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88 Days To Year-End: 88 Career Actions For A Better Career In 2018

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We have exactly 88 days till the end of the year, which is plenty of time to position yourself for a better career in 2018. If you take just one action per day, you will break through inertia, build a habit of systematic and regular career action, and make critical progress towards your career goals.

Don’t think there are 88 career moves you can make? Here are 88 specific career actions, many of which take just a few minutes, that will help your maximize your current career, strengthen your personal brand, strengthen your network, and move you forward:

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Maximize your current career

1. Prepare a list of work accomplishments for your annual performance review. If you don’t have an official year-end review, ask for one.

2. Schedule a meeting with your boss to plan for next year and to ask for the development, resources and recognition you need.

3. Collect testimonials or other evidence of positive results for the year. Bring this to your performance review!

4. List supportive colleagues, management, and mentors. Do you have support at different levels?

5. List supportive contacts in different departments and regions. Do you have widespread support?

6. Sign up for an employee resource group or cross-functional activity.

7. Mark your salary to market. Talk to recruiters and industry colleagues for current information

8. Prepare for your raise and/or bonus conversation – this is often separate from your review and even from a request for development and resources.

9. Attend a professional association meeting or industry conference. Is your current role focused on where your industry is trending?

10. Review your company benefits. Many companies have the benefits enrollment period towards the end of the calendar year.

11. Review company press releases and announcements. Is what you’re working on aligned with where the company is going.

12. Review the company annual report and financials. Is the company doing well?

13. Walk around to different departments than you normally work with.

14. Have lunch with a different set of colleagues.

15. Declutter your desk.

16. Review your wardrobe – what needs tailoring, cleaning or replacing?

Identify a new career direction

1. Start an ideas list. Use it to capture companies or trends or people you read about that you want to explore further.

2. List out favorite jobs, projects and other experiences. Capture a data dump of your happiest times. Look for patterns.

3. Skim the Table of Contents for business periodicals over the last year. Pay attention to which articles catch your attention – those areas might be where your next career lies.

4. Skim the lists from major business periodicals – e.g., Fortune 500, Inc 500, Forbes 400. What companies, industries and profiles interest you?

5. Research a company that interests you. Browse their website for the Leadership team, sample projects, press releases and jobs listed.

6. Research two more companies related to your main company of interest. Get into the habit of always looking at multiple options and of regularly researching companies.

7. Check out job postings on a comprehensive site or a niche site relevant to your target area. Even if you’re not looking, you want to read job postings.

8. Set up a filter on a job postings site so you can easily find jobs of interest. Just setting up the filter will force yourself to summarize what you want

9. Create a vision board so you can visually brainstorm on your goals.

10. Draft a business plan to stretch your thinking about your next career move (it might not be a job!).

11. Imagine that you can move anywhere in the world. Where would you go if you had to start over again? What would you do?

12. Have a coffee with someone in your network who works in a job or a company that interests you.

13. Read the biography of an entrepreneur, career changer, or executive that you admire. How did they do it?

14. Look at LinkedIn profiles of people with jobs you want. Say you want to be Chief Marketing Officer someday – look at the career paths of those profiles and see firsthand the different ways to reach the same goal.

15. List your 100 dreams.

16. List all the factors you are considering in deciding your next move. Force yourself to rank them to get clarity on your priorities.

Strengthen your personal brand

1. Update your resume. Even if you’re not looking for a job right now, it’s a good audit of your recent career growth, and it’s better to update a little bit periodically than have to remember years of work when you’re in a hurry for your next job.

2. Write a three-line “cover letter” about who you are and what you do. When you find yourself in a situation where you’re asking a friend or colleague for an introduction to someone, make it easy to make that introduction.

3. Update your social media profiles – what you do, what you’ve done. Does your picture look like you?

4. Post on social media an article related to your career area. It reminds people of your expertise.

5. Post on social media about a recent win or completed project at work. It reminds people what you’re doing.

6. Update your email signature. Include a link to your LinkedIn profile – it effectively attaches your resume to every correspondence.

7. Dress up your email signature. Put a link to an article you’ve published or your social media feed.

8. Call your voicemail, and answer the question, “Tell me about yourself.” This is your networking pitch – do you find it compelling?

10. Record multiple voicemails to yourself with the answer to “Tell me about yourself.” Play around with how you describe your background. Include hobbies, interests and fun facts. Don’t forget to include your current interests and career goals.

11. Check your privacy settings on your social media. Are you sharing only what you want to share?

12. Check your credit report. Prospective employers sometimes look at your credit report!

13. Get published. At the very least, comment on a post.

14. Deliver a talk – at your alma mater, a community group, your next company meeting. Public speaking is a great way to raise visibility demonstrate expertise.

15. Sketch out a personal website. What sections would you include? What samples of your work? What would the About page say? Even if you don’t publish anything, it’s another way of thinking about your brand.

16. Ask your boss, your colleagues, your social friends and your significant other for three words that come to mind when they think of you. That’s your brand – are you happy with it?

Strengthen your network

1. Compile your reference list. You know you’ll need one at some point. Do it now, rather than scrambling at the last-minute.

2. Call your reference list. It’s probably been a while since you’ve connected. These people are your supporters – don’t lose touch.

3. Compile a list of people you have managed. If you move into management roles, your reference requirements will include people you have managed. Junior people today become senior people tomorrow – don’t lose touch.

4. Reach out to three people you haven’t connected with in a while just to say Hello. The best time to network is well before you need anything.

5. Reach out to three more people in your network. If you continue to reach even one more long-lost contact each day for the rest of the year, you will have reconnected with almost 100 people!

6. Return recruiter phone calls. In my experience, the more senior and more successful people are the most reliable in returning phone calls – what does that tell you?

7. If you haven’t gotten recent recruiter calls, reach out to recruiters you have interacted with in the past (for example, from an earlier job search). Don’t ask for help -- offer to help them with referrals to candidates.

8. Send a thank you note. It’s a great way to stay in touch, and it will be a welcome surprise to the recipient.

9. Send a results update to someone who recently gave you advice.

10. Look at the notifications on your social media feeds – congratulate your contacts who have new positions, anniversaries or other news.

11. Take stock of what you’re reading and learning, and pick one insight or article of interest to share with someone in your network.

12. Find an interesting job posting, and share it with someone in your network. Better yet, if you know the hiring manager or recruiter, offer to make an introduction.

13. Meet someone new – at a networking event, on social media, by visiting different floors in your company.

14. Join a new group – e.g., employee resource group, book club, online community.

15. Schedule an informational interview. These are not just for jobs – it’s any meeting set up to learn about something, such as an industry or role in general.

16. Drop an activity – unsubscribe from a newsletter, cancel a professional membership. Saying No frees you up to say Yes to something else.

17. Send out holiday cards – it’s a natural networking touchpoint for end-of-year.

Get refreshed and shore up your personal foundation

1. Make a gratitude list. This can help you get into a positive frame of mind now and any time you need a pick me up (say, right before a job interview!).

2. Take a long walk someplace new. Mixing up your routine will give you new ideas.

3. Meditate for a few minutes. At the very least, you get a break. As a bonus, you’ll be training your brain to focus.

4. Find something funny – a comic film, a YouTube clip. This can be another break, but more importantly, a possible pick-me-up you can use the night before a big meeting, job interview, etc.

5. Calculate your savings retirement assets, cash in the bank, property owned. Know your stockpile for when you want to take time off, start a business, or switch careers into a lower-paying field.

6. Schedule wellness checkups for the next year – medical, dental, vision, skin care.

7. Schedule time with your accountant to prepare for tax season. Or if you do your own taxes, block out time now so you don’t overbook yourself.

8. Schedule vacations and personal days you need over the next three to six months.

9. Pick a weekend activity you normally don’t do play a team sport if you normally work out solo, watch entertainment of a different genre.

10. Detox your diet for a day try a juice cleanse or go vegetarian or eat non-processed foods only.

11. Take a nap. You probably aren’t getting enough sleep.

12. Throw a party this could be for relaxation or networking or branding (if you make enough of an impression!).

Keep learning and growing

1. Attend a lecture or one-session workshop at your local college or even the Y. You’ll get a new skill or at least something interesting to talk about when you network.

2. Tap into your alma mater’s career services. This is valuable free support.

3. Tap into your local library for career services. Some branches offer workshops or research. At the very least, you can borrow books on professional development or biographies of inspiring people.

4. Review your company training offerings. Many companies offer in-house or subsidized external training on computer, communication, management or other general professional skills.

5. Check in with your mentor.

6. Make a list of areas where you need mentorship or advice. Look at your network for who you can tap as your personal Board of Directors.

7. Check in with your mentee, or at least respond to a request for help or advice.

8. Attend a professional association meeting or industry conference in an area outside your day-to-day work. What ideas, best practices, or people can you introduce to your area?

9. Read about something outside your day-to-day work.

10. Enlist a mentor or manager friend to role play a negotiation with you.

11. Enlist a mentor or manager friend to role play an interview with you.

12. Teach something you’re trying to improve at – for example, if you’re training on a new software, explain it to a colleague.

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