With the holidays in full swing, it can easily be the craziest time of the year. It’s also an ideal time to reflect on 2016 and take inventory of your career progress. Let me provide you with a goal worksheetthat will help enhance your personal brand and determine top priorities to make 2017 YOUR BEST YEAR EVER.
The end of the year is perfect for retrospection, goal setting, and updating your résumé. Your résumé and your LinkedIn profile should be living, breathing, and refreshed yearly. If your career is moving in a positive direction, you take on new tasks and responsibilities and therefore need to update your résumé.
Start by making a list of your biggest wins in 2016. Grab a glass of wine, a Moscow mule (my fav), or a mug of hot chocolate and download this goal worksheet to recap your world in 2016, and develop SMART goals for 2017.
Career/Professional Growth, Relationships, Health, Creativity, Finances, Personal Growth, and Charity/Volunteerism
Now consider the following and write down:
1. Personal or professional goals you’ve accomplished.
2. Skills you’ve acquired education you’ve completed. (Training attended, higher education opportunities, etc.)
3. New concepts you learned (Bee-keeping, Lean Six Sigma).
4. Skills you’ve sharpened.
5. New initiatives/strategies you implemented.
6. Side projects you’ve been working on.
7. Notable events. (new job, moving, promotion, starting a new relationship or business)
8. Lessons learned to apply towards 2017.
Now that you’ve dived into the major areas of your life rate each category on a scale from 1 to 10
1 — You didn’t focus on that area whatsoever.
5 — You put some effort in, but it wasn’t much or didn’t make a significant impact.
10 — You have seen tremendous growth or success in this area, and you feel completely satisfied.
Take a look at your top 3 highest scores, most likely an 8 or above. If you don’t have any 8’s, you’re likely being too hard on yourself.
Analyze what made you successful in that specific area. You can take those successes and apply them by asking yourself, “What am I doing differently here?”
List three specific, actionable steps you take for each positive area identified. For example, if you feel your health or fitness is a 9, your reasons might look like this:
1. “I pack myself a healthy and filling lunch every night.”
2. “I give myself a rest day 1x per week.”
3. “I made a playlist that makes me excited to go to the gym.”
Next, let’s quantify those results to enhance your personal brand. As a résumé writer, I ask myself the following questions to quantify and qualify my results:
• Last year I wrote ___ résumés.
• I helped ____% of my clients gain employment.
• Among top ____% of LinkedIn profile views.
• I wrote résumés representing the following industries: _______.
• Views on original content blog post_____.
• Some of the companies where my clients found employment include_________.
Here’s an example of highlights your accomplishments in an infographic way:
View the full infographic résumé on page 9 of the goal worksheet.
Promote yourself and your results on your résumé, LinkedIn profile, website or online portfolio.
Now it’s time write down your top 3 goals for 2017.
You can look back on what you accomplished in 2016, and focus on what you want to see on your 2017 résumé. This year I decided to create my 2017 résumé before 2017 to better visualize my goals for the year.
When you consider what goals to set, dig deep to determine your next steps. What is a goal you have you been dreading or putting off? Challenge yourself. The only way we grow and progress is by doing the things we are anxious about.
We all tend to find ourselves within a comfort zone. But the best way to reach the next rung in the ladder is by finding your greatest challenge, your biggest fear, and overcoming it! About 75% of the population fear Glossophobia or public speaking. So your goal for 2017 may be to speak at an upcoming conference, or maybe just at your weekly meeting. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s a goal that puts you outside your comfort zone.
Start creating your goals for 2017, download this free goal worksheet.
Cassie HatcherFounder of Career Confidence, a Certified Professional Résumé Writer (CPRW), and experienced personal branding specialist, Director of Career Services and Veteran Transition Specialist. Member of The National Résumé Writers Association (The NRWA) and the Professional Resume Writers Association (PARW).
Career Confidence résumé clients have an 82% success rate of landing interviews with companies such as Amazon, Facebook, UPS, Apple, Starbucks, United States Air Force, Northrup Grumman, Southern Acquisitions, CACI, CSM Railways, and much more.