Will Your Career Bloom in 2012?

The start of a new year forces us to reflect on what we want to achieve and change in our lives, with the focus usually being on financial, health and relationship goals. Often our career continues on, refreshed by the Christmas break, but not making it onto the New Year Resolution list. Are you happy with the work you do? Are you fulfilled? Do you enjoy the challenges presented to you in your workplace and appreciate the life balance you have achieved between family and work? No? Sometimes we just go through the daily motions at work just wishing that something would change. But without some effort and thought, your career doesn't usually just change on its own- you have to take action to get the changes you want.

So if one of your goals for this year is to get more fulfillment out of your work, then consider these steps:

• Start to notice what it is about your current job that no longer invigorates you (have your tasks, hours, managers, home responsibilities changed?)
• Appraise yourself and your current skills, abilities, responsibilities, loves, interests and personality. These things all change and mature all over the years, affecting how you feel about work.
• Read the Employment section of the paper, observe jobs in the community, talk to people about their work and browse on SEEK. Look through the whole employment section and keep any jobs that would be your 'dream' job, or have elements of your dream job (perfect hours/pay/clients/company/tasks). Collect these up over a few weeks or months, creating a picture of the kinds of work that excites you. Don't limit yourself based on your previous training and experience...this is a time to dream!
• Find out about the realties of some of the jobs you are interested in. Do some online research to find out about the training, experience, skills and abilities required to do some of the jobs that appealed to you.
• Make a plan...

The most important step is to use all of this information to make a plan for your life. If you need more experience, skills or training...find a way to work towards it. You can usually start acting on your plan while you continue in your current role, invigorated because you have a new direction and a plan to get there. Start to work towards your dream and make a difference to your life.