It's important not to confuse career development with career progression. Career progression is something that you can influence, but also depends on a multitude of factors. Career development, on the other hand, is within your control. You can tell your career is developing if you can look at the work you're doing today and say to yourself, "There's no way i could have done this a year ago." If you're smarter, braver, or more connected than you used to be, then you're moving forward, regardless of your job title.
I approach career development as a constant cycle of listening, learning, synthesizing, and sharing information. In this process, you're also building relationships around the knowledge you acquire and share.
Here's my ideal rhythm of career development activities:
Daily:
- Be in conversation with interesting people. Do this in person and online. Approach your interactions, inside and outside of work, with an open and curious mind.
- Say Yes often. You'll learn more, and people will like you more.
- Keep an ongoing list of things to check out when you have time: Book recommendations, websites, magazine articles that you hear about in passing.
Weekly:
- Make time to read. Go through the list of articles or books that you've been compiling. Spend a half hour reading a blog, news site, or forum that pertains to your area of interest and development. Scan the headlines and click into the articles that speak to you. In my line of work, I draw a lot of value from the corporate communications information on http://www.ragan.com/ and the technology news on http://www.mashable.com/.
- Share something. Whether it's on your work blog or Facebook or a friendly conversation with a coworker, pass along a bit of knowledge or insight that you've learned and think that someone else would appreciate knowing. As a bonus, you're building your brand as someone who is insightful and generous with your knowledge.
- Send recognition. Set a weekly calendar reminder (mine is on Friday mornings) and think through all the people you've worked with this week who might deserve thanks or recognition. My company has an online program that lets us send e-cards and buttons, but a simple e-mail or wall post will suffice. It takes a few minutes to send a nomination, but the positive impact can resonate for years.
Monthly:
- Dig a little deeper. Attend a webinar (there are many excellent free ones out there), download and read a white paper, or listen to a TED talk (http://www.ted.com/) or podcast. Take a community education seminar in your neighborhood. You can do this alone or enlist a teammate and enhance your learning by sharing and discussing it.
- Create something. Career development isn't just about soaking up knowledge - it's about synthesizing and sharing that knowledge for the benefit of others. For me, it's this blog. I'm not sure who will read this, but if someone draws value from any of these words or ideas, then I have created some good in the world, and that feels like career development to me.
- Make a difference for someone. Reach out and do some mentoring. If you think it's too early in your career to be a mentor at your company, volunteer with Junior Achievement or see if your college has an alumni/student mentoring program. Mentoring isn't the only way to make a difference. Sometimes it's taking an hour of your day to help somebody with a task that's nowhere near your job description.
Once or twice a year:
- Change your scenery. Bust out of your daily routine and go to a conference or seminar in a different city. While you're there, forget about the day-to-day and immerse yourself in the learning experience. Take copious notes and be prepared to present and/or blog about it when you return to work.
- Set a goal that scares you. Whether it's writing a book, running a marathon, or earning the job of your dreams - you don't have to tell anyone what it is - but keep it in your own mind, and think of what you could do today, next week, and next month that might help you get there.
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