Career Management. Carolyn Boyes

Prepare to be flexible, take risks and stick your neck above the parapet.

      one minute wonder Bear in mind the saying: “There is no failure, only feedback.” If you stretch yourself you will make some mistakes but these don’t matter. When you don’t get the result you want, use what you learn to make better choices next time that will move you towards your goals.

      “The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them” Og Mandino, author of The Greatest Salesman in the World

      • The will to change. Committing to goals may mean you have to be the person who is willing to go out and learn a new skill. It may make you the person who is willing to shoulder the responsibility for a task or who gets up early and works an extra hour to achieve what you really want.

      Think through what you really need to do to get your goal. If you aren’t willing to do what it takes (and I mean whatever it takes), you may achieve something but probably not what you originally intended. You won’t be managing your career as such and you’ll be back at the effect side of the cause > effect equation.

      Of course you are allowed to change your goals. So if you get halfway to your promotion or to setting up a new company or retraining for a new job and think, “No this isn’t right for me anymore”, then it’s ok to have a different goal. But if you do want your goal, you need to commit to it, not 99% or even 99.95. It’s going to take 100% focus and energy to see you through.

      But remember if you have the right goal, the rewards at the other end will be worth the wait.

       Only 100% commitment will put you in control of achieving meaningful goals.

       2.5 Find a role model

      No one is going to have exactly the same goals as you, but there may be people who have taken a similar path or who you can regard as role models. Even if you don’t know them personally, you can still take inspiration from what others have done.

      What resources do you have now? What resources do you need for your projected outcome? Perhaps you have a certain amount of knowledge but you know you lack other skills.

      For example, suppose you want to get a promotion. Have you ever had or done this before? What skills did you use? Networking? Negotiation? If you have done something before, you have a reference point for what works and what doesn’t. If you take similar actions you will probably get similar results.

      But supposing you have never had the kind of career success that you want to achieve now. How can you identify and gain the skills you need? Well, you can either start from scratch or you can learn from what has and hasn’t worked for your role models.

      one minute wonder Write down the name of someone you really admire in your career. Now think about what their beliefs are about work. What is different from the way you think about your career? Could you adopt some of these beliefs? Which of these is most likely to make you successful?

      1 Do you know anyone who has successfully risen to the sort of position you want to be in? Do you know this person well enough to ask them about their experience? If they are senior within your company could you ask them to mentor you or coach you?

      2 What resources do you imagine you will need to fulfil your goal? Think about your role model. What resources did they draw upon to achieve what they wanted? Is there anything similar you could go out and get that would help you?

      3 If there is no obvious person in your life who could perform this role for you, then look around. Have you seen anyone on television or elsewhere, either in your own country or abroad, who you can emulate or learn from? What do you imagine they would advise you to do as a next step?

       Learn from role models you know personally or from public life.

       Market yourself

      The ability to market yourself is a vital career management skill. Most roles inside and outside your organization are probably not advertised. Your chances of promotion may depend on the contacts you make and the strength of your reputation. How can you best sell yourself to employers?

       3.1 Brand yourself

      How do you want to define what value you bring to an employer? Think about your USP – your Unique Selling Point. This is marketing jargon used to describe the features of a product that make it valuable and different from other products on the market. What is distinctive and valuable about you?

      Think about some of the top brands in the world. They all have something special we associate them with. What comes into your mind when you hear the names Ferrari, Shell, HSBC, Qantas Airlines, for example? It might be reliability, efficiency, value for money, glamour or excitement perhaps. Large companies spend a fortune making sure they sell consistent messages about what values they represent, and that’s one

      case study Joe was working for several years in a large financial company managing a small team and specializing in documentation. He wanted to progress but found there was little demand for documentation specialists. He then decided to redefine his job title on his CV. Instead of calling himself a documentation specialist, he gave himself a broader label (changing his brand) – a professional manager. Soon he found that agents were putting him forward for jobs that he hadn’t been considered for before. He eventually found a new role in the retail sector.

      of the reasons they are so successful. These messages are their brand, and the message which stands out most is the unique selling point. What’s yours?

      • You are unique. It doesn’t matter what kind of career you have, you bring meaning and passion to a job based on your unique combination of interests, values, experience, ambitions and vision.

      • You are a brand. Your brand is the elements of yourself that you choose to promote openly. So, for example, maybe you are very structured and organized with a background working in charities and business, and at the same time you are creative and innovative.