Setting Your Career Path For 2016

Here it is November already, which means it’s the perfect time to evaluate your career path, setting your direction for the New Year.

7NOVEMBER 20, 2015 – Today, Signature Source offers 10 suggestions for advancing your career in 2016. Each takes time – some more than others – and some might not pertain to your job or personality, which is why we are offering 10. Pick and choose what works best for you, but we would advise you to consider Nos. 1, 2 and 3 as must-dos! And if you can’t work on all these at once, pick one a month.

Balance work with life. Millennials, now the largest generation in the U.S. labor force, are known for valuing a work-life balance. A recent Boston University study found that working longer hours actually leads to a drop-off in productivity. Looks like the millennials are on to something!
Pick your goals. Make a list of work goals you want to achieve in 2016. And while you’re doing this, make a personal list of goals, too. Make certain that each goal is SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. In addition, to accomplish each goal, you must answer six “W” questions: Who is involved. What do I want to accomplish? Where: identify a location. When: establish a time frame. Which: Identify requirements and constraints. And Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefit of accomplishing each goal.
Tap into the power of networking. Even if you are not looking for a new job, make at least one new business acquaintance every week in 2016. Develop your network to include friends, mentors, headhunters in your field and sources of referrals so when you know it’s time to make a change, you have a ready list of people to contact. Even if you never leave your current employer, your professional network will always serve as a source of comfort and advancement.
Know your career mission. Read your job description to make sure you are performing the required tasks, since all too often aspects of your job are forgotten. If your job has developed into something that does not reflect your written description, meet with your supervisor to be sure you are both comfortable with how your position has evolved. And one more thing: If you don’t have a job description, work with your boss to develop one.
Be sure your superiors understand your value. When you do good work, never assume that your bosses know what you did, especially if you went above and beyond what was expected. Nicely let them know.
Make a career chart. Instead of hoping that opportunities will come along, make your own by identifying ways to become a more valuable employee and to continue growing in your career path. And that includes becoming a risk-taker when appropriate.
Turn off your critical inner voice. We all have one, even the always polished Ariana Huffington who calls her critical voice “my obnoxious roommate.” When self-doubt or self-confidence begins to waver, change the conversation in your mind and makes those thoughts positive. Channel your fears and stress into positive forces that will make you unstoppable.
Trust your intuition. We’ve all been placed in situations that just don’t feel right. If you get a feeling that your job – or one you are applying for – just doesn’t seem comfortable for you, it probably isn’t. Tuning into your intuition will provide a more balanced perspective on your career path than a list of pros and cons will ever achieve.
Become a negotiator. You might want to always get your way at work, but a take-no-prisoners- approach to winning is not the way to sway people over to your side. If negotiation is not in your DNA, put yourself in the other person’s position and try to work out a deal that benefits both sides.
Embrace impermanence. Gone are the days when you stayed in one job until you retired with a gold watch. Instead, it is important to brand yourself and approach your job as a contractor would, performing excellent work and absorbing as much knowledge as possible from each job you hold, until it’s time to move on to a new one.

And one final bit of advice: This holiday season, make some me-time and work on this list. You will thank yourself this time next year.