How to take the NEXT STEP in your Career

A lot of people approach me regularly and say "I am thinking of leaving my current organisation, taking on a new challenge, switching my position or job"

My usual go-to response is "what are you looking for? what do you have in mind?"

Sometimes the reply is clear: "I want to leave XYZ (country or company) and pursue 123" in that case together we discuss the facilitating factors to do so and the barriers blocking them from doing so. However overall a plan can be formulated.

To give more detail on that, the conversation is often framed with "what do you need to pursue 123?" Perhaps there is a visa required, a qualification, a certain amount of experience or a referral / recommendation to a particular place or organisation. With an understanding of the requirements it is possible to build a specific timebound plan of steps to achieving that goal.

For many this is not an overnight change, but something to embark upon and perhaps years henceforth achieve. A clear roadmap of the sequential steps can prepare you mentally for that long term effort or application required to achieve. Kind of like when you are at the gym or working out, you break down the whole amount into bite-sized pieces or sets that you can (relatively) easily accomplish one at a time.

Can I do 50 push ups at once? NO!

But can I do 5 x 10 push ups! YES!

On the other hand, many people do not really have a clear idea of what they want, simply a clear idea of a desire to change or sometimes a change is being forced upon them such as organisational restructure, strategy change or redeployment of resources in different ways.

In this case, the conversation invariably lengthens, there is a whole exploration required of what is preferred and disliked in order to construct any kind of viable options.

Personally I consider there to be two major areas of reconciliation:

1. What are you good at?
2. What do you enjoy?

Sometimes we simply enjoy whatever we are good at, because it's easier to get done. Sometimes we love something that we are not particularly good at because it fulfils us in ways other than the satisfaction of achievement.

If we take that one step further to use the Ikigai philosophy then we need to add:

1. What the world needs
2. What you can be paid for

These add professional vocation and mission to the perfect combination of finding your true purpose. Essentially it's getting one step more practical because in the real world there has to be a practical way to make a living in order to move forward.

This usually uncovers several options to consider, some would be quicker to make reality and others would be further into the future to develop.

How to action the next career options?

• Upgrade / Polish your Resume - add the most up to date info, customise it for the potential paths you want to take, highlighting the most attractive aspects of your experience and/or education that would appeal to those decision makers, remove out of date, unnecessary info e.g. conference you attended in 2006

• Complete your Linkedin Profile - request recommendations from previous colleagues, clients, contacts to display on your profile. Add multimedia to your career experience (a picture is worth a 1,000 words), even better your portfolio if you have one. Take a new profile photo that is clear and professional that represents the image that you want to portray. Spend time to perfect your Headline (it's the money shot for searches on your profile) so that the value that you bring is encapsulated succinctly and appealing to the right audience.

• Talk to an experienced Recruitment Consultant - there's a lot of great knowledge to be gained from a recruitment consultant who is experienced hiring the kind of position or sector that you are interested. Everything from the current status of where there are the most opportunities to some of the best tips and tricks of what hiring managers in that area look for and what they value most. Once you have established a relationship with them, they may well be able to come back to you later with a position of interest!

• Set yourself a Timeline - if you say to yourself "I am going to apply to as many jobs as possible this month" then you are setting yourself up to fail and will certainly not be satisfied with whatever number you achieve. Instead, set a realistic timeline for getting an interview or admittance onto the course/programme that you are applying for. Then you can plan accordingly and work towards it. Be patient.

• Establish relationships with Key Decision Makers - whatever field you are intending to go into, spend time to identify key decision makers. These are not necessarily the hiring managers or the people who will ultimately decide to hire you or not. They could be one degree of separation from those people, ones able to introduce you to them. Play the long game to build relationships with them to supplement your status and enhance your personal brand. It is not about asking them to give you a job or "put in a good word for you" it's about building a relationship so that they do it without you asking them to do it.

"It's never too early to begin preparing for your next career move"

One of the philosophies that I have taken to heart since I setup RDI Worldwide in 2016 is Constant Forward Motion or Continuous Improvement.

When I was a schoolboy I was quite keen on cross-country running and one of the things that allowed me to finish the race was to always keep in mind that if I just keep going then I am getting closer to the end. I try to invoke the same at my company, as long as you keep developing yourself, learning new things then you are getting closer to your goals.

1% better each day makes you 37 times better in a year

So let's get started today! By tomorrow you'll already be 1% better than today.

RDI Worldwide was established in 2016 in Korea, as a branch of RDI UK that started in 1996 in Leeds.

Today RDI is helping companies to establish and enter the Korean market by selecting and introducing the most highly qualified Korean bi-lingual talents. Companies already in Korea seeking to grow, use RDI to find the best people for their business, benefitting from a global team who know what they need.

In doing so, highly talented individuals are realising their next career moves, enhancing their own lives and fulfilling their professional goals.

If you are looking to hire talents:

https://jobs.rdiuk.com/find-talent

Interested in your next career move, check out our jobs board:

https://jobs.rdiuk.com/job-openings

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