Career Planning 101 - Part 2

Any recruitment consultant will tell you that January is the time of the year when candidates are at their most energetic. They’ve had a nice break, had a chance to unwind and have had some time to think about life, the universe and everything. They’ve decided that this year is the one when things are going to change. They’ve made some resolutions and they are determined that this year is the one when everything is going to be better. Along with losing weight and getting fit, the most common resolution is the desire for a new job.

  So what normally happens to most of these resolutions? Usually by about March the vast majority of people have reverted back to the same old ways. The gym membership is paid for but rarely used. The diet was pinned up on the fridge, but has been taken off to make room for another novelty fridge magnet. And what about the plans for a new job? Usually the desire for a new job has gone the same way as the desire for a healthier lifestyle; it’s no longer a priority and it’s easier to settle back into the same old comfortable rut.

  The fact is that finding a new job, the right job for you, takes commitment, planning and determination. It takes research, thinking time and the ability to honestly assess where you are and where you want to go. You need to work out what you want to do and how to make that a reality and be realistic about it. So why is it so hard? The same reason that sticking to a diet is hard and getting fit is hard – it takes hard work and most people don’t have the discipline or the real desire to do it.

  If you take an Olympic gold medal winner or a champion dieter what do they both have in common? They have real commitment to a goal and they plan how to achieve it in detail. They will do whatever it takes to achieve their goal and it always involves sticking to a carefully worked out plan, with specific targets every step of the way.

  If your desire for a new job got as far as updating your old CV and sending it to a few adverts in the paper that looked interesting but no further, then you probably don’t really want a new job badly enough; certainly not badly enough to take time to work out a plan.