Maintain Your Career Momentum

[Enda Goodwin]

Landing a great new job does not mean you can sit back and let your career evolve. While creating and following through with your 90-day plan to accelerate your success as you take on your new role, maintaining career momentum should still be a priority. Now is not the time to take your foot off the gas!
 

Continue to Survey Your Professional Environment

Just as you did early in your search, continue to keep current on what’s happening in your industry and profession. If and when things change, you need to know how they will affect your future employability.
 

• How will your profession fit into the future plans of your new employer?
• How will it fit in other organizations you might want to pursue in the future?
• What do you need to do to enhance your skills and competencies in the short and long term so you can remain at the top of your game?

• What experience might you need to expand your capabilities and prepare you for the next step in your career? What assignments or projects might give you the needed experience?
• What professional associations might you join to stay abreast of changes in your industry and profession that will help you stay marketable?

• Should you consider working with a professional coach to help you do that?
   

Stay "LinkedIn" and Be Aware of Your Social Media Reputation

If you’ve learned anything at all during your job search, it’s that being active and relevant on LinkedIn and other social media platforms will attract recruiters and headhunters. You may have landed the perfect job, but you don’t want to fade into the background. Make sure to update your LinkedIn profile, and your network, on your new role. Send a personal note to all who supported you in your search prior to landing this new role, thanking them for the support they provided and letting them know the great news! Continue using Social Media to remain relevant in the marketplace. Post. Comment on other people’s posts. Congratulate your network on their successes and promotions. Work to keep your network active and robust. Staying connected and active will boost your visibility and relevance online. And, always make sure your online reputation is up to the high standards that a potential boss would demand.
 

Occasionally Redefine Your Professional Objective

Whether you consider this new job the best possible next career move or a transition, you need to continue to redefine where you want your career to go next. Maybe you have your eye on your new boss's job, or perhaps your ultimate dream is to head a particular department, unit, or company – maybe even your own!

Assess your mission, skills, interests, values, and traits from time to time to determine whether any of them have changed. Just as your professional objective set the tone for your job search, it also sets the tone for managing your career.
 

Always Have a Communications Strategy

Knowing the importance of accomplishment stories in job search – and remembering how difficult it can sometimes be to recall and develop them – resolve to document your accomplishments on an ongoing basis in your new job. Keep a log or journal of accomplishments, successes, goals met, initiatives taken, problems solved and other positive events. Make it quantitative wherever possible. Get in the habit of taking inventory of this valuable information and writing it down on a weekly basis.

And always  keep your resume up to date. You never know when another opportunity might present itself. You’ll want to be ready!