5 Step Plan to Choose a New Career Direction
If it’s time to look at where your career is going and to define or re-define your career direction, then why not get on with it?
Don’t let demotivation and frustration spoil your life, your chances at work or your overall happiness. Use these two emotions like a trampoline to bounce off of into a new and more satisfying opportunity. If you view it like that, then it isn’t so bad, in fact it’s a positive sign that something needs to change. It’s all about changing your mindset; a success mindset is so much more helpful to career development than a ‘fed-up’ mindset, don’t you agree?
In the past, perhaps you followed a careful career plan, or perhaps you followed your intuition where career moves were concerned, or maybe a bit of both like most people. Where you are now is a result of your choices in the past; there is no point wasting time on regrets or ‘might have beens’. You have probably amassed a wealth of invaluable knowledge and experience from the jobs you have had and you want to use that now in determining your career direction for the future.
5 step plan to choose a new career direction
1. Take stock of where you are now. Make a list of the positive aspects of your current post, especially those things that motivate you, like promotion opportunities, training opportunities and so on (if nothing motivates, look at the demotivating factors so you can avoid these in future!)
2. Analyse the past. Which jobs have really energised you and why? What have you enjoyed learning and why? Any negative experiences or situations you have encountered are an indication of what you don’t like.
3. Look at your career path to date. Do your movements show you something about yourself? For example, do you change jobs regularly because you like variety? The more you can learn about yourself will enhance your decision about future job moves.
4. Bring this information together into a one page document where you can plot your way forward knowing what to head for and what to avoid.
5. Make the decision to move forward positively and with enthusiasm. No potential employer is going to be impressed by a candidate who is negative about their past.
ACTION!
Don’t delay. Start today to build on these 5 steps and take action to get to where you want to be in your career.
