- Career-Conscious Creatures Take Ownership: When we own our journeys we are more likely to reach our destinations. Take notice of where you are and how you got there. Is that where you want to be and for how long? If not, really consider where you want to be. Once you have answered these questions, begin researching and strategizing on how to get there. Then you will realize you have more control than you realized. After all, no one is responsible for your professional development but you.
- Career-Conscious Creatures Are Lifelong Students: Now I don’t mean spend the rest of your life, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for degree on top of degree. I mean that you need to keep learning and growing your skill set. Whether it be working to increase your typing speed, or learning to use computer programs like MS Word or Excel or whatever tools are commonly used in your field better. Make it a daily habit to work on a skill and try to learn something new every day.
- Career-Conscious Creatures Are Constantly Building Strong Relationships: As mentioned before, you are responsible for your professional journey and reaching your ideal professional destination. However, no one person can build a successful career alone. Career-conscious people build up strong, long-lasting relationships with their bosses, colleagues, mentors, even recruitment or staffing agencies throughout their career because you never know when you may need the and what you may be able to learn from them. Joining professional groups, attending networking events, doing community service are all great ways to meet new like-minded people.
- Career-Conscious Creatures Know Their Worth and How To Increase It: Career-Conscious creatures are constantly assessing their value and looking for ways to enhance it. There are many resources out there that can help you to understand wage averages for someone with your experience and credentials, in your position or profession, in the local area in which you are applying.
- Career Conscious Creatures Build and Manage Their Personal Brands: Nowadays, your brand expands far beyond your resume and cover letter. The social media revolution has made it much easier to manage your personal branding with things like LinkedIn, Facebook, blogging, etc. Career-conscious creatures are always cognizant of their online persona and strive to only share and entertain positive, useful and relevant information. They never engage in the negativity and pettiness that many people fall victim to. They always remain aware that they are visible and strive to always use their better judgment on such platforms.
At the end of the day, you don’t have to make drastic changes today to become more career-conscious. The trick is to start with small steps. Below are a few links to some useful resources and tools that I have found helpful on my journey and others also have found to be useful. Going forward we will be discussing many career-focused issues, providing advice, tips and resources that will help you on your journey to total career consciousness.
Additional resources for career and salary research:
