Set yourself a goal, what position do you want to be in 10 years time but this can vary depending on where you are currently within your career write it down and put the date next to it now you're going to list all the positions and job roles that are going to be required on your career journey to reach in the ultimate goal so now in essence what you've done is created your very own career timeline you now have a target and something tangible to work towards and secondly created your very own career plan you know the final destination and you have an idea of the route that you going to take to get there stick a copy of your plants in their visible and present so you don't lose sight of your goal and the bigger picture so now that you have your career plan and roadmap is time to think about how you're going to achieve it, now when you're in a job you usually left with three career defining actions.
Do you move to a similar role in a different company? Stay in the job because of a promotion or do you need two more senior position with a different company I referred to these thre actions as the hop skip and jump so to progress your career you should be looking to either hop skip or jump every one and a half to two years does if you're working in western market however if you're working on the eastern side such as in Japan South Korea and China the target should be around at three year mark and planning for your move should really begin at least three to four months in advance it's important to also keep in mind in action can lead to career stagnation to.
So never get too comfy, don't get stuck in your comfort zone leave that for home because you've got a far bigger vision for yourself out of the three actions the Jump is by far the most important in progress in your career and this naturally makes it the hardest. Most people usually prefer to Hop but when you do this you have to do it with the strategic goal in mind and the Skip is usually a mixture of luck and circumstances someone leaves and you're in prime position to take the more senior role to the first question is when is the right time to Skip? well if he knew there are genuine opportunities within the company to move up then it's well we're staying because you can see your career progress without having to go through the effort or changing jobs however here you have to be honest with yourself because companies will always make promises of progression you have to work out whether this is a reality or not if you coming up to the two year mark and you know that realistically nothing's going to arise anytime soon it's time to either Hop or Jump now you need help if you are unable to jump reasons for being unable to jump and how to solve them is something we're going to come too later to but with the hop being a sideways move he have to be thinking how this move is going to help you in making that jump so you have to think strategically here I've listed the following things you should think about. What experiences and skills am I going to gain which are going to help me in making the jump? are they paying for any recognised qualifications which will increase my credentials with in my industry? will the combination of my current skills and new skills make me more marketable candidate? will this company's reputation improve my own reputation and credibility within my industry?
Hoping sideways purely for monetary reasons just for a few thousand dollars a pounds might give you some short-term gains but in the long run you could be sacrificing the bigger picture so it's important to ensure that your experiences from your hop will actually help you in making the jump to the next level in achieving that long-term career goal, and finally we come onto the jump firstly you need to understand what things could be preventing you from making the jump here are categorised them into two factors external and internal external are essentially factors which are out of your control for example there aren't any positions available in the sector that you're working for you to make the jump.
Internal factors are those which you have more control over and I'm going to focus on the two most important to the first internal factor which is really going to be prevented you from moving up to the next level issue CV and resume and the fact that is not getting enough interviews at a higher level and you're struggling to get your foot in the door and a second interview skills the fact that they're not good enough to convince the interview panel to give you the job for the more senior position so for example the one interview that you do get for the senior position they come back to you and say you're a great candidate but feel that you don't have enough experience these two are by far the biggest internal factors preventing you from progressing it's a bit like when you suffering from tiredness and fatigue you can take as many vitamin tablets or shots of espresso as you like but the solution is as simple sleeping on time and getting your daily seven to eight hours sleep.
We're now going to look at ways you can effectively improve your CV /resume and interview skills, by making some smart investments. Sowith regards to your CV and resume it needs to make an impact and really market your skills at their most optimal see it as your very own professional marketing brochure
I would suggest that you look into having it professionally written most writing companies will give you an initial assessment so it's well worth having a chat with them alternatively another option is to get hold of my thirty-page CV and resume writing eBook which you can download for free at jobinterviewology.com it's full of examples before and afters and I would highly recommend it as a way to benchmark and improve your CV. Secondly with regards to improving your interview skills. When interviewing for a role at higher banding the competition is naturally going to be stronger and you're going to be the underdog you're competing against other professionals who are choosing to hop rather than trying to jump so you have more to prove and you're going to have to do more to prove your credentials because you're not as experienced now there are many resources available online I mean you just have to go in to YouTube and type in 'interview advice' however if you're looking for a foolproof system to really ramp up your Interview performance I recommend you enroll onto our online interview training course where you can learn and master our IPReP methodology which was developed by yours truly you can register at job interviewology.com to find out more and finally before I go I put together create fast-track bundle which you can download for free from job interviewology.com we continue our very own career roadmap planner, career accelerator checklist, my thirty-page CV/resume writing eBook and access to my online interview training course where you can watch certain course videos for free including how to answer the question 'what are your weaknesses' so make sure you sign up and check it out moving forward in your career will require the right motivation desire and investment and as I said at the start of the video if you've made it this far I have no doubt that you have the inner flame to do something about it and have that vision where you want to be and as napoleon famously once said a goal is a dream with a deadline so what are you waiting for it's time to get started Career Development: How to Fast Track your Career.