3 Ways to Jump-Start Your Career, Starting Today

Whether you love your job, hate your job, or need a job, taking a few specific actions can bolster your career. And if you do it right, these activities will leave you feeling supported, motivated, and excited about the future.

1.     Find Your Game-Changer

After a few years in management consulting and while working on a corporate strategy project at Dun & Bradstreet, I realized I was drawn to everything about HR - the people, the work, and the mission. I wanted to make a change. The SVP of HR, Patti Clarke, became my game-changer. The move into HR when you don’t "come from HR" is not always easy. Patti opened that door for me and created opportunities for me across her HR organization over the next seven years. 

Game-changers are the people behind the pivots. If you want to change functions, move to a different company, or start over doing something completely different, a game-changer is your ticket to ride. Seek out someone who will give you the "at bat" you need to make the big move; the person who will vouch for you, take a chance on you, and/or influence for you. They are not a mentor or a coach. Game-changers can make things happen for you, and by doing so alter your path in short order. 

• Look around your current company. Who has the influence, authority, leadership, and position to help? Do you have a relationship with this person? If not, can you develop one? What can you offer them that helps them?
• Look outside your company. Have you previously worked with someone who could be a game-changer? Is there someone in your extended network who may benefit from your unique set of skills and experience who can be your game-changer?
• Once you identify possible game-changers, be bold. Reach out and have a conversation. Ask for what you want. Do not back down.

2.      Help People in Your Network

Helping people can be a fun and meaningful way to grow your career. Even the most senior people have goals that you may be able to support. Keep it genuine. It is pretty easy to differentiate between authentically helping versus using it as a means to an end.

In Adam Grant's book Give and Take, he articulates the many professional benefits of helping people, including relationship building and motivation. "Helping others enriches the meaning and purpose of our own lives, showing us that our contributions matter and energizing us to work harder, longer, and smarter." 

• Reach out to people you care about and find out about their goals. How can you help them reach those goals through your connections, skills, and experience?
• Pay attention to your network. When people feel passionately about a cause, they are frequently public about it. Think about how you can contribute.
• Look on LinkedIn. More and more people are including the "Open to Work" label. Can you help them?
• Reflect on people from your past who have helped you. It may be an ideal time to see how you can help them, and express your gratitude at the same time.

3.   Act on Your Passions

Careers don’t always reflect our passions. An engineer may love graphic design. A marketer can be fascinated by leadership development. Whatever your "other" passion may be, you can jump-start your career by exploring that interest. When you acknowledge other interests while delivering in your current role, you are both respecting your instincts and establishing potential options for the future.

The beauty of exploring your passion "on the side" is that you can do it at your own pace. Patrick James McGinnis' book 10% Entrepreneur describes how to live your startup dream without quitting your day job. Incorporating your passions into your work can also enrich your current role. One example is the now widely known connection between Steve Job's decision to take a calligraphy class and the elegant design of Apple products.

• Make the most of your free time to get clarity on your passion. Keep this a judgement-free process. If you are good at something and really enjoy it, you can likely make a nice living doing it.
• Once you determine your passion, consider how others have made a business out of it. Think about how you can put your own spin on it.
• Experiment by consulting, taking a class, or volunteering. Be honest with yourself. Not every experiment has a clear-cut outcome. See how far you want to take it, and feel free to continue the experiment or start a new one. 

There is a lot we cannot control in the world right now. You, however, control your career. Get started, and please let me know how to goes - I want to help (see #2 above...).

Margo Christou is a Principal at Epitome Executive Search, a dynamic and fast-growing retained executive search firm.