5 Ways to Take Responsibility for Your Career Development

Career development is often talked about in companies as they seek out ways to increase employee engagement and prepare current staff for greater responsibilities and promotions. Often this is thought of as training or mentoring opportunities and is considered the responsibility of the employer.

However, employees should take responsibility for their own development and find ways to add value to their career.

Here are five alternative and creative ways to take responsibility for your own career development.

Learn as much as possible about your company. You don’t need a formal mentor relationship or job-shadowing program to seek out information about your company. Set up your own meetings with people from various departments to expand your knowledge. Read company press releases and industry magazines and news reports. Be an active participant in company-wide meetings or cross-department discussions. Take part in a task force. The more you know about your company (and industry) the better prepared you are for taking on a new role or developing your leadership skills.

Take risks and accept failure. Success requires failure and so if you want to become successful in life you must learn to become comfortable taking risks and experiencing failure and rejection. Put yourself in position to try new things, such as learning to play an instrument, expanding your foreign language skills, or planning to give a presentation to your colleagues. These opportunities will stretch you to grow.

Attend conferences and meet people. Find an industry conference or two and register. You might also seek out a conference or workshop focused on some aspect of personal growth, such as weekend meditation retreat. These experiences will not only expand your knowledge and recharge your batteries, but they will provide an opportunity for you to expand your network by meeting new people and deepening relationships with those you already know.

Travel, read widely, and be curious. Cultivate a spirit of curiosity and inquisitiveness by traveling, exploring new regions and cultures, and reading widely on subjects that may be new to you. Consider checking out a foreign film from your library or seeing one at an independent theater you’ve never been to before.

Apply for other jobs. Even if you have no intention of leaving your current job you can sharpen your interviewing skills and gain valuable industry knowledge by applying for other positions, and interviewing at other companies. These experiences can strengthen knowledge of your field and increase your awareness of future opportunities.  

The Why and the What of Pre-employment Research

In this earlier blog post, I provided a list of resources you can use to conduct company research. Having the resources don't do much good unless you know why you are conducting research and what you are looking for when doing the research. Let's look at both of these questions.

Why are you conducting research? 
There are several reasons to conduct research of a company. The research process should start before you even apply to a job opening. Companies hire for two main reasons; because they have a problem to solve or a need to fulfill. In your research you are looking for the answer to why they are trying to fill the position. If you can find out what need or problem the company has, you can demonstrate how you can be the answer they are looking for.

The more you know about a company before you send your resume, the more you can target your cover letter and resume to show that you fit into their culture, their values, and their corporate mindset. This same research can help you prepare for the interview. Companies often ask questions such as "why do you want to work for our company?" or "what do you know about our organization?" in the interview. Your research can help you successfully answer these questions.

Conducting research prior to a career fair can also help you set yourself apart from the crowd. Many people walk up to tables at job fairs with no information. Make a positive first impression by introducing yourself, telling the recruiter what you know about the company, and detailing how your skills meet their needs.

What are you looking for?
Using the resources in the attached blog post here is a list of what you are looking for when doing your research:

• Company History and Culture
• Business Goals and Mission Statement
• Community Involvement or Charity Projects
• Company Facts (publicly or privately held, headquarters, number of employees, annual sales, etc.)
• Company's Most Notable Accomplishments
• Primary Product Lines or Services
• Competition
• Career Path
• Latest News, Current Events and Developments that Impact the Organization

Remember, an employer wants you to make them feel special - as though you chose to work for them, and only them. They are not looking for an employee that just wants a job. Arm yourself with facts and information to create a positive impression.

Do an Industry Deep Dive before You Jump

After you’ve researched the basics of an industry and concluded the industry still has an allure, it might be time for an industry immersion. Before you start down a particular educational path or a full-on job search focused on what you think is your industry of interest, dig deeper to determine if that industry is truly a good fit. Following are a few suggestions for investigating beyond the basics of projected growth, required qualifications, and transferable job skills to get a better picture of the industry.

Read Up
Almost every industry has trade magazines, newsletters, and other publications that capture the news, trends, and topics current within that industry. Read more than one or two for a span of time—at least a few months—to get an accurate, current picture of what is happening within the industry.

Identify Companies within the Industry
Evaluate the composition of the companies within the industry; for example, is the industry dominated by a few large corporations or several small companies—or even start-ups? Next, identify which companies currently lead the industry and do some homework on these companies, their products, and their leaders.

Take Your Search Online
Search for industry-related online blogs, forums, and chat rooms to learn what people within the industry are discussing. When you’re comfortable, consider contributing to the discussion or asking informed questions. Identify leading industry executives and find out if these leaders or others in the industry are using Twitter to discuss important topics. If so, consider becoming a Twitter “Follower” of these key industry figures.

Think Outside the Box
These suggestions are just the beginning; think outside the box to discover additional ways you can educate yourself about an industry that interests you. Do you have someone in your network who is in the industry? Would he/she consider taking you as a guest to an industry association meeting, conference, or other event?

The important thing is to immerse yourself before you decide to pursue a particular industry.

Do Your Homework. Four Questions You Should Answer in Your Pre-interview Research

Once you get the call for an interview, your work has just begun. It is now time to dig into your research of the company and learn some critical facts. This research will demonstrate that you are interested in the company and that you are prepared. However, more importantly you will gain important information that will directly contribute to your success in the interview.

Basic Company Facts
You must be well-versed in the company’s history as well as the current state of the industry they operate within. Become an expert in their products or services. Gather as much information on their beginnings, their leadership team, and their culture.

SWOT
Keep in mind, companies hire for two reasons: to fill a need or to solve a problem. Evaluating their SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) will help you find out WHY they are looking to fill this position. Think of yourself as more than a job candidate. You are the potential solution to their problem or the one that can fulfill their need. However, in order to demonstrate that you can do these things, you must first discover their existence.

Competition
Don’t just research the company, but also find out as much as you can about their key competitors in the industry and what they are doing. Discover what challenges the company may be facing, but also what their competitors within the industry are facing – and what they are doing about it.

Current Events
Read all the industry information about the company. What are the current trends? What do analysts think about the company’s future? What does the future hold for the company? Are there any recent or upcoming product or service launches or market expansions?

Now that you know what to look for, check back later in the week for the resources of where to find the information.

Career Center Success

Your college or university’s career center has a wealth of resources at your disposal to help you make better career decisions and sharpen your skills to make you a standout candidate in interviews. Unfortunately, many college students fail to use the career center…or fail to use it correctly. Read on for some tips on how to make the most of your time at the career center.

• Maintain realistic expectations: Many students think that they can waltz right in to their college career center and there will be a resume or even a job waiting for them on a silver platter. Not true! Think about it: would you go to a library and expect the librarian to do your research for you? Of course not! A career center provides assistance, from critiquing your resume to putting you through a mock interview, but it will not do the work for you. Expect to put in some work.


• Have a goal: It’s frustrating for career center administrators is to have a student schedule an appointment, come in, and then sit there expecting to be told what to do. Ask yourself this question: “what is my purpose in visiting the career center today?” The answer to this question should guide your conversation and make your visit more productive, keeping you from feeling frustrated.


• Engage in the process: Your time is precious and you should expect outstanding service from your career center. If you feel your needs are not being met, say so. Those in a career center truly want to help you. Be vocal with and committed to your goals to experience success!

Do Your Industry Homework

Whether you’re staying current on the industry in which you’re working, looking to change industries, or entering an industry as a recent graduate, it's wise to do some industry homework. When researching industries, you look at some of the same types of information you look at when researching companies, except on a broader scale.

Before you begin your research, it’s helpful to know that industry sectors are classified by a U.S. government coding system. Initially, industry sectors were classified by a four-digit Standard Industrial Classification Code (SIC). Although still used by some government departments, the SIC was replaced with the introduction of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) in 1987. Most government entities and businesses use NAICS codes (a two through six-digit hierarchical classification system) as the standard for categorizing businesses by type of economic activity. This is important to know, as you might use NAICS (and, in some cases, SIC) codes when searching for specific industry data or when cross-referencing information.

Industry information is plentiful. You can conveniently start your research right in Career Transitions “Explore Careers” portal. Career Transitions provides current and vetted industry information and data, including overviews, projections, periodicals, association information, and more. In addition, your public library has industry information, which can typically be found in directories, periodicals, market research reports, white papers, etc.

Now that you know where to start, you need to identify what kind of industry information to gather. Assuming that you’re interested in learning about the employment outlook of an industry (although your research should be driven by your specific needs), the following is a list of information definitely worth considering:

• Overviews
• Employment growth (growth history/trends)
• Types of occupations
• Average wage/salary
• Products and services
• Forecasts
• Sales and forecasts
• Issues/challenges
• Trends and opportunities
• Market volume and value
• Competitive landscape
• Government regulations/legal considerations