Managing Your Career

Top Free Download

Drive Your Career With Direct Action - Click to Download HERE

Click here for Free 7 Steps To Career Success email course

On this page I will help you to understand your key strengths, abilities and attributes. We will show you clearly how to identify the most important aspects of what you have to offer, and how to market these in person and on paper.

What are your achievements?

These are the things that you have done before that demonstrate the ability to actually do something. This is so much better than simply claiming the ability to do whatever your employer is looking for...

How can you analyse your skills?

We look at what skills are active when you accomplish something relevant.
Know how transferable your skills are - it's not sufficient to have skills; they must be usable.

What sort of person are you - can you describe how you relate to others or react to deadlines. Compatibility is the big issue and actually more important than raw ability.

What values are most important to you? It will be invaluable for you to look at your career values and to identify those that are present or missing in your current career. Follow this link Deciding Your Options to help you understand your work values. A new role needs to fit you and your personality so understanding your values is the most certain way to achieve the fit. This is possibly the most important element of Managing Your Career - get these things right and the rest will follow.

Networking Networking is one of the most important business and career development skills you need to develop. Its all here.

Deciding Your Options

When it comes to managing your career, or working out what choices are available to you, it’s important to take account of all the factors that can affect your decision. If you want to make the decision, you must consider these things; if you don't then you'll have little say in the matter and someone else will make the decision for you.

So what should you be thinking about? Career Design will help you to answer these questions - all of which have an impact on your deciding your options.

• What jobs or tasks do you enjoy doing?
• What roles or responsibilities do you dislike?
• What do you want to do more of?
• What would you like to do less of?
• What job roles have you performed well?
• What different jobs have you ever considered in the past?
• Who else will be affected by your decisions?
• Where are you prepared to work or travel for work?

Each of these issues must be fully considered if you are to have any control over managing your career direction. We can help you be sure to stay in control and that you are the one who is deciding your options.

So when it comes to managing your career, or working out what choices are available to you, it’s important to take account of all the factors that might affect your decision. If you want to make the decision yourself, you must consider these things; if you don't then ultimately someone else will make the decision for you and that is not a very satisfactory outcome.

However, if you feel that you would like to keep your options open, and give it some more thought try this site to help you Connexions

Then deciding your options suddenly becomes easier.

Managing Your Career by Marketing Yourself

Marketing yourself demands a keen understanding and the ability to position yourself to achieve your medium- and long-term objectives. When we consider what we need to do, it's helpful to think along the lines of:

Ø Where have I come from?
Ø Where am I going? And
Ø How will I get there?

But these three questions are just the beginning; so many other considerations come into play when thinking about managing your career. So start to answer to the following questions. Do you know where you’re going? How clearly and specifically can you define it?

• Do you know how you’ll get there? Will it be entirely by your own efforts?
• Are you making the most of your options? Is your market view wide enough?
• Does anyone know about you? What difference can other people make to your progress?
• What do others think about you? Their opinions matter and must be factual.
• How do you measure your impact? Market research is a must.

If you need some examples of job application cover letters, there is also a page where you can Buy Cover Letters; don't worry they won't cost you a lot!

In fact you can even buy your cover letters individually written, one at a time for just $1.95 each!

Continue to CV and Interview Preparation

Or continue to Make It Happen and Manage Your Career

Or return to Managing People