9 Effective Strategies for Building Your Career Strategy

Unlock your career potential: 9 steps for success. Take charge of your future today.

Have you ever heard the saying, “If you don’t make a plan for your life, someone else will.”

When I was younger, I never really understood that quote.  “How could someone else plan my life?  I’m pretty sure I’m the guy in charge.”

I was going to be a professional baseball player.  If that didn’t work out, I would go to college and get a degree in Sports Management so I could work for the New York Yankees.

Fast forward fifteen years, I found myself on a video call being told by my boss that my services were no longer needed at a job that couldn’t have been further from my dream job. 

This wasn’t my plan, it was someone else’s.

Why?

Because I didn’t come up with a thought out Career Strategy. 

If you want to end up like I did, don’t keep reading. Go and waste time on social media looking at pictures of cars, or attractive people, or whatever.

If you want control of your life, keep reading, because what you read below might just change your life.

What is a career strategy?

A career strategy is a comprehensive plan that individuals develop to manage and advance their careers effectively. It involves setting specific goals, identifying key milestones, and implementing actionable steps to navigate career decisions, capitalize on opportunities, and achieve long-term success and fulfillment in one's professional endeavors.

Why you need a career strategy

If you don’t have a career strategy and think it’s a waste of time to come up with one, think again.

Here are just a few reasons why you should have one:

·         Provides clear goals and steps for career advancement.

·         Increases likelihood of achieving specific career goals.

·         Helps navigate changes in the job market and industry trends.

·         Capitalizes on career advancement opportunities.

·         Personal Development: Facilitates continuous learning and professional growth.

Now, before we get into the strategies to build your career strategy, let’s look at the foundations of a career strategy

What are the foundations of a career strategy?

If you haven’t read the article “The 5 Foundations of a Career Strategy” take a second to go back a read before we go any further.

Now that you’ve read it, you’ll know that the 5 foundations of a Career Strategy are:

1.      Invest In Your Knowledge: Focus on acquiring relevant skills and knowledge, whether through traditional education, vocational training, or alternative paths.

2.      Always Relate to Your Goals: Set clear and achievable career goals to guide your decisions and actions, ensuring alignment between your aspirations and your activities.

3.      Be Open to New Experiences: Embrace opportunities for growth and development by stepping out of your comfort zone, exploring new roles, industries, and challenges.

4.      Always Continue to Network: Cultivate and expand your professional network to create opportunities for career advancement, collaboration, and support.

5.      Always Look to Improve Yourself: Commit to continuous learning and self-improvement, recognizing that there is always room for growth and development in your career journey.

We now understand the definition of a career strategy, why you should have one, and the 5 foundations of a career strategy.  It’s time to dive into the 9 strategies on how to build a career strategy.

9 strategies for building your career strategy

#1 Perform a sell assessment

The biggest mistake you can make is skipping this part.

Before you dive headfirst into signing up for Career Fairs or handing resumes out, you have to know who you are and what you want.  If you can’t answer these questions, don’t move on to the second strategy or else you’ll set yourself up for failure.

It’s critical to listen to yourself.

We spend 99% of our time listening to other people, and while sometimes it’s good advice, most of the time, it’s just noise.

Learn about yourself, what you like, what you’re good at and what drives you.  This will put you in a position to succeed in your career plain and simple.

#2 Define clear goals

Depending on where you’re at in life, your goals might vary greatly.  Here’s a few things to think about when you make your goals:

1.      How important is money to you?

2.      How important is your lifestyle?

3.      How important is your current location?

4.      How do you define happiness?

For a complete guide on how to create goals, read the article from Your Career Strategy on Short Term and Long Term Goals.

#3 Research career options

Researching career options should be more than just, “I like taking pictures at parties so I should become a photographer.”

If you want to become a photographer, you should be able to recite the job description, salary and requirements to become a photographer in your sleep. 

When I was in college, I wanted to be a radio DJ.  By the time I graduated college, the radio industry was dying faster than my front lawn during a drought in the summer.  After doing my research on the salaries and the industry, I figured out that unless I wanted to work twelve other jobs to make ends meet, being a radio DJ wasn’t going to work out.

Tips on how to research career options:

1.       Find out the minimum and preferred education for the career

2.       Research the range of the salary, the minimum and maximum because you’ll most likely start near the minimum.

3.       Go on message boards, social media sites and read Google reviews to learn about the pros and cons of the career you’re interested in.

**Pro Tip**

Whether you’re a student or you’re an alum, use your college Career Center.

#4 Build your skills

In the digital age, it’s the easiest time in the history of the planet to learn new skills.  In a majority of cases, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home.

Here’s a Hack:

Don’t pay to learn new skills if you don’t have to.

If you want t become an expert at PowerPoint, go over to YouTube and consume as many of the free tutorials as you can.  I promise there’s probably thousands of hours of content.

If you have to pay, do it, just be sure it’s worth the investment and you aren’t paying for a Master’s degree that you’ll never need.

#5 Create your personal brand

By this point, you should have a clear direction on what you want to do and the skills to do it, now it’s time to show the world you can do it.

A friend of mine spent years learning how to make the perfect bagel in his basement at night after spending a full day at work.  Once he was confident in his skills and knew it was the direction he wanted to go, he made the dive into the bagel business.

He created a website, got himself a store and built his brand up so everyone knew he was the bagel guy.

Your personal brand is your identity and what people see when they look at you, both in person and on social media.

Tips for building a personal brand

1.       Have a clear message of who you are and what you want.

2.       Show your brand on all of your social media accounts.

3.       Have your elevator pitch ready at all times.

#6 Network, network, network

If you aren’t able to network, you’re going to have to learn how to, or try your hand at the lottery.

Networking will be a part of any career path you choose, I promise.

If you’re someone who hates networking, read this article on Networking For Introverts and whether you’re an introvert or just someone who hates networking, it’ll give you a few strategies to help you network.

Networking should be done at all stages in your career, not only if you’re looking for a job.  I’ll also say that doing it when you’re looking for the job may even be the worst time because you’ll just be looking for people to give you something, rather than trying to focus on building organic relationships.

#7 Have an action plan

This is going to sound crazy but, having a written (or typed) out plan of action is a great way to get things done.

Do you want to get promoted?  Transition into a new job in the next year?  Retire in 10 years?

Write it down.

When I used to do Beachbody, one of the trainers would tell you to grab a pencil and paper and write down the weights you used and how many reps and sets you did.  This always sounded silly to me, but as I got older, I realized, writing it down holds you accountable, it’s not just up in your head in outer space.

It’s a long way of saying that you should have an action plan that you make sure you hold yourself accountable for.

Having a mentor is essential if you want to build a successful career strategy.

This is especially true if you are new in your career or transitioning to a new career.  Having someone who you can get advice from and learn from can be more valuable than any training class you take.

Tips for finding a mentor

1.       Look within your personal network first.

2.       Use LinkedIn to join groups.

3.       Find school alum.

Remember, a mentor should have your best interests in mind at all times.

#9 Evaluate and reflect

Just because you came up with a career strategy, wrote it down and are 5 years into it, doesn’t mean you can’t take time to re-evaluate it if it’s not working or you’re not 100% happy with it.

Remember, like Bon Jovi said, “It’s my life, and it’s now or never, I am not going to live forever.”

You only get one life so if you don’t like the path your on, hit the brakes and change directions.  There’s no shame in doing it.

What to do now that you’ve read this article

Now that you’ve read and digested all of the information, it’s time to get the ball rolling with your career strategy. 

If you’re looking for an expert Career Strategist, Coach and Guide, click here to sign up for a FREE 45 minute phone call to help you get started on your journey.

Take control of your life and your career!