With the holiday season approaching, and a new year on the horizon, there’s no better time to take a step back and give yourself an annual review. Reviewing your career every year is a great way to assess how you are coming along in meeting the goals you’ve set for yourself, and to decide what your strategy is going to be for the next year. To give yourself an effective review, you need to review how you’ve performed, where you stand, and how you feel. Here are the questions that we recommend asking yourself.
1. Are you happy with what you’re doing?
This is the most important question of all. If you are happy in your current role, then there isn’t as much to worry about, and you’ll be more willing to give things time if you’re not on the path you want to be on.
Look at what you’re actually doing on a day-to-day basis. What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it? We all have parts of our jobs we like, and other parts that we don’t, but if you’re doing too much of the latter then your job can quickly start to feel like it isn’t worth it. Think about what you want to be doing in your role and talk to management about trying to make those changes.
Your happiness in your role also extends outside of work. If your life situation has changed over the past year, look at how your work affects or is affected by that. Do you have enough time on your hands to pursue your personal goals? Do your work hours allow for enough time to spend with your family? With work/life balance being a top priority for so many employees, flexible working hours are becoming more and more common. If these problems sound familiar to you, this may be something you can work out with your employer or find in a new role.
2. What have you achieved and what have you learned?
At the start of the last year, you may have set some short and long-term goals for yourself. Compare what you’ve achieved in the past year to your goals, and see whether you are on track to achieving them. If you are on track, make sure your role is developing along with your performance and your career is progressing how you want it to. If you’re at the point where you can now carry out your daily tasks in your sleep, then perhaps it’s time to seek a new challenge.
On the other hand, if you’re not keeping up with the goals you’ve set for yourself, don’t worry too much. Simply make sure you have learned from your experiences and mistakes, set new goals and push on to perform better next year.
If you feel like you’re underachieving because you’re underutilised and unable to reach your potential, then intervene. See if you can talk to someone about becoming more involved, or possibly changing your role, as sometimes your skillset can be better utilised in a different sector of the business, or elsewhere with another employer. From here you can better set your goals for the next year, and the rest of your career.
3. What do other people think?
Your review of yourself is very important, but keep in mind that it is just your (very important!) point of view. Getting different perspectives on where your career is at, is highly beneficial to helping you shape it for the future. Although everyone gets an annual review from their employers, that doesn’t mean they’re without value. Colleagues or managers can give you an internal perspective on what you’re like to work with, how valuable your contribution is, and helpful insights into what you can do to improve in your specific role. However, this internal perspective also has its downsides, as it is solely focused on your current role rather than giving a full appraisal of your career progression.
To get more of a high level overview of your career as a whole, you can consult a mentor figure, or similarly skilled peers outside of work. Because you’re not working with these people, they can give you an honest assessment of where they think you should be in your career, and where you should be aiming to go. Mentors are especially helpful with this, as they can bring an experienced, been-there-done-that perspective to your career questions. They can relay thoughts about what they have previously done when in your position, and give you advice on how you should move forward along with helping you form your short and long-term goals.
Is it time to move on?
Finally, after you’ve figured out how happy you are in your role and how you’re progressing towards your goals, you need to ask yourself whether it is worth staying in your current role. There’s no point changing roles for the sake of it. If you feel like you’ve had a good year and you have clear goals to reach in your current role, then set yourself the challenge of achieving them, and stay. Try not to be attracted by quick salary boosts, as they often only act as a band-aid for your greater career aspirations, and will leave you unfulfilled if you end up taking a role you don’t enjoy or doesn’t challenge you as much.
Even if you’ve had a bad year, leaving might not be your best option. You may still have much to learn, and your current workplace may provide the environment you need to flourish. Sometimes a bad year lays the platform for a great year, and turns out to be just the impetus you need.
However, if you’re not feeling challenged, or you’re unhappy or uncomfortable in your current work environment, then maybe it is time to move on. A new role offers a chance for professional development with a new set of responsibilities, can refresh you mentally and put you back on track to achieving your goals. The New Year period is a great time to consider a move, as you have more time to weigh everything up, and many roles often become available in January.
Expert Help
When you’re giving yourself a career review, expert advice is always a great option. If you want to give your career a review, or you’re currently looking for a new role, get in touch with one of our excellent consultants at RWA People and we’ll be happy to assist you in taking your career to the next level.