How to Continue Your Career Journey
Intro
You’re now successfully onboarded into your new job. Things are going well and you’re enjoying your new job. So, what’s next? How do you keep this momentum going? When do you begin preparing for your next job?
Model strong performers
As you continue meeting people and observing how they show up, you’ll eventually find the people who stand out. These are the ones who are known to be self-driven, reliable, and who get things done, without drama. They are often spoken of fondly by many people and are the ones that people go to first. They are seen are the experts. As a new person, you have the advantage of being an unknown quantity. If you can quickly identify these people early on and understand what it is that makes them exceptional, you can work toward modeling them. Perhaps one of them can become a mentor. By surrounding yourself with strong performers, you’ll naturally learn from them, and this will help significantly throughout your time in this job. And if you can continue doing this with each new job, you will continue growing quickly and this will help lead to additional opportunities.
Become a mentor
Seek out opportunities to mentor people who are a step or two behind you in their career. Even if you’re new in your job, you can still be a mentor to others. Don’t underestimate the value that you offer. Being a mentor has many benefits: adding a strong connection into your network, being noticed by your leadership as someone who develops others, and you’ll grow in your ability to help mentor and coach others. Plus, it’s quite a rewarding experience witnessing those who you have mentored grow.
You should always be planning for your next job
Planning for your next job is both a way to protect yourself and being strategic. By having a plan on what your next job is and how you’ll land it is a way to hedge your bet against being unexpectedly let go from your current job. And it’s strategic as you can use this planning to your advantage to prepare for an even better opportunity.
What do you feel is the next job you’d like to have? Would it be a more senior level of the same type of job, or is it an entirely different type of job?
Use our technique to discover your ideal next job. Then, begin charting your course by researching what is required and for any gaps you have and work toward filling them. Update your Personal Branding and then work on improving your Network.
Take advantage of every growth opportunity
Take advantage of any educational opportunities your employer offers. Volunteer for stretch assignments and projects that will teach you new skills. Add these new skills to your resume, LinkedIn profile, and incorporate them into your personal branding, so that you don’t forget that you gained them.
A great career hack
Looking for a great career hack? Take something off our leader’s plate, specifically something they hate doing. Is there anything that your leader complains about whenever it comes up? Ask your leader if you can help them with that. Express that you’re interested in learning more about whatever that is. Do it well and offer to take that over from them. They will be relieved that they no longer have to do that thing and will also be very impressed with you. Doing this often will be noticed by your leader and you’ll rise to the top of their list.
Be seen and heard
It’s important that you build a great reputation for yourself at work. Modeling strong performers is a great start. But you need to ensure that you’re also seen and heard. If you’re the type that doesn’t like attention, avoid the temptation of blurring into the background. Speak up on calls and seek opportunities to showcase your contributions. If you’re not well known at work, you won’t be able to maximize building your network through your job. So do yourself a favor and make sure you that you’re having regular positive interactions with others at work.
Never stop growing
Make sure that you’re continuing to grow. Every year you should be able to look back and be able to see ways that you’ve grown. For example, you should be able to produce at least a few examples of new skills that you’ve acquired or projects you’ve completed.
Update your Brag Book
To help incorporate your successes into your Personal Brand it’s recommended that you create and maintain your Brag Book. It’s easy to forget all the great work you do throughout your time in a job, and this is why I recommend creating a brag book. What do you include? I would suggest things such as finishing a big deliverable or solving a challenging problem. These will be things that you’ll want to incorporate into your personal branding and ensure that you speak to during future interviews. Bonus points if you are able to tie these things back to goals you’ve created that will help you land your next job.
Continuing working on your network
One of the biggest benefits to any job is all the people you’ll meet. These are people who are now part of your network. Nurture these relationships. You’ll be surprised by how many new people you’ll meet in just the first year in a new job: colleagues, clients, and vendors.
Conclusion
If you apply these tips, that new job will turn into a career with endless opportunities. Lifelong learning and growth should be the goal. Opting for a strategic approach and applying a bit of effort, you’ll be shocked by how much it will pay you back over time.
