If you’re not clearly up for a decent promotion in the New Year, it’s time to think about the professional abilities and responsibilities you wish to gain, and more importantly, how to get closer to the lifestyle you want.
Putting in effort to explore new job opportunities can definitely throw your day to day out of sync (not to mention the stress, unknowns, and emotions of interviewing and changing jobs). However this past year has shown us why it’s important it is to stay qualified, relevant, and able to to pivot.
So even if you’re not “on the market for a new job”, consider these ideas as reasons to at least learn about your options.
Taking an interview can give you a better understanding of what you can achieve professionally.
Selectively meeting with other companies will reinforce if it’s time for you to move on, or that you have something really good where you are now.
Expand your understanding of your industry. Seeing how other people do it can teach you a thing or two.
Evaluate where you sit competitively in your line of work; not just how lucrative it is where you’re employed but also how meaningful the work your doing is to you.
See things first hand instead of relying on 3rd party data and trends. There’s only so much you can read about to get an understanding. At some point you have to see it for yourself.
Network with others in your space to become part of a specialized community. Peers can be a great resource for opportunities because they too will move to new companies.
Every interview is an opportunity to practice telling your story.
At the very least, you’re prepared. You’ll have your résumé up to date and interview skills polished in case you’re unexpectedly on the market.
So unless your current job is filling 100% of your professional and personal goals, you can take control of your destiny by being a little open minded.