5 Resolutions to Consider to Help Grow Your Career  

There’s never a bad time to set some career goals, but the beginning of a new year, a new quarter or a new season is definitely a great time. Writing down a list of accomplishments for the next 3 months, 6 months or year allows career savvy professionals to better plan for and implement a successful career path. Putting a plan in place, along with measurable goals can make you more successful in the long run, but also happier with your career and better enjoy your time at work. Consider this list of career resolutions to help make your work more enjoyable and rewarding.

Plan Your Promotion
If you’ve been in the same role and paygrade for more than two years, it’s time to set some promotion goals. Take a moment and list out your historical career path so far, and your accomplishments in each role (an informal resume), then think about your promotion paths. Is an in-role promotion an option or will you need to move roles in order to get a promotion? Do you want to stay in your current role or are you ready to move to a new team within your company? Now take a moment to list out your accomplishments so far in your current role and put a star next to any of them that would be considered “exceeded expectations and job responsibilities”, then think about two to three activities that you can work on over the next three to six months that would really wow your leadership team and map out a plan to accomplish each with associate impact and metrics. Next, sit down with your manager and be very clear about your desire for a promotion and your plan to prove to him (or her) that you deserve a promotion based on what you’ve already accomplished and what you plan to accomplish over the next few months. Ask for feedback and recommendations and be sure to integrate them into your plan. Make sure you setup monthly meetings with your manager to keep them informed on your progress and remind them that you’re working towards a promotion. A promotion is never guaranteed, but putting together a plan and communicating that plan with your manager and leadership team will certainly help.

Travel or Move Abroad
The world is becoming smaller as businesses become more and more global. And there’s never been a better time to consider moving abroad for work. Whether you have no major attachments (marriage, kids, etc.) or you have a couple of kids in school, it’s always a great time to spend some time living and doing business abroad. And the best part is that many companies (if they’re large enough and have global offices) will help fund your move and even your kids schooling abroad. If you work for a company with global operations, setup time with your manager and a human resources advisor to understand your international options. Is your current role available in another country? Are there specific requirements to be considered for an international role? Do you need to speak the local language in order to be considered for a job abroad? Understanding your options and the requirements allows you time to plan your move. Some steps to help get you started:

• Start researching potential roles and their locations.
• Setup 1×1’s with any colleagues who have lived and worked abroad for your company to gain some insights and tips.
• Setup virtual 1×1’s with peers and mentors in the countries and offices you’re most interested in.
• Start learning the local language (even if it’s not required for the role you seek) with a language app like Rosetta Stone’s new language learning app. It can be downloaded on a smart phone and used at any time you have free time. This will give you a leg up on any competition and show your leadership you’re serious about the move abroad.

Take on a Special Project
Is your role feeling a little stale or are you interesting in moving to a new team? If so, consider taking on a special project that will add some excitement to your daily work routine and will also allow you to work cross-functionally with other team members. Setup time with your managers, co-workers, and cross-functional leaders to ask if there are any new projects in the works (or just getting started) that would benefit from your professional skills. When taking on a special project at work, it’s important to note that your current responsibilities won’t disappear. It’s rare that your manager will allow you to offload some of your responsibilities to other team members, so you can dedicate your time on a special project (although this can happen), so be sure you’re ready to put in more hours at work. During the week and even on weekends. It might be more time consuming, but special projects tend to lead to new things, so they’re definitely worth spending the time on. And the good news is that most special projects are typically short-term (2-3 months).

Enhance Your Skills
Will your professional output benefit from enhanced professional skills? In other words, would you do a better job at work if you took online or classroom training in Marketing skills, Social Media, Financing, Accounting, Leadership, Public Speaking, or another skill set? Or are you looking to move to a new role, but don’t have any experience or training for the role? Actively engaging in professional education and training is a great way to enhance your skills at work and not only make you more effective in your current role, but can also help set you up for a new role in the future. If you’re on the sales team and interested in moving into the Marketing department, consider taking some online marketing courses. Setup time with someone in Marketing, whose role is aligned to your future career goals, and ask them the types of skills that make them the most successful in their role. Then see if there are courses available to help you in those skills. For example, websites like 360training.com offer classes in Email Marketing, Social Media, and Digital Analytics. After you’ve taken some training classes, make sure to setup time with someone who actively uses those skills and ask to shadow them and/or work with them on a project. Taking a training course and then immediately putting those skills to use will help you retain the skills you’ve learned in a classroom. 

Start a Side Business
If you’ve been working in corporate America for five, ten or fifteen years and day dreaming of one day working for yourself and owning your own business, it would be wise to start working on it as a side business to test the waters before you dive in head first. Owning your own business, having no one to answer to but yourself and making your own hours may seem amazing, but starting and growing a business is extremely challenging. Ask anyone who’s done it. Your time and money are your business, so nights and weekends may no longer be counted as free time. If you have the luxury of a job that allows you to shut down every night and on the weekends, consider spending that free time building a side business that could eventually grow into something more. Build your business plan, name your business, setup a business banking account, purchase a domain, build a simple website, and start promoting your business to recruit customers/clients. Be careful not to take on too much, so that it doesn’t impact your current job. And also make sure there’s no conflict of interest with your current employer (that could cause legal issues). If you’re a few years away from retirement, consider a business that you can spend a few hours a week on for enjoyment, but isn’t required to cover your monthly bills and expenses.

Good luck with your career resolutions and don’t forget to put together a measurable plan with dates and accomplishments to hold yourself accountable. It’s also helpful to recruit some mentors and peers to encourage and help you along the way.