9 New Year’s Resolutions to Boost Your Career in 2014

You may have resolved to do a ton of things in 2014. Eat healthier, save money, land a new job, get a promotion or earn more money.

“Many people go into a New Year with resolutions or goals for their career for the next 12 months,” says Shawnice Meador, director of career management and leadership development at MBA@UNC. “The holidays are a great time to reflect and begin implementing your resolution plan.” Andy Teach, a corporate veteran and author of From Graduation to Corporation: The Practical Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder One Rung at a Time, agrees. “I do believe that it’s fairly common for most people to have career-related New Year’s resolutions because work is such an important part of our daily lives,” he says. “Therefore, it’s in our best interest to try to become better at what we do for a living.” “New Year’s resolutions tend to be reactions to things we want to change in our lives,” adds Dr. Karie Willyerd, vice president of learning and social adoption at SuccessFactors. “I have a good friend who only makes resolutions she knows she will keep, so they tend to be positive and something she really wants to do. The same could be said of career-related resolutions: some can be in reaction to things you want to change, but you should also consider some aspirational, desirable resolutions.” Creating an actual plan will help you stick with your career-related goals for the year, Meador says. “Some resolutions are inward-focused, such as improving a mindset or stopping a bad habit, and sometimes career-related resolutions are outward-focused, such as expanding your professional network or getting your name ‘in the mix’ for a lateral move to another department.” To increase your probability of sticking to your resolutions, prioritize your list and don’t sign up for too much all at once, she says. Here are 11 of the most popular career-related resolutions, along with tips for sticking to each of them.

1. Get a raise or promotion. “Talk to your manager now to really understand what it will take and what the timeline is for receiving a raise or promotion,” says Lindsey Pollak, a career expert and author of Getting from College to Career. “When you have specific, tangible, measurable goals they are much more realistic to achieve.” Before you pursue this one, you’ll want to consider your request from the company’s viewpoint, Willyerd adds. “What are you doing or what do you offer that is addressing a big issue or need for the company? Promotions and raises have two parts: what you bring and what the company needs. No matter how fabulous your skills are, if the company doesn’t need them, it can’t justify a promotion or pay raise.” The best way of proving that you offer what the company needs is to come up with a list of your daily responsibilities, the major projects you’ve worked on, projects you’ve worked on that you weren’t asked to do, recommendations or endorsements from others inside or outside the company, future responsibilities, examples of how you’ve made your boss’s job easier, and, if possible, quantify your accomplishments, Teach says. “Don’t mention that you work hard (so does everyone else) or that you’ve been with the company for a long time. Longevity doesn’t necessarily count, but results do.” Once you have a compelling story about the value you bring to the organization, get a good friend to rehearse your request, Willyerd says. “Listen to their feedback and practice again. This is one of the most important conversations you’ll ever have and you should be highly prepared to have it.”

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