Are you unenthusiastic about going to work? Not feeling challenged in your career? It’s time to make some changes.
Think about what you like and dislike about your job. Consider some of the new tasks you would like to do within your job. “Is it something you can remedy yourself e.g., further training or updating your skills, transferring to another department within your company? Or, are there additional external factors to be considered?” asks Dr. R. Kay Green, Professor of Marketing, RKG Marketing Solutions LLC, CEO.
If it is a matter of getting more responsibility within your job, consider these options, advises Green.
• Understand your company goals: “Find out about your company's long-range plans and ask how you can help it get there,” she says.
• Brainstorm with your boss: “Let your manager know about your career ambitions before someone is hired for the more senior level position,” notes Green.
• Make yourself invaluable. “Take the initiative and suggest projects or activities that could enhance your position,” suggests Green. “Increase your visibility; volunteer for projects and special programs.”
• Ask for more work. “Ask for extra responsibilities to hone skills and demonstrate capabilities,” offers Green.
• Look the part. Dress and act in a more professional way. This will show you’re serious and you will be taken more seriously.
If it is impossible to make changes within your own job or if you just don’t want to do your job anymore but enjoy the industry you are in, consider changing professions within your field. Say for example, you are a nurse with a private medical practice, but looking for more something more challenging. You could become a surgical nurse.
Green offers three steps on how to jump into a new career:
1) Research, Research, Research - Find out the various sector within your industry and focus on the sectors most aligned with your skill set.
2) Cross-Training - Take the initiative to seek additional training and/or certification necessary to qualify for the new role.
3) Job enrichment – This entails a vertical expansion of the job, the addition of tasks that give the employee more control or more responsibility.
