5 things to do this summer to take your career to the next level

Share this post:

Your career needs to be managed

As Josh Bersin states in his article Career Management goes mission critical ; “One of the most disruptive changes in the world of work is the new way we manage our careers. Only a few decades ago people relied on their employers for a career. Today this has radically changed, giving birth to a new set of challenges, a new market of tools, and an exciting new marketplace for job seekers.” Basically, if you aren’t managing your own career, you can’t expect your company to do it for you.

Dress for success

Summer is a great time to spend some focused time on your career and where it’s headed. Work invariably tends to slow down a bit as people take vacations and leave early on Fridays to get a head start on their weekends. So, while it’s a time to relax, recharge and rejuvenate; it’s also an opportunity to take advantage of those few extra hours of downtime to take stock of where you stand and where you want to head next. Here are a few things that can help you:

1. Evaluate your impact so far – I heard a great podcast hosted by Jacob Morgan, featuring Xavier Unkovic, the President of Amy’s Kitchen. My biggest take-away from this podcast was, “Don’t worry about your salary or your title, focus on your impact”. As you look back at your H1 performance, evaluate how much impact have you been able to make on the organization you are in? Has what you’ve done helped the mission? Moved the needle positively? Do you need to make adjustments to maximize your impact for the remainder of the year?
2. Gauge your learnability quotient – Learnability is: “the desire and ability to quickly grow and adapt one’s skill set to remain employable throughout their working life.” As technological innovation accelerates the pace of change, there is growing awareness that individuals who seek learning opportunities will be better positioned for career growth. Your Learnability Quotient (or LQ) reflects your desire and ability to grow and adapt to new circumstances and challenges throughout your work life. Take the quiz and assess your learning style and receive recommendations on how best you can become a better learner.
3. Perfect the top soft skills needed in the workforce – Strengthening a soft skill is one of the best investments you can make in your career, as they never go out of style. Additionally, the rise of AI is making soft skills increasingly important, as they are precisely the type of skills robots can’t automate. That’s why according to a LinkedIn survey,  57% of senior leaders today say soft skills are more important than hard skills. Here are some great ideas on what soft skills are needed and how you can develop them.
4. Asses your digital brand and eminence – The first impression anyone gets about you, is in most cases based on your Google results. Check it out for yourself and determine whether or not the results tell the story you’d like for them to portray. Update your LinkedIn profile, participate in appropriate social media channels, demonstrate your expertise by contributing to domain specific communities; show your real, authentic self – drive both social and technical eminence to stand out from the crowd.
5. Determine your next to next job – One of my mentors once told me, ‘You need to figure out what you want your next to next job to be’. Once you know that, you can plan for your next job to be a stepping stone towards your ultimate goal. In this complex, ever changing workforce which is so fluid and unpredictable, it’s hard to know if the job you are aspiring towards will even exist in the future, but I think it’s more about being 1 step ahead of where you want to go and making sure all your learning and activities are aligned towards getting you there.

Being mindful of your career development is an ongoing activity and not something you can review once a year. To continue to grow your success in 2019 and beyond, understand these success predictions by Forbes and apply them throughout your career strategy.

Have a safe, relaxing and wonderful summer!