Business & Money | Monday 4 March, 2019 2:51 pm |

Do phrases like “Next year is going to be my year, I can feel it” or “that’s next year’s problem” sound familiar? Are you the type of person who, if unable stick to their New Year resolutions from the start, gets so tempted to just drop the ball completely? 

A lot of people are guilty of that, and can you blame them? Time flies and the life of a professional is always hectic, leaving them all with little time to relax and plan for the coming year. And when the New Year finally comes around, they’re too worn-out to even start to think about what they want to plan and conquer. That’s why the first couple of months are often considered the free trial the year. 

After this trial is over is when business really goes down, where you’ll need to summon the energy and strength to focus on your career. You still have the whole year ahead of you, but time is moving fast so you should start now. 

Here are a few guiding points from Bayt.com to start making this year your career year! 

1.    Start with reviewing your progress 

This is the time when you should take a step back and take a look on the previous years, focusing on both the good and the bad. Take this as an opportunity to appreciate your growth and development in your profession, as well as to shed light on what you would like to change and/or improve. 

When doing this, make sure not to dwell too much on the past, but on the future. Think of your priorities for the upcoming period and how you want to reevaluate them. You can do this by digging deep and asking yourself some personal questions in order to truly understand what you want to achieve. Are you doing things that are important to you? Are you getting along with your coworkers? What takes a lot of your time but shouldn’t? Whatever you invest in the most, does it bring you joy and self-fulfillment? 

 

Answering these types of questions can be a bit painful, but truly worth it, which is why you’ll need to be honest with yourself. You never know what you might discover; even the smallest changes can give your career and personal life an uplifting dose.

 

2.    Build on your skillset 

You might have your eyes set on a juicy promotion that you’ve always wanted, but don’t acquire the right skills for it. Well, now can be the time for you to break that barrier. Yet, you can’t get promoted based on the fact that you feel that you deserve it. You’ll certainly need to demonstrate you’ve earned it, which includes growing and developing your skill set. Promotions usually include more responsibility, and thus require more skills, dedication, and grit. 

According to the Bayt.com Middle East Skills Report 2017, 33% of job seekers consider ‘not knowing what skills the employer is looking for’ as the main reason they do not find jobs fitting their skills. That being said, for you to increase your chances of getting that promotion, you’ll need to recognize the skills needed and come up with a strategy on how you can develop them.   

You can identify the needed skills by interacting with connections in your network who have similar job requirements as the new job role that you’re pursuing. By doing this, you can also gain insight on resources that others are using and that you can use to help you develop the skills you need.   

 

3.   Become a problem solver 

Employers in 2019 look for problem solvers not whistle blowers. Every team has at least one person that just identifies problems but doesn’t put in any effort to find a solution. If you really want to set yourself apart from the crowd, you’ll need to be both the problem identifier and the problem solver. 

 

If you don’t suggest solutions to problems you run into and just report them, you’re basically dumping all of your issues at work on other people. 

 

It can certainly be tempting to dump your problems on someone else, but it is most likely that person who deals with the problem who will end up with all the credit and acknowledgment for cracking the codes. 

 

According to the Bayt.com Middle East Skills Report 2017, teamwork is one of the most sought after skills from the perspective of employers and job seekers. This is why professionals should always consider approaching problems with team spirit and collaboration in mind, rather than the easy route of pinpointing issues and hoping someone in the team will deal with them.