Top 10 career resolutions for 2014!

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The year will pass in a few hours from now, and many people might be glad that it has passed. It has been a tough year for many. And most will wake up tomorrow, full of hope and renewed vigour to begin the year on a high note.

Some of us make our own resolutions for the New Year! So what are your resolutions for your career and your job search for 2014?

Here's a list of 10 resolutions that you could refer to, to help you through your job-search in 2014 :

1. Set daily goals

• Make 2 new contacts directly or through existing contacts
• Make a list of target companies and find one contact in any of your target companies
• Do something related to the new trends in your industry - read an article (not just the news); speak to someone in the industry about some recent trends/ developments; have a point of view

2. Do a self-assessment

• do an honest self-assessment of your achievements, setbacks, gaps, etc.
• write down your personal assessment and fine-tune it over time
• ask about 4-5 people you've worked with in the past to share their assessment about you
• use some of the online assessment tools to help find your stresngths and gaps

3. Do you resist new ideas? Try something new this year; move out of your comfort zone

• lots of tips and advice available; read, adopt and adapt
• connect with new people
• learn something new
• revamp your resume; make one if you haven't made one in years
• ask a senior colleague to interview you

4. Spruce up your online presence

• critique your online presence
• make a professional LinkedIn profile

5. Brush up your sales skills; a job search is a sales activity

• follow-up
• be prompt
• convey a sense of eagerness, energy and urgency
• but know when to 'back off'

6. Stay connected

• maintain a mailing list; keep adding names
• send relevant updates (monthly or quarterly) about yourself
• sharing relevant, useful information with your mailing list
• refer people and connect people

7. Prepare hard; it shows

• customise your resume
• make a list of potential questions and write down your answers
• read up about the company, the position and the people you are meeting

8. Don't stop even after you've got a job

• thank people who you had reached out to
• update them with your new contact details
• find some way of helping these people

9. A 'No' is not necessarily the end.

• don't burn bridges
• let them know that you are keen on related opportunities
• reach out to others in the same organisation
• stay in touch; be persistent, but not painful

10. Refuse to give up!

• find ways to stay positive
• focus on learnings
• firmly believe that 'whatever happens, happens for the best'
• don't keep doing the same thing and expect miracles; try something different!

Here's wishing all of you a Wonderful New Year where you reach greater heights and find more joy in your career than the year that has just gone by! (But let it be less than what you can achieve in 2015!)