The 5 Foundations of A Career Strategy

Do you have a career strategy? 

Take a couple seconds to think about that….

I’m going to guess your answer is…no.

Unless you’re a doctor, lawyer, teacher, or in one of those jobs that already has a path laid out, it’s not too common for someone to actually sit down and make a career strategy.

What is a Career Strategy?

The dictionary defines a “Career Strategy” as:

A deliberate and well-thought-out plan or approach that an individual develops to achieve their long-term career goals.

For many of us, our career strategy can be summed up by 50 Cent:

Get Rich or Die Tryin.

Okay let’s hope it’s not that dramatic, but for a majority of the working world, the strategy for our career is to make enough money until you hit retirement age and then spend the rest of your time relaxing.

We spend 50 to 60 years of our lives punching a clock at 9 and punching a clock at 5 over and over and over again.  From young wide-eyed 23-year-olds to beaten down, old, tired, 65-year-olds wondering where life went.

Que inspiring music……

Whether you’re 23 or 53, this same fate doesn’t have to happen to you.

I want to introduce you to the importance of having a career strategy.

It will be the difference between living life with the rest of the sheep waiting for their next paycheck or living with the shepherd and…. well…doing what shepherd do (man that analogy was perfect in my head but hopefully you know what I meant).

So

Why You Should Have a Career Strategy

Before we can get into building the foundation for the perfect career strategy, let’s take a step back and address because you should have one.

·       A career strategy can provide a roadmap for your future.

***News Flash***

You can graduate from college and still have no clue what you want to do with your life.  I’ll tell you a harsh secret…most colleges don’t care whether you leave school with a job or not.

Ouch.  That may sound harsh and let me say there are of course good people at colleges who care about their students and do all they can to help them land somewhere after they graduate.

But guess what, your college loan stays with you FOR-EV-ER, no matter how many times you declare bankruptcy.  So, whether you get a job or not, colleges know you still gotta pay for your time at school.

Why did I go off on this tangent?  Well because the bottom line here is that YOU need to develop a career strategy, so YOU have a roadmap for your life.  Don’t expect college to do that for you.

·       A career strategy can help you meet your career goals.

Want to own a business?

Want to become the principal of a school?

Laying out a career strategy to get there is a great way to ensure you hit all of your goals along the way.  Here’s what you’ll be considering:

1.       The Roles You’ll Need to Have

2.       The Education You’ll Need

3.       People You’ll Need to Network with Along the Way

·       A career strategy can help you leverage your strengths and build confidence.

To be successful in your career, you’ll need to have a great understanding of what you’re good at and what you like to do.  If you can develop a plan to combine those two, you’ll be on the path to the promised land.

Now that you know why you SHOULD have one, let’s talk about HOW to build one.

Here Are the Foundations of a Career Strategy

1.    Invest In Your Knowledge

You may be thinking to yourself, “Didn’t you just bash college a couple paragraphs ago?”

The answer to that question is…yes, I did but, you should still spend time and money learning.  This doesn’t mean paying $300,000 to go to college so you can graduate with a degree in “Political Science” and then get a job selling used cars because you spent four years drinking all the beer in town.

Getting an education means knowing what you want to do, understanding the career potential and then making the decision on how you’ll get the skills and knowledge you’ll need to succeed.

And if you don’t think you need to go to college to do that…. DON’T GO TO COLLEGE.  In fact, if you haven’t yet read it, here’s our list of high-paying careers that don’t require a college degree.

Whether you go to college, go to a community college, a trade school or take an alternative path, the most important thing to note is that you should spend some sort of time, money and effort acquiring knowledge.

2.    Always Relate to Your Goals

Part of a solid foundation for a career strategy is having goals in your career and life.  Think of your goals as checkpoints on the highway.  Setting reasonable goals should keep you on the highway focused on getting to each checkpoint.  You may veer off at times to stop at a rest stop or get gas, but your goals should always bring you back on.

If I lost, you with the highway reference I apologize.  The point is that everything you do in your career should align with the goals you’ve set for yourself.  If you have a goal of becoming an accountant by the time you are 25, don’t fall behind in school or else your goal might become unachievable pretty quickly.

3.    Be Open to New Experiences

An important aspect to developing a career strategy is to always be prepared to do new things.  I personally am not a fan of doing new things, so it takes a lot of effort for me to get out of my comfort zone.  Heck, even becoming a writer took a lot of mental gymnastics.

Being open to doing new things will allow you to know what you like and what you don’t like, which is extremely important throughout your career.

A quick example.

When I was in college trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I had the opportunity to work in my landlord’s sign shop creating different types of signs.   I was (and still am) terrible at anything artistic, and I learned in the real world that I wasn’t good at and did not like doing anything artistic, so making signs was not the career path for me.

So don’t be afraid to say “Yes” and try new things, it’ll benefit you in the long run.

4.    Always Continue to Network

If networking isn’t at the foundation of your career strategy, it’s going to be tough to have a great career.  If you can think of one job that doesn’t require some sort of networking, I’ll give you $10.

Go.

Did you think of one?

I didn’t think so.

The further you get in your career, the more you’ll have to network.  It’s a skill you’ll need to continuously improve upon, so if you don’t like doing it, as Mary Poppins would say, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”

The point is, whether you like it or not, networking should be your best friend on your career path.

5.    Always Look to Improve Yourself

I think it’s safe to say that there isn’t a single person on Earth that’s perfect.  Some people are close, but none are.

That being said, even if you’re happy as a pig in mud (pardon my Southern speak) in your career, you should still be looking for ways to improve.

It’s great to be happy and grateful for what you have, but there is always room for improvement.

And guess what…

I know just the people who can help you with improving your career or help you develop a career strategy if you don’t have one.

Your friends at Your Career Strategy are ready to walk with you on your path and help navigate you to where you want to be.

Final thoughts

While not everyone may have a career strategy or even understand the foundations of what it takes to have a successful career strategy, we challenge you to stand out from the crowd.

Take some time, whether it’s a few hours or a week to come up with a career strategy to be proud of.