Make your future happen!

Once you have identified what you want next in a role or career move, it’s time to start making that happen.

If you haven’t yet summarised your future career ambitions and thought about where you want to be, then take a look at the following links and complete the forms, as appropriate to you. These will help you focus on where you are now, and where you want to be.

• Lets do a Skills Audit
• Take stock of how your role has expanded
• Where are you Now
• Focusing on your future career
• My Next Move

Summarise your future career ambitions and where you want to be.

1. The date by which you want to achieve your goal. (Make it realistic!)
2. What is your current situation and how far are you from this goal?
3. Can your current company meet your career aspirations? (If you have completed the Study your organisation form, you can use the summary which identifies the career opportunities with your present employer role).
   
   Even if you're not sure your company can meet your aspirations, talk to your boss.
   
   Make sure your annual review works for you. It's important. If you don't get one, don't sweat. Just ask for a meeting with your boss, in or out of the office, to discuss your future progression. Your career plans may mean you stay with the organisation you're with now, or you leave and move on. Changing and moving on takes energy and dedication. Whether you stay put, or whether you decide it’s time to move on, you need to identify what you need to do to drive your career in the direction you want it to go.
4. What could you do to get from where you are now, to where you want to be? This might involve a number of different options, for example:-
   • Get training to give you the skills or professional qualifications you need.
   • Make time to focus on your career, e.g. to update your CV, research opportunities, train.
   • Work out what it's going to cost you and how much money you'll need e.g. to buy a new interview outfit, or to learn a new skill
   • Decide how you want to present yourself on paper or by email and in person.
   • Stay with your organisation and work on your next move there.
   • Start looking for a new job? your current organisation won't give you the role you're after.
   • Work out who can give you the information and help to progress your plans.
   • Find out more about different employers, roles, trends, sectors, what's happening in your region.
   • Move on from the company you're with into a new role
   • Change career
5. Make a note of all the things you need to do to make your future happen:
   
   Break down each activity you need to do into small chunks, if that's easier, and allocate a certain amount of time every day in your calendar to do it. Even if you just do 15 minutes a day on your CV, for example, that's 15 minutes closer to where you want to be!

   Here's an example:

   By	I will:
   25.1.09	Update CV
   26.1.09	Check interview outfit is ready (head to toe check)
   27.1.09	Go shopping for interview stuff if need be
   1.2.09	Choose an agency
   2.2.09	Sign up with agency and book appointment
   5.2.09	This week, have first appointment

Making you future happen
Once you've completed your plan, put it in a safe place where you can see it frequently! (If it means leaving your current company, you may not want to leave it where you boss could find it, e.g. on your desk, in drawers or anything like that!).

How determined am I to make it happen?
Herein lies the probabilities of success! If you are determined to make something happen, talk about it, visualise it, dream it, and don't even think of yourself as failing. And above all, persist. People who fail give up relatively early on. Those who persist are the successful.

Good luck!