Is It Time To Move Your Career On?
Chances are that if you’re reading this article, you’ve been wondering lately if you’re on the right path in your current recruitment job. Are you on the way to hitting your ultimate career goals, or are they just drifting further out of sight with each passing year?
Recruitment can be a tough industry at times, with the high pressure, skill shortages, and intense competition between recruiters often contributing to high levels of stress in recruitment professionals. Sometimes this stress can act to mask whether you’re really heading in the right direction with your career.
Perhaps you’re not making enough placements because of a downturn in your sector, maybe your boss is making your life hell, you might have been passed over for promotion, or you’ve lost the enthusiasm for finding new clients that you had in the beginning.
These things all sound pretty rough, right? But even if you’re plodding along in a familiar job, also remember that sometimes being stuck in a comfortable rut is just as dangerous for your career as being in a ‘bad’ job. Both paths end in personal stagnation- and if you let yourself stagnate for too long, your career dreams will be seriously derailed.
For lots of us at this time of year, it can be hard to figure out whether what we’re experiencing is valid. Is it time to move jobs, or are we actually just suffering from a bad dose of the mid-year blues?
It’s worth taking stock of our careers regularly to assess where we’ve come from, where we are, and what we need to do to take us where we want to be. Here are some powerhouse tips for getting your career back on track.
It’s time to build your skills
1. Ask your manager if there’s any money allocated for training and development.
Access any existing company funds to build your skill set. If there’s no budget, consider self-funding or government supported training.
2. Start your own programme of informal training.
3. You don’t need to sit in an evening class or pay for courses to revolutionise your career— there is an enormous amount of skill you can build for free just by accessing a library or the internet. Read books by successful salespeople and follow social media of inspirational entrepreneurs, athletes, or star recruiters.
4. Find a mentor.
5. To benefit from the advice of a good mentor is one of the most transformative career experiences possible. Luckily, many successful people are generous with those who seek out their help, so seek out someone who you personally look up to, or someone who offers mentoring services in your area.
6. Think specifically about the job you want, and then set yourself a rigid deadline to get yourself ready.
Look at your dream job’s required skills- how many of the competencies do you already have? Where do you fall short? What training will you have to do to reach that goal? To avoid ‘wobbling’ from the goal over time, book and pay for any courses in advance so you feel you have non-negotiable targets and gain valuable momentum.
7. Break your goals up into bites-sized pieces.
When we spend time idly daydreaming about our goals, we often spend a lot of time fixating on how wonderful it will be to get that job/promotion/novel published etc, and too little time breaking the dream down into actionable chunks. Human motivation almost always falters when we don’t have regular success, so if you allow your dream to remain all hazy and lovely, you’re very unlikely to ever reach it. Create regular milestones, with regular rewards- the momentum of success is what propels you to the finish line! Perhaps you want to become the top biller in your team, or get promoted to senior management by next year. If so, how are you going to get there? Plan your course carefully, then chase your dream like crazy.
8. Ask your current manager what you’re doing well, and what you could improve.
Even if you’re planning to move on, this question is valuable to give you a challenge to improving the weaker aspects of your performance, as well as give you an indicator of what kind of reference you might get. Do not allow yourself to react badly to this requested feedback, no matter what you hear— it’s all an opportunity to turn your performance around and get a great reference.
9. Surround yourself with successful people, and emulate them.
This goes beyond traditional career mentorship, as the people you choose can be from any field, or any walk of life. Choose to spend time with positive and ambitious people who have a fire to succeed, and you’ll soon find yourself infected with their enthusiasm and positive habits.
It’s natural to have highs and lulls in our careers. Sometimes we hit a bit of a wall where exciting opportunities seem lost, the stress of recruitment overwhelms us or our enthusiasm wanes, but all you need to get back on track is a solid plan and the will to succeed.
Until next time,
Cheryl