With the end of the financial year coming up fast, taking time to work out what you want to do with your life and career is worthwhile.
In fact, it’s essential. Calibre have shared their framework to help Hub’s members and community re-evaluate their career, goals, and progress.
What do you want to do?
This may seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many professionals haven’t stepped back to think about their own personal aspirations.
Calibre speaks to professionals and talks them through the following steps to help them better understand their core drivers and aspirations.
What do you want to do in your career?
Embrace the freedom this question gives you – remove what you feel you should do and simply write down what you would love to!
If something immediately comes to mind, write it down – otherwise, think about your job and any previous aspirations.
Don’t worry if it doesn’t sound fancy – at this stage, it is about getting something down on paper and you’ll adapt it later in the process.
Read more: Why Your Business Needs a Contingency Plan
What don’t you want to do?
Knowing what you want to focus on often requires knowing what you don’t want to do. People often worry about the idea of closing doors or turning down responsibilities, but articulating what you don’t want lets you be introspective and have more focus going forward.
Why do you want to do it?
Why does this appeal?
This may be self-evident but is a key step – the reasons you want to do this will align closely with your personal value proposition and help you communicate why you’re capable of achieving what you want.
Many people feel having dissatisfying parts of your job is part of life, but it doesn’t have to be. Remember that an employer is going to maximise their value/return from you if you are motivated and doing work you love.
How must you develop/change to get there?
Try to think from the perspective of ‘employers of future you’ (or, if you are looking to set up your own firm, then your target client’s perspective).
What do you need to demonstrate to get this career opportunity?
Put aside the question of what you need from others and focus on what you need to achieve, what gaps there are currently and how you can bridge them.
Read more: How to Plan for Business Growth
When do you want to achieve this by?
We can’t all walk into our perfect role today but if we don’t give ourselves a timeline to achieve something, we’re unlikely to achieve it.
Always be mindful of the steps ahead. It’s important to avoid falling into a ‘when I have 3 more years’ experience’ or ‘when I reach associate level’ – ultimately, these are arbitrary measures of value.
This is more about giving yourself and your employer a clear and realistic pathway to achieving your career goal.
Now how can you use this?
So what does this actually do for you now? Well, at worst it has brought focus to your own motivations. We all fall into the rut of coming to work day in day out without connecting to the bigger aspects of the work you do.
Simple ways to make this exercise useful would be:
- Raise it with your manager/team leader or mentor the next time you talk – not as a list of demands but as a talking point where you solicit their opinion, feedback and advice. A third party view will not only help others understand your drivers/ambition but also help you refine it.
- Use as the basis of your next performance/annual review. There is a chance you may not like how people react, but don’t shut this down – all feedback is valuable. If an employer feels you are falling short in a certain area just make sure the conversation is centred around how it can be addressed.
- Build an understanding of how other employers may be able to assist you to achieve your goal and how this may differ to your current organisation.
