There is a huge difference between a job and a career. A job is what you do at one point or another for money. A career is a journey of learning, adding values and receiving values that stretches over most of your lifetime.
Building a Career
Today, and more than
ever, most people are responsible for building their own careers.
Whether you are just
starting, or you have several years of experience, these paragraphs might help
you advance your career.
The 9 most important career
planning tips are listed below:
1. Never Stop Learning
Life-long learning is
your keyword.
The world is constantly
changing, and everybody is looking for new ways of doing business.
If you have decided that
your current skills are good enough, you have also decided that your current
job is good enough.
But if you want a career
in the future, you should add regular updates to your skills and knowledge.
2. Ask, Listen and Learn
A good listener can
learn a lot.
Listen to your co-workers,
your boss, and your superiors. You can learn a lot from their experience.
Ask about issues that
interest you, and listen to what they say. Let them tell you about how things
work, and what you could have done better.
Most people will love to
be your free tutor.
3. Fulfill Your Current Job
Your current job might
be best place to start your career.
It is often very little
that separates successful people from the average. But nothing comes free.
If you do your job well
and fulfill your responsibilities, this is often the best way to start a new
career.
Talk to your supervisor
about things you can do. Suggest improvements. Offer your help when help is
needed. In return ask for help to build a better career. It is often possible -
right inside your own organization - especially if you have proved to be a
valued employee.
4. Build Your Network
Your next career step
might arise from your contact network.
Did you know that more
than 50% of all jobs are obtained from contact networks?
If you have a good
contact network, it is also a good place to discover future careers, to
explore new trends, and to learn about new opportunities.
Spend some time building
new contacts, and don't forget to maintain the ones you already have.
One of the best ways to get
serious information from your network is to regularly ask your contacts how
they are, what they do, and what is new about their careers.
5. Identify Your Current Job
Your current job should
be identified, not assumed.
Make sure you don't work
with tasks you assume are important. This is waste of time and talent.
When you start in a new
job, talk to your superior about your priorities. If you're not sure about what
is most important, then ask him. And ask him again. Often you will be surprised
about the differences between what you assume, and what is really important.
6. Identify Your Next Job
Your dream job must be
identified.
Before you start
planning your future career, be sure you have identified your dream job.
In your dream job, you
will be doing all the things you enjoy, and none of the things you don't enjoy.
What kind of job would that be?
Do you like or dislike
having responsibility for other employees. Do you like to work with technology
or with people? Do you want to run your own business? Do you want to be an
artist, a designer or a skilled engineer? A manager?
Before building your
future career your goal must be identified.
7. Prepare Yourself
Your dream might show up
tomorrow. Be prepared.
Don't wait a second.
Update your CV now, and continue to update it regularly.
Tomorrow your dream job
may show up right before your nose. Prepare for it with a professional CV and
be ready to describe yourself as a valuable object to anyone that will try to
recruit you.
If you don't know how to
write a CV, or how to describe yourself, start learning it now.
8. Pick the Right Tools
Pick the tools you can
handle.
You can build your
future career using a lot of different tools. Studying at W3Schools is easy.
Taking a full master degree is more complicated.
You can add a lot to
your career by studying books and tutorials (like the one you find at
W3Schools). Doing short time courses with certification tests might add
valuable weight to your CV. And don't forget: Your current job is often the
most valuable source of building new skills.
Don't pick a tool that
is too heavy for you to handle!
9. Realize Your Dreams
Put your dreams into
action.
Don't let a busy job
kill your dreams. If you have higher goals, put them into action now.
If you have plans about
taking more education, getting a better job, starting your own company or
something else, you should not use your daily job as a "waiting
station". Your daily job will get more and busier, you will be caught up
in the rat race, and you will burn up your energy.
If you have this energy,
you should use it now, to realize your dreams.
