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Challenge yourself

Alessandra Alonso says swotting, planning, learning and networking can all make you upwardly mobile in the career stakes. Whatever you do, she stresses, stay positive.

Looking through the People on the Move pages of Conference News, got me thinking that, even in the most turbulent times, smart professionals remain sought after and will find opportunities to land a more deserving job. Yet the temptation for most is simply to ‘get on with it’, putting up with a dissatisfying job or career.
This is the perfect time to challenge your present position and explore what’s out there. This may not mean dropping your current position at once, but rather taking the time to consider questions such as ‘How did I get where I am?’ and ‘How can I make the most of my talent?’. Answering these questions will help you prepare for the future, understand what you really want and how you may achieve it. You may have to go back to basics but, more often than not, this will reveal some surprising facts about you and could point to the way forward. Here are some practical tips on career manage-ment and develop-ment.

SWOT Yourself!
Assessing yourself and the combination of your ‘strengths/weaknesses/ opportunities/ threats’ is important not only for understanding yourself, your potential and what you want out of life, but also to avoid your career being shaped by accident rather than what you ‘really’ want.
For instance, the interests and goals you had in your twenties and thirties may well have changed as a result of starting a family. Free self-assessment tools are often available online and will enable you to ascertain where the opportunities may lie.

Have a personal career plan (and review it regularly)
Successful people are careful planners. Although luck can play a role, setting short, intermediate and long term objectives is the secret of personal and professional advancement. One word of warning: you may have to take some risks along the way. Working hard may no longer be enough to maximise your career potential.

The only way is up?
Promotion is one way of developing your career but not the only one. You could be enriching your experience by moving sideways or even downwards, in order to acquire new skills. This may represent a stepping stone for something much more important. Look out for secondments, transfers, job shadowing and other similar opportunities within and outside your current environment. Another option might be to use these skills and experience to go ‘solo’

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