New Year's Resolutions for Your Career Choice

I don't know about you, but I am only digging out from the holidays now. It's a new day, a new year. At left is a photo yesterday morning from where we live in Seattle of the Olympic Mountains to the west towards the Pacific Ocean. When we have clear winter days like this in Seattle (rarely), it makes you feel fresh and new - and able to contemplate your new year's resolutions.

There's no way to escape resolutions. Grocery store checkout lanes are full of magazines with weight loss secrets - the internet is full of job reinvention and resume rewriting tips. So here are my top 5 resolutions for those choosing a career path this year:

1. I will take the time and have the patience to do self-exploration. This is the most important, yet most ignored part of the career selection process. (See Dr. Jones's Career Choice a Process? post under Career Exploration)
2. I will at least pick up a pen and write down my thoughts and ideas based on things I've learned or had reaffirmed by valid career tests I've taken. If I'm really ambitious and smart, I'll start a folder containing these notes.
3. I will make a list of what I think are my most marketable skills.
   
4. I will do at least 5 informational interviews in my prospective career path.
5. I will make a good decision by going through an easy 4 step process.

I'll write more about using technology to help you with #4 above in another post. But in the meantime, even if you've already been in the process for awhile in choosing a career, see if these resolutions help you get closer to your goal of choosing the best career for you.