as festive as “Happy New Year, but it should be celebrated. It’s a milestone to reflect on what you’ve learned and accomplished this year. It’s also a perfect time to assess your goals and the progress you’ve made. If you’ve already achieved them, or close to it, congratulations! But if you’re like most people, you’re nowhere near the finish line.
The good news is that you have an entire 6 months left! This is plenty of time to achieve your goals. GETTING STARTED is absolutely the hardest part. So I’ve listed simple steps for you to kick off your goals and get traction.
Since we’re in the dream job business, I’m going to use landing a new job as the goal.
Step 1: Define why
Why do you want a new job? Have you reached a ceiling? Want to be compensated at the market rate? Do a braindump on all the reasons that come to mind. Circle the ones that are the most important to you. Write them down on a piece of paper and put it in a place that you’ll see every day.
Step 2: Set an intention
On the same piece of paper, write your intention for what you’re looking for! Job searching is a journey—setting an intention will help you stay focused and motivated. For example, “I want a role where I’m constantly learning and growing” or “I want to love the work I do, be appreciated and valued for my contributions and feel fulfilled.”
Step 3: Set up for success
Share your goal with your family and friends. Create an accountability group to share updates, celebrate milestones and support one another. Dedicate time to work—literally block out time (preferably same days and time) to research, network, etc. If this is a priority, you need to commit time, attention and efforts to it.
Step 4: Assess and reflect
One of the most important things you should do is to establish the criteria that’s most important to you for a role and company. A good exercise is to list all of your past positions: what you liked and disliked about the role, company and people you worked with, the skills you gained and your accomplishments. See if there are common themes. Also take stock of your strengths and weaknesses to see if they align with the roles you’re interested in.
Step 5: Research and align
Now you can search for roles and research companies to see if they’re aligned to your criteria and intention. You can read reviews on Glassdoor, explore their website, read articles and follow them on social channels. Informational meetings are the best way to get “real” information, get referrals and gain internal advocates. You want to meet with at least a few people from each company to learn more about the culture, leadership, company trajectory, the team you want to join and the hiring manager.
Step 6: Practice
Ask your friends or former colleagues to practice interviewing (on the phone and in person). Search for top interview questions (sometimes you’ll find ones for specific companies). Write a list of examples using the STAR format. Then record yourself saying the answer. There is no better way to understand how you’re coming across until you hear or see yourself doing it.
And you’ll soon have a reason to CELEBRATE! You not only achieved a major goal, but you now have a better job at a fantastic company—yay!!
If you’re interested in talking about strategies and best practices to make your next career move swiftly and effectively, then schedule time with one of our Job Strategists.
Comments Off on Midyear review of resolutions