Become the CEO of Your Career

5 tips to navigate career success in today’s stormy employment world

Q: I'm worried about my career as I watch what's happening with economy. What can I do to be a competition on a today’s job market and be prepared in case I get laid off?

A: The tsunami-like changes in our employment world and economy may seem to have sprung up over night. But in reality, they’ve grown out of less obvious, on-going changes. Before these changes, you might have felt your career was secure, but now the landscape looks quite different. So how can you ensure your career success? Become the CEO of your career. Start with these five CEO strategies.

1. Trust yourself - and your judgment.
• You are the decision-maker of your future. You are your number one. You are the CEO of your career.
• Recognize the knowledge you possess of your profession and industry. Acknowledge your strengths, weaknesses and your personal power.
• Be savvy about others’ motives and intentions.
• Listen to your intuition and also pay attention to the facts. Use both your logic and your emotional intelligence to make career decisions that are in your best interest. Women tend to make decisions that place others’ needs before their own. When is it your turn?

2. Scan the environment – from local to global.
• Pay attention to blips on the radar: changes in management, competition, products, services, technologies, demographics, price points and customers. These “blips” can escalate into tsunami-type changes.
• Take action before you become blind-sided, so you can side-step being laid off or forced out, or finding that your career has “suddenly” become obsolete, or your customers have evaporated. This principle is simply and superbly illustrated in Who Moved My Cheese.

3. Grow your skills and resume with deliberate intent.
• Track and document your accomplishments. Stay open to opportunities and use your savvy to evaluate.
• Become an expert on trend watching for your future career growth.
• Promote yourself at work. Be strategic about projects you accept.
• Be astute about office politics. Find a mentor you can trust.

4. Plan for your success.
• Record your “SMART” goals. Studies show that people with a written plan have greater success than those who lack a plan or don’t have it in writing.
• Track your progress regularly and be prepared to revise your plan as needed.

5. Pay attention to your money. And to your quality of life, values and purpose.
• Track compensation trends for your industry and profession.
• Be aware of discrepancies between women’s and men’s earnings.

Test Your CEO Judgment!

• Loyalty? What’s that? Ally feels indebted to her boss because of extra time he gave her 4 years ago, when her son was ill for 6 months. Since then, over the past 3 years, Ally’s been putting in 55-hour weeks and exceeding company goals, but her boss’ promises for a promotion are still just promises -- even though the company is growing and profitable. If you were Ally, what would you do?

• Where did my six-figure sales go? Tracey, VP of Business Development, has consistently earned 6 figures...until the last 2 years, when business started shrinking. She can’t understand it, because she’s been doing what she’s always done. If you were Tracey, what would you do?

• Promises & Assumptions. Carly’s manager, Andrea, told her that after 6 months on the job, she’d review her salary. Carly assumed that meant she’d get a raise. After 9 months, Andrea still hadn’t mentioned a word. If you were Carly, what would you do?

Have a question about networking, interviewing, landing the big job or moving up the ladder? Email  minute.mentor@tcwmag.com, and we'll have your query answered by a career pro. Check back every Tuesday for new advice from Chicago's top career coaches and experts. Check back on Tuesday, August 23, for advice on how to land the dream nonprofit job. 

   

Tagged as: career, networking, work etiquette, resume, work politics and minute mentor