How to Create a Success Roadmap

New Year, new possibilities! 🔥 Forbes reveals that 38% of 2024 resolutions aim for financial improvement, with over 33% focusing on making more money or securing a new job. Sound familiar? Over the past 5 years, I've assisted numerous Silicon Valley professionals in achieving their dream jobs. Let's kickstart your success with a powerful Career Vision. Unfortunately, many start the year with dreams of landing a new job within 3-6 months, only to find nothing changed by December 31. The #1 reason is lacking a Career Vision. Other hurdles include: - Lack of confidence - Burnout or busyness - Comfort in existing roles - A resume lacking impact or keyword optimization Change is possible. Here's your guide to creating a Career Vision: STEP 1: Reflect on Your Values, Skills, and Passions Clarify your goals and motivations. Define your "why" for those goals. Identify long-term objectives and align them with short or medium-term job titles. STEP 2: Set Specific and Measurable Goals Map out intermediate milestones between your current position and "Landed my dream job!" Examples: - Set up saved job searches on LinkedIn. - Optimize resume, LinkedIn, and cover letter. - Reach out to network for referrals. - Land x interviews within y months. - Hire a career coach. - Land offers and negotiate salary. - Decide on an offer and confirm a start date. Celebrate success! STEP 3: Develop a Plan of Action Get specific about action steps: - Time block on Google Calendar every Mon, Wed, Fri from 10 am - 12 pm. - Apply to at least 20 jobs weekly. - Reach out to at least 7 people for networking per week. - Complete at least 5 networking conversations per week. With clear weekly goals and a tracking system, consistent progress guarantees success. Ready to make 2024 your year? Share your Career Vision! 🚀 #CareerSuccess #NewYearNewJob #CareerVision #GoalSetting #DreamJobJourney

Do this one thing to change the conversation with your manager at the next one-on-one. 👇 Invite your manager to learn about your career story. Managers are not mind readers to know who you are and where you want to go. You may not have deeply internalized that story with clarity and conviction yourself. Ten years ago at Microsoft, I started to run workshops across the company to help colleagues create their career stories. The initial goal was to develop internal clarity of the story that could then be used to invite managers and colleagues to support their career journey. Stories have a way of bringing out the inner spirit of people. After hearing your story, stakeholders will always find a way to support your career plan. Leaders may only know how best to help if they hear who you are and what you want. I also worked with Microsoft talent development programs teaching colleagues how to craft career stories presented in front of leadership teams. This practice was a game-changer for the individual and the manager/team. The process drove accountability for people to take responsibility for their careers and for managers to create a safe forum to hear and support the stories. The result was mutual value. Imagine telling your career story with three to five slides - here is who I am, here are potential pathways I see (career roadmap), and the development I need to excel in my current role and reduce the friction to transition to a possible next role. Ryan Reed was a Microsoft colleague that attended one of my workshops and crafted his story. The career roadmap he discusses in this podcast is the map that guided his climb to an IT executive. He also uses this practice to champion professionals in his organization to create their career stories and use the career roadmap to guide and support talent development. ❤️ Everyone loves a great story; what is yours? See the comments below for a link to listen/watch the podcast and hear how Ryan uses career stories for himself and his organization. #career #talentdevelopment

You are probably familiar with Amazon's "Start with the press release" or working backwards method for product releases (link in comments below). This week I had the idea to do that with my career development. Almost certainly, I am not the first to think of this, but thought I would share my version. 1) Start with the announcement - write the announcement of your next role no matter how far out that is. Include the unique strengths, skills, and experiences you are bringing to the position. 2) Create your future resume - write the resume/CV that got you the next role. What is in that future version that you don't have on your resume today? 3) Use the announcement and resume as guiding principles to get clear on any gaps and to make informed decisions on where to invest your time next 4) Start collecting the experiences you need with intention 5) Continually reflect and adjust as needed, career development is never a straight line and you don't know what you don't know yet. I am a fan of prioritizing growth and development even (especially?) when you are enjoying where you are today. Today is always the best day to do anything, so am off to write my future resume. 😃

Over the past couple of months, I've thoroughly enjoyed connecting and speaking with people here on LinkedIn to learn more about what challenges they face in their careers. Many of those I’ve spoken with wish they were further along professionally and are looking for guidance on how to course-correct. The truth is, I was in that same place of career dissatisfaction not too long ago… In the first four years of my sales career, I was on fire. I didn't just meet my sales quota; I obliterated it, surpassing expectations by a staggering +125% every year. I was a consistent top performer–in the top 5% of sellers in the company–obtaining the highest awards one could achieve. I could have easily leveraged that strong track record into a much higher paying sales role at a top-tier company, but what did I do? I went horizontal, moving laterally into various other roles for the next 4 years—taking the easy next job. In essence, I wasted the momentum I had built… We’re all guilty of it, and it’s human nature to take the path of least resistance. It's like watching a car with a full tank of gas (or electric charge these days) choosing to cruise in the slow lane. Why? Because it's easy. Now there’s nothing wrong with lateral moves. Careers are naturally not straight ladders that we climb. And we can always learn valuable lessons in every role we take on. But with hindsight being 20/20, I know now with absolute clarity how much I could have accelerated between year 4 and 8 of my career, instead of cruising. 📌 3 things that I failed to do early in my career that I'd share with my past self: 1️⃣ A career goal without a plan is just a wish: To achieve your career goals, you need to strategically plan out your moves, skills you need to build and connections you need to make. Have a 1-3-5 year roadmap. Don’t ‘hope’ it will happen. Be intentional. Periodically zoom out and assess if you're making the right progress to where you want to be. 2️⃣ Maximize momentum: Don't squander momentum when you've worked hard to build it. Recognize when you’re crushing it consistently and use it as a slingshot to your next role. Make it a priority to maximize the ROI from your efforts. 3️⃣ Know your market worth: One of my early career oversights was not exploring other opportunities outside my company. I should have been doing that every 2-3 years–but it took me 8 years to figure out that I was severely undervalued. Interviewing doesn't mean you're planning to leave, but it gives valuable insights into your market worth, and what other companies are willing to pay for what you can deliver. As you understand your true value, the landscape of possibilities becomes clearer, revealing new opportunities worth exploring. — Ever wondered about the real cost of sitting still in your career? 📡 I dive into the data here: https://lnkd.in/dyna5uG5 What’s ONE insight you wish you could share with your past self?

Crafting Your Roadmap to Success 🌟 Amazing CEOs - As you navigate the bustling world of small business leadership, you're likely knee-deep in financials, customer relations, and team dynamics. But amidst this whirlwind, have you paused to reflect on what 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 personally looks like for you? I've nudged my clients towards a thought-provoking exercise for the year: envisioning themselves on December 31, 2024. 📅 Imagine looking back and pinpointing 3-5 key achievements that would make you exclaim, "𝗬𝗲𝘀! 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝘂𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀!" 🎉 How would you define success across both your personal and professional spheres? After identifying these milestones, we dive deeper: 🌈 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁: What changes when these goals are achieved? 🧗♀️ 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗲: Who do you need to become to make this happen? 💖 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: How do you want to feel as you achieve these goals? 🚀 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻: What steps will you take to get there? 🛑 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: What distractions or habits will you need to avoid? This blueprint isn't just an exercise; it's your compass for the year, guiding each decision and action towards the success you've envisioned. So, are you ready to sketch out your blueprint for a year that echoes with your definition of success? Let's make 2024 unforgettable! 🌈✨ #SuccessPlanning #LeadershipGoals #CEOJourney #MakeItHappen Unsplash+ In collaboration with Getty Images ——————————————————— 🙋🏻♀️ I am Melissa Carson. Coaching CEOs of women-led businesses to build, scale, and operate their teams better | Leadership and talent strategy advisor in the CEO's Compass program Like this post and want more? ➕Ring the 🔔 on my profile and connect or follow me