In heat? Find out how you can “unleash” your career

We’ve all been dealing with a lot – rising inflation, a potential recession, political uncertainty and post-pandemic fatigue.

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While some took advantage of “The Great Resignation” and the hot job market to land lucrative new roles, others turned their attention elsewhere and inadvertently found themselves in a career rut.

Is it too late to make a change? Absolutely not. If you’re worried about your skills or concerned that your opportunities for growth have suffered, rest assured that you’re not alone. In fact, a recent survey by Prudential found that 75% of workers in the same position are concerned about their skills, while 80% are concerned that they have missed an opportunity for progression.

What can you do? With new hires continuing to benefit from higher pay increases than loyal workers, you have two options. Conduct a career audit, get out of the rut and find a new role. Or, after that career audit, you can find your market value and, using renewed confidence, negotiate a big raise at your current job.

Here are six tactics you can try.

1. Find the time

There is a lot going on. To all. So before you take up a career track, make sure you have time to review it. Focusing on your career and moving it forward is time consuming and will take a lot of your focus. Do you have any left over now? The “we can have it all” mentality has been detrimental to everyone.

Yes you can have everything, but not at the same time. If you have personal or family commitments to consider, ask yourself, is now the right time to focus on this? If the answer is no, continue to perform at work and wait until the time is right.

For jobs across all sectors and at both mid- and senior-level, the Fintech Futures Job Board is your best step forward.

2. Find your passion

Do you love your job? Do you love your profession, or did you ever? If you work in an industry you love but may no longer be passionate about your current role, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and rediscover what it was about the industry that first created your passion.

Perhaps your current role has taken you away from doing the aspect of your job that you love, or you may be caught up in the hustle and bustle and have lost sight of what you love to do. Whether it’s your job or your attitude, you need to separate the wheat from the wheat and rediscover a way to love what you do. It could be through delegating the aspects of the role you dislike, or it could be pivoting entirely into a different role that allows you to do more of what you love.

3. Find inspiration

Whose life do you wish you had – professionally? Look around your professional networks and identify people both at your level and above whose career and day-to-day interest you. What do they do and what skills or qualities do they have that you lack? Can you see a path between where you are and where you want to be? Just be clear with yourself about the reasons why you find this person inspiring. Stay strictly professional and don’t let personal aspects creep in.

4. Find the skills

Do you have the right skills and you’re not using them? Or can you identify a skills gap that you need to fill? If it’s the former, volunteer for extra projects or suggest new programs that allow you to highlight the abilities you want to showcase.

If it’s the latter, then find resources that will help you increase your skills. Search the web for relevant courses and webinars, or if you want to advance in your organization, ask your manager to work with you to develop a training and development program.

5. Find your value

Do you know your market value? If you applied for a role now, right now, with your current experience and skills, what could you expect to earn? Consider upgrading and securing additional benefits for your current employer to positively impact your value. Understanding the market, and your place in it, will help you identify your next steps.

6. Find your motivation

You know what you want and you know what you have to do to get it. Now you just need to find the motivation to actually… go get it. The Harvard Business Review suggests that changing your habits is the best way to kick-start your motivation. Likewise, Einstein hit the nail on the head when he said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

If your current work habits led you to this rut, change them. Changing one habit will affect the other, and even small changes like changing the time you exercise, talking to new people in the cafeteria, or listening to a different podcast on your commute can help change your workday.

Exposing yourself to new ways of thinking will spark your imagination – which will jump-start your motivation. Just try it.

Now that you know what you want to achieve and are motivated to go get it, check out the many job opportunities available on the Fintech Futures Job Board.