How To Take Control of Your Career Path

Introduction

So you want to take control of your career. Good for you! It’s time to stop wishing, waiting and hoping that others will decide where you go next. It’s time to take action instead. We all have goals but staying focused on these is easier said than done. So here are some simple tips so that you can manage your career path effectively and reach your target:

Get Your Numbers Right.

To get an accurate picture of where you stand in your career, it’s important to understand the metrics that matter. This means getting a sense of your current position and what you need to do to get to the next level—and then figuring out how you can improve your performance.

For starters, here are some questions to ask yourself:

How many projects did I work on last year? What were my personal goals for those projects? Did I meet them?
How many clients did I work with? How many different types of clients did I work with? What was my average customer satisfaction rating? What was my average client retention rate (or churn rate)? Was there any overlap between these two questions—that is, does the same client appear both under “customers” and “types”? If so, what was their relationship like over time—did they become more or less satisfied with our service as time went on?

Own Your Career Development.

It’s your career. You have to take responsibility for it. Don’t expect your boss to do it for you, and don’t wait for the right opportunity to present itself. If you want to change your career trajectory, you have to do it yourself.

The good news is that there are things we can control: our attitude and effort. If we’re not happy with where we are in our careers, then we need to look internally at what needs changing so that when opportunities come along they’ll be more likely to result in success than failure (or at least something worth pursuing). Here are some tips on how to do that:

Make The Case For Your Career Advancement.

When you’re ready to make the case for your career advancement, consider these points:

Research your employer’s culture. You need to understand what the company values and how they prefer their employees to act and behave. This will help you present yourself as a good fit with their overall mission. Also, be aware of any cultural changes that may have occurred since you joined the organization—for example, if there has been a merger or acquisition recently, or if there are new initiatives underway (or stalled out). Of course, this also means that you should research yourself! Do your best self-assessment now so that when it comes time for reviews and performance evaluations, they will provide meaningful feedback based on objective criteria rather than guesswork or speculation about why things didn’t work out as well as hoped for or planned originally.
Understand what success looks like from both sides: yours and theirs!

Be Clear About What You Want.

The first step in taking control of your career path is to be clear about what you want. It can be helpful to make a list of the things that matter most to you, such as:

Work-life balance. Do you prefer flexible hours and more time off? Or do you enjoy working long hours so that you can travel more often?
Time off. How much vacation time do you get each year? Are there any other benefits related to this—for example, paid holidays or sick days?
Compensation (salary). What’s important here? Do more money or better job security matter most to you at this stage in your life and career, for example? Once all these factors are taken into account by answering questions like those above and determining which aspects are most important for our ideal careers.

Build New Skills.

Look for opportunities to learn new skills. There are a lot of ways you can do this—take on projects that require new skills, take online courses (and enroll in a course at your local college), look for opportunities to mentor others who are learning new skills, or ask your manager if they can help get you connected with one of their friends who has expertise in the area you want to learn. Look at the people around you and figure out how they’re getting better; then emulate them!
Take stock of what’s missing from your current job description, and consider whether it makes sense for someone else at another company to have those responsibilities instead of yours. If so, find out who manages HR or IT at other organizations within the same industry. Then reach out and tell them about yourself so that when there are any openings in those departments (or similar ones), they’ll know who should be considered first if given an opportunity.

Look Your Best.

This is an obvious one, but it’s worth mentioning. A job interview is a chance for you to sell yourself—and you should always be ready. Dress up for the position you want! If you’re interviewing for a sales job, wear a suit; if it’s for an office manager role, wear a neat blouse and slacks or skirt. Regardless of what type of work environment you’re in, it’s important that your attire reflects who you are as an employee. For example: If your boss tells everyone to wear jeans on Fridays, do not wear jeans on Fridays unless they’re specifically company-approved (or if they are). That would just feel weird! Also be aware of your body language; make sure that everything looks friendly and professional—no crossed arms or aggressive stances while having an interview conversation with someone else!

Note: Before applying to any jobs at all make sure that these tips will actually help out the way intended.*

Nail The Negotiation And Ask For A Raise.

Determine your value by understanding the market rate for your job. If you’re not sure what that salary is, ask around or search online.
Come prepared to explain why you deserve a raise. What have you done for the company lately? How has it benefited from your work?
Prepare yourself for possible pushback from your boss with a few great arguments on hand: – “I’ve been here two years and my work is still just as good if not better than when I started.” – “I’ll be moving on if this isn’t addressed soon.”

You Can Take Control Of Your Career’s Direction, Just By Being Strategic.

You can take control of your career’s direction, just by being strategic.

The first step is to set goals and make a plan. While it may seem obvious at first, it’s important to be clear about what you want and what you’re aiming for. When defining goals, it’s helpful to think about why they are important in the first place—what do they mean to you? How will achieving them make your life better? Once you’ve defined these things, write them down so that they’re visible and easily accessible throughout the process.

Next up is taking action! This might sound difficult or intimidating; however, when we get stuck on something that feels hard sometimes we need just one thing: a little bit of courage. Start small if necessary by making one change per day rather than trying everything at once (this can help prevent overwhelm). Over time as these small steps add up into big changes in direction for our careers—and lives overall!

Conclusion

We all want to be in control of our careers, and the good news is that you can be. We don’t all have the same experiences or career goals, but we do start from a place where we can make choices about how we want things to go. Once you get your numbers right, own your development and make clear what you want next (all while looking and feeling great), it’s time to take action. Building new skills is an obvious path forward—and one that comes with its own set of rewards along with risks—but if you don’t know how to negotiate for yourself then it might be worth investing some time into learning these skills too.