Spring cleaning for your career plan here are 15 tips to get you started.
Career planning after 50 should not be a one time transaction, but rather career planning at any age, should be a lifelong process.
If you need to jumpstart you after 50 career planning, now is the time to start on spring cleaning out your career closet. Spend you time and effort now in building your career future-it will be time well spent.
Here are some actions you can start right now-get a head start on your spring cleaning:
1. Update your network. Make contact with everyone you haven’t talked to in a while. If they have some career or job hunting issues offer to help.
2. Build an “atta-boy,” file. Go back over the past year or more and start a file on performance reviews, thank-you letters, seminars and workshops attended, samples of work, projects managed, accomplishments and memo’s outlining results. For the future keep the file up to date.
3. Draft a personal training and educational plan. What are your training needs? Books you need to read? Plan on reading at least two books a month-one about your career and another to stretch your knowledge. Other gaps in you skills that need to be filled?
4. Discover 10 or more people working in your career, or working in a proposed new career. Make arrangements to meet with them and share ideas. Add them to your career network and keep in touch.
5. Find 6 or more blogs or forums related to your career and industry. Visit them on a regular basis to stay up to date. Share the list with others in your career and ask for their favorites.
6. Review your overall systems and computer competencies with someone knowledgeable in IT. Make arrangements to add to your learning in this area. Get one related problem solved that has been vexing you.
7. Become more active in you local professional association. Add contacts to your network.
8. Volunteer you time in a cause or organization you admire. You’ll realize a variety of rewards along with the chance to meet new people. Add contacts to your network.
9. Search for additional ways to add value to your job and department. Find ways to become more efficient and more responsive to both your internal and external customers.
10. Carefully analyze you own performance. Did you meet the goals you set for yourself last year? What went right and what went wrong? Plan to do better in the coming year.
11. Whenever possible look for opportunities to use a skill or interest working temporarily in another function or in a task that will give you the opportunity to work with another department or different group of people.
12. It’s spring so give your wardrobe an updating. Look for sales and donate everything you haven’t worn for-awhile.
13. Schedule a physical check-up. Get approval to start an exercise and diet program. Set your goals in short chunks and celebrate achieving each goal.
14. Build your coaching skills. Help a subordinate or co-worker advance their skills.
15. Draft your resume in a functional, chronological and targeted format. The exercise will help you respond to possible opportunities.
Now after your spring cleaning you’ve got your career planning after 50 back on track. With any plan it should not be ignored and put back in the closet. Put each action item in writing and work on your career plan every day.
You’ll now be prepared for any and all after 50 career opportunities.