Taking control of your career is a bold action. While you can’t control everything, you can take steps to increase your chances at a fabulous career.
There is no better time to refocus and reinvent yourself than during a career transition. Take this time to reimagine and reinvent!
1. Don’t expect someone else to manage your career.
For too long, I mistakenly looked to others for answers, hoping they could uncover my unique talents and match them to the right job. Career coaches, HR professionals, college advisors, and family and friends can provide possibilities — but not a plan.
Don’t take your hands off the steering wheel. Allow advisors, coaches, and HR to advise, but you have to put in the work.
2. Let’s be clear.
Things really begin to fall into place when you can clearly articulate your passions, purpose, and skills. Do the hard work to understand yourself. Take assessments. Reflect. Get feedback. Try things out. Create a crisp distillation of who you are and what you want to do.
There are resources to guide you. What Color is Your Parachute helped me make a major career switch. The CliftonStrengths assessment enables me to shape my work around my strengths. The resources are there — find them, use them, and apply them.
3. Invest in yourself.
It’s easy to be shortsighted during a job transition. “Good enough” can be tempting. But it is worth the time and resources to thoughtfully invest in yourself at this juncture.
Don’t be the person making life-changing decisions who won’t spend a few bucks on their own professional growth. Every dollar you spend on yourself has an extremely long ROI. You’ll forget all those meals you ate out, but the coach that helped you get to a better place will have a long-term benefit.
4. Remember that money isn’t everything.
Research shows a positive correlation between income and happiness, but it’s not a straight line. When you’re poor, happiness climbs quickly with more income. As income rises, happiness does increase, just not in direct proportion. After a certain level, it loses its salience.
Keep money in perspective — it is not the only factor. Explore how you might reduce spending to live comfortably with less income. Be the person that loves what they do and wouldn’t do anything else, no matter what amount of money.
5. Build your network.
A strong network will help you surface opportunities. It will provide you with ideas and options. It will provide you with perspective. And it will provide you with support.
Think more strategically about your network. Build one inside your organization so that when opportunities surface, you are known. Build one outside your workplace so that you get fresh thinking and exposure to broader opportunities. Build one with other professionals in your target career — to learn, grow, and explore.
Be bold! Be brave! And read even more career tips in this blog.
About the Author
Kris Taylor (M M’96) is the founder of Evergreen Leadership and cofounder of LEAP Consulting. In 2004, Taylor went out on her own and has built a successful independent consulting business, doing the work she is passionate about in a career that offers income potential and flexibility.
Taylor is the author of Owning It: Take Control of Your Life, Work and Career and The Leader’s Guide to Turbulent Times: A practical, Easy-to-use Guide to Leading in Today’s Times. She taught entrepreneurship at Purdue for five years.