Creating a Career Blueprint can help you map out your next move.
As we all discovered over the past couple of years, even the best laid plans can get derailed when we’re faced with uncertainty and unexpected challenges.
But that’s no excuse not to have a plan in place when it comes to your career path—especially if you’re thinking of changing jobs. After all, you wouldn’t set off on a road trip without a map, right? You can always change direction, but you’ll get there faster if you know where you are and where you’ve been.
One way you can build consistency throughout the life of your career, and ensure you hit every milestone that matters to you, is to complete the foundational work outlined in a Career Blueprint.
It’s a process that requires looking both backward and forward to reflect on the experiences that have brought you to this point and think about what you hope to achieve in both the short and long term.
Start with Who You Are
Our Career Blueprint starts with an honest self-assessment to reset your strategic mindset so you can begin an intentional job search—or to develop a plan for finding greater satisfaction in your current role or company. Here are a few things to ask yourself:
- What skills and experiences have you gathered in your career so far and what will you bring to the table in a new position?
- What do you value about a workplace? The perks or the people? Opportunities for advancement or contributions to the greater
- Where have you noticed that you really thrive or are in the flow?
- What kind of work environment makes you feel most valued? Most productive? Most engaged?
- How would your ideal position align with your personal and professional priorities?
- Who are your biggest champions and harshest critics in your professional network? How are each of them inspiring your goals?
- What impression does your social media give about you? Is it accurate? Is it how you want to appear?
- What drives you? How do you harness these forms of motivation?
- What else makes you unique or differentiates you?
Plan Where You’re Going
Taking a comprehensive look at all of these factors will help you see how the pieces fit together in your own personal career puzzle. To help with this effort, why not download our Career Blueprint? It’s full of interactive exercises and tools to help you design a career path with the big picture in mind. Armed with answers, you can move through this year with more intention toward the path you desire.
