New Year Career Considerations

The New Year is a natural time to reflect on life goals, your career and the coming year. Allow me to propose the following questions, which might help in your discovery.

1. Are you happy doing what you do for a living? Are you happy doing it where you do it? When you do it? How you do it?

2. To what degree is your current assignment/job/project/enterprise a fit with the real you? In other words, to what degree, if any, are you putting on a mask when you go to work? (Hint: The more you change yourself to fit into your job, the less you sleep at night.)

3. To what degree is your current assignment/job/project in line with your long-term plans? Do you have a vision of how the rest of your career is going to unfold?

4. Is there a chance you could get laid-off this year? Are you considering making a move or change? Do you have a goal to get promoted this year? Do you have a plan? Are you ready?

5. Do you have the knowledge and skills to fully utilize the new online world of erecruitment and job search, elearning and networking? Are you?

6. Have you thought about whether opportunities exist for you not in changing what you do, but how you do it? We often get stuck in the old way of thinking where making a living means having one job for one employer at one external place of work. If you could design a different way, would you?

7. The Big Question: Imagine yourself in your ideal (but realistic) professional situation 5/10 years from now. How happy are you? Now, what is standing between you and this vision? Is it a pipe dream or something you seriously WANT? What resources, skills, knowledge, or relationships do you lack to achieve this vision?

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