The First Step In Building Your Career: Where Is Your Career Now?

As we approach the New Year many of us set resolutions or goals for the coming year. Most of us fail to reach those goals and, in fact, forget about them or give up within a few weeks.  While there can be a variety of reasons for that one of the problems is that before you set your destination (your goal) you need to know where you are now.

When was the last time you sat down and gave serious and honest consideration to where you are in your career today? Ask yourself these questions:

• Am I happy with my current position? Why or Why not?
• Am I happy with my current employer?
• Am I happy with the advancement opportunities?
• Do I enjoy the substance of my work?
• Do I enjoy working with my clients/customers?
• Do I enjoy working with my coworkers?
• Is my manager supportive?
• Am I applying myself to the best of my abilities?
• How is my attitude?
• If I am unhappy with any of the above, what is my contribution to being unhappy?

This last question is critical for anyone who is looking to advance their career, whether it's within the same company or changing companies. Why? Because when you change job you always take yourself with you. And if the reason you are not advancing in your current company is that you are holding yourself back somehow, then, if you change jobs, you will hold yourself back in the new company.

For example, many people blame their managers for their lack of career advancement. Perhaps you manager is holding you intentionally. However, when was the last time you initiated a conversation about what you want your career to look like and asked your manager to help you? If you're not enjoying your customers or coworkers, are you trying to get to know them and let them get to know you?

When working to understand where you are, it helps greatly to work with someone who has some outside perspective, a mentor, coach or possibly friend or family member. For your sake it is critical that this person be someone who will question your beliefs about yourself to get you to think what you are saying is true or not. Perhaps they will be able to point out contradictions in your stated goals and your actual behavior.  A 360 Reach Personal Branding Assessment can also help you gain perspective by asking others to provide feedback to you.

When you are assessing where you career currently is as well as yourself, this is the first step of personal branding. This is part of really understanding who you are. Everything you love and hate about yourself (and eventually come to accept or change). 

What are you going to do now to take your career to the next level?