3 mistakes to avoid when taking that next Career step

Everyone has their own way of navigating career twists and turns.

However, there are some common themes (and mistakes) I’ve noticed that, if avoided, could actually improve your opportunities or make career changes more successful (and easier) for you.

1) Waiting until you are looking for a job to network.

If you are considering making a change in your career - however ‘big’ or ‘small’, use this opportunity to take a look at where people are in your network. Where do they work, what roles are they in?

Decide who to reach out to so you can learn more about what they do and re-ignite stale connections. If you stay connected to former colleagues, managers, friends, school mates, etc., somewhat regularly, you are in a much better position when you do contemplate a change vs. starting from the ground level and asking, “Do I even have a network?”.

Some of you may be asking this right now. To which, my answer is always ‘yes’. Everyone has a network, some are wider than others. Think about colleagues, customers, past managers, past teachers, the professionals you interact with, your accountant, your dentist, your neighbour….if you're starting from the beginning, consider who you do business with or use services from, on a regular basis.

Whether big or small, your network can be key to understanding what opportunities are out there, for others to understand you are ready to make a move, and important in making new connections.

And, keep this mind: you never know who your connections know.

2) Assume there aren’t any opportunities at your current company.

Now - in some cases, there just aren’t any, or you want to do something so completely different that it just doesn’t exist where you are today.

However, I want to share this thought…it’s a missed opportunity to not explore opportunities where you are now vs. solely looking outside the company for opportunities. And, if you think of it from the company’s point of view, it’s worth it for them to continue to develop an employee trained in their processes, their customers, and their culture. It can be very compelling to retain an existing employee, especially a highly valued one.

Here are some questions to get you thinking:

a) Have you spoken with your manager about where you’d like to take your career or about the types of opportunities you’d be interested in?

b) Have you expressed to your manager that you are currently ready for a new challenge? (whether that’s in the form of a new role, or in expanding some of your responsibilities such as spearheading a new initiative…)?

c) If your dream job opened up at your company, would you be the first person your manager thinks of to fill this role OR would she recommend you for it?

If your answers are coming up NO to each one, I encourage you to consider the step of speaking with your direct manager to share your thoughts on future directions you’d like to explore within the organization.

3) Not considering your work/professional values before looking for opportunities.

Values can sometimes be challenging to identify; however, once you do, they serve as a roadmap when evaluating future opportunities and in decision-making.

How to identify your values and how they might play out at work:

Think about what you MOST love about your job now and WHY you love it.

Next, think about what may bother you most about your current role and WHY. What really gets you frustrated or irritated — to your core.

Deep inside these events lie your values.

In what we truly enjoy and love about our work, there’s a value there that is being met. It could be that you value being an expert, or a contributor, or being creative, or helping others.

In what we truly get frustrated with, to our core, typically there’s a value not being met or a conflict of values.

As an example: It could be that your company doesn’t deliver its products on time and this shakes you to your core because you value integrity and doing what you say. If you tell your customers that their products will arrive by a certain date but your company has a high failure rate when it comes to deliveries, this could create a lot of conflict and deep frustration for you - especially when you have to deal with unhappy customers.

This may bother you more so, than others who may not have the same value as you. Over time, this could eventually wear you down and make the job overall feel less appealing. It may sound dramatic, but if a deeply held value isn’t met or if it’s under constant conflict, we can start to shut down and dislike where we are. If you understand why this is happening to you, you can do something about it.

Knowing these can help you understand WHY your current role may not be working and what you WANT in a role instead.

And, you’ll be able to determine what values are not only important but what ones are non-negotiable for you.

This is how they can serve as a roadmap to evaluating future opportunities.

So, if you’re considering making any career changes, avoiding these 3 mistakes can put you light years ahead and truly improve the degree to which that change is successful in providing you with what you need.

NOW is YOUR time.

Ariana

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