Remember my post about Career Planning? I was talking about what makes up an effective Career Plan:
- Who am I?
- What do I want?
- What options do I have?
and taking you through how to find out who you are and what you want; so now onto the third step!
What options do I have?
- How can you improve your current role and raise your potential? Could you take on a new project? Offer to peer coach? Take on new responsibilities? Experience of taking on any change makes your CV shine more. What training and development you can optimise? Do you want to be mediocre or demonstrate excellence asks Brian Tracey, an Achievement Psychologist? If the latter you will always have good employment. Who can help you? What networking can you do?
TIP How can you anticipate future changes and trends in your profession or sector to stay ahead?
- Change role same employer?
- TIP Find yourself a mentor to guide you and offer impartial advice about the organisation. Who else can you influence, as people give opportunities to those they like best?
- Leave your current employer for other options? This involves research, research and more research! Internet, trade journals and fairs, plus networking events all provide up to date information. If you want a big change, work on a transitional plan to ease you through and manage the risk. Who can help you? Is it worth investing in some professional guidance and support? What can go wrong and how can you plan for that?
How to harness your motivation
Lets be honest here, finding another job is a slog so how do you find the energy to do this? One way of looking at this is to understand where your source of motivation is coming from. Is it that you are motivated by moving towards the excitement of a new job, the extra benefits, the challenges, new opportunities etc; or the good feelings about moving away from your current job, boss, team, commute, or location? With the former (a moving towards goal) be clear about not only the benefits but the costs (energy, money, effort, emotion) too. Allow the pull of a new job to drive you forward, recognising that energy source and consider the bigger picture. If you are more the latter (a moving away from goal), see the benefits of leaving your current role and how it can solve all your problems; but be realistic. Is the grass greener? It’s a bit like doing a cost benefit analysis and remembering where your source of motivation will come from when it’s tough going. You can then hold onto that source to drive you on. 
How much will networking help?
Often when we mention the term networking a look of horror creeps across our client’s faces. They imagine selling, cold calling and all that embarrassing awkwardness of being rejected. Stop there! Think of networking as building relationships, about listening, asking questions, being interested, building trust & rapport in addition to developing contacts. This comes more naturally for some, in others, in true emotional intelligence terms; it can be learned like any skill.
For more on this take a look at one of my previous posts. 
How can Personal Branding help you work out what you are selling and who wants to buy it?
By working out your personal brand it enables you to target, having given you focus and clarity. Armed with your CV and having worked through your personal brand you can feel confident about interviews and becoming close to your next job. See our post about Personal Branding for more detail.  
Thinking of self employment?
Self employment … 37% of people running UK companies wouldn’t start another business according to a survey by Sage. Government red tape and lack of innovation and passion were cited as the main reasons. Research every angle before you launch into something new like this. 
So is career planning all that it is cracked up to be?
It is not the most qualified people who get the best jobs – it is those who are most skilled at managing their skills and finding opportunities. If you don’t invest in your career who will?
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