Ready To Develop Your Recruiting Career In 2017?
The end of 2016 is just around the corner, and this time of year provides a valuable period of introspection about where we are in our careers—compared to where we want to be. Most recruiters have dreams of where they want to be in 2017, but many fail to create the right conditions for their success by creating a step-by step plan for career development. Right from deciding your dream through to knowing how to get there, here’s an action plan for your success in 2017.
1. Set some time aside to work on your career plan.
Schedule the time in (preferably several sessions) and make an unbreakable agreement with yourself to meet the appointments—just as you would with a meeting with a key client.
2. Think hard about your goals.
Is there a particular billing target you want to reach? Is it promotion you’re after? A new sector? A part of your performance that you want to improve? Want to start your own recruitment company? It is exceedingly rare to stumble on career success if you don’t have a clear vision of what it is you want.
3. Dream big, and don’t let your current situation blind you to the possibilities.
In most recruitment companies, advancement and success comes quickly to those that show merit, and things can change fast if you work hard enough. Ask yourself: what would your career look like if nothing stood in your way? What do you think your ultimate success looks like? Where would you like your recruitment career to look like in 1, 5, 10, and 15 years?
4. Write your goals down.
Seeing your goals there written starkly in front of you makes it more likely that you’ll achieve them, so write them down. Even better, get out a big sheet of paper and a marker and brainstorm the first draft of your career vision, writing down everything that comes into your head. This should feel like an exciting, life-changing project, so scribble away to your heart’s content.
5. Check that your values are in alignment with your current career path
If you’re a bit stuck and unhappy with the way your career is going, there may be a conflict of values at play. Humans are not machines, and it’s important to do work that corresponds with your values and gives you a sense of purpose. If you’re struggling with your values at work, would a change of sector improve things? A change of company? A new role? What would you need to do to accomplish that?
6. Review your achievements.
What are you most proud of? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn this year that you can take into 2017? Start to see patterns in your job—what tasks you’re drawn to, what comes easily, what tasks you’re ‘in flow’ for and time passes in a flash—as these realisations can be powerful signals of the direction you should be moving towards in your recruitment career. Use these insights to add to your career vision map.
7. Figure out what you need to do to fulfil your career vision.
Find a job description of the job you want, and research the skills you will need. How many do you have now? Which need to be developed? How will you go about developing them? If there’s a training course you’d like to enrol in, find out if the company will fund it, or how much you’ll need to save to self-fund your development.
Schedule meetings with your manager or HR advisor to discuss your career trajectory. Start studying up at home as well, attending relevant sales seminars and webinars, and subscribing to publications in your sector. Start to amass the knowledge you’ll need to build your personal brand as someone who is at the top of their game.
8. Break the big projects into small tasks and map the milestones.
Humans generally find the most motivation when the goal is short term, so work with that innate hardwiring and break your goal into small pieces so you’re regularly celebrating success and get the momentum to attack the next step of the dream. And don’t forget to factor in clear deadlines, as well as rewards to keep you even more motivated, whether that’s a weekend away or a massage.
9. Plan for obstacles.
It’s fairly unlikely that everything will go exactly to plan. Someone might be sourced externally for ‘your’ promotion, your biggest client might change recruiters, or your sector might suffer a market downturn. Such is life! This is why you need a Plan B, C, and preferably even D up your sleeve. You’ll feel powerfully prepared when you’ve got alternative paths to meeting your dream.
10. Streamline your career vision.
The first draft of your career vision map probably looks like a mass of scribbles, underlining, and exclamation points by now- which is great, as it shows you’ve been brainstorming. Now it’s time to condense the career dream into a neat, decisive paragraph, and stick it on your bedroom wall- or somewhere you can see it regularly and have it keep you accountable. Then take your milestone map and create a neat project plan with deadlines, whether using Excel, pen and paper, or one of the clever goal-setting apps now available.
11. Get on with it! Don’t wait until 2017 to start, it will just waste time and you’ll likely lose the momentum and sense of excitement you had when brainstorming. The longer your brain has to mull over this, the more excuses it will come up with about why your big dreams are too risky or unattainable. The human brain has evolved to keep us safe from tigers and avoid risk at all costs, so don’t let it get in your way! Imagine how good you’ll feel about 2017 if you wake up on New Year’s Day knowing you’re already well on track.
So start now. Decide what you want. Review what you’ve achieved. Brainstorm how to get there. And use this knowledge to forge a new path for 2017. Good luck!
Until next time,
Cheryl