How to Take Responsibility for Your Career

Our careers are a very important part of our lives. Most of us spend 8 to 10 hours each day working at our jobs, and we spend countless other hours thinking about our jobs. But so often, we are dissatisfied with where we are career-wise. That is because we fail to take responsibility for our careers.

Realize that your career is your responsibility. No one is going to take a special interest in you and catapult you to the career of your dreams. That kind of mentoring happens to only a lucky few in this world. Instead, you have to figure out what type of career you want, and then you need to make strategic choices to get you to that place. In short, when it comes to your career, the buck stops with you.

Below are ways to take responsibility for your career so that you can have the work life of your dreams and spend your days doing what you love.

First Identify What Matters to You

You can’t have it all in a job. No job is going to have the perfect schedule, fascinating colleagues, rewarding work and a high salary. So, taking responsibility for your career means, in part, pursuing a career that satisfies your top priorities.

For example, before my daughter went to college, my top priority career-wise was to have an optimal work schedule. Ideally, I wanted to be available to her when she got home from school, and I wanted to be present if she was home from school due to illness. That meant finding a job which allowed me to work from home.

It took a long time, but ultimately, I was able to secure a fulltime, work-from-home position. Before that, I either worked part-time to be home with her after school, or I worked fulltime and she went to an afterschool program. Neither situation was ideal. My goal was to find a way to work from home and earn a fulltime salary. And I ultimately was given an opportunity to do just that.

Now, that job didn’t have it all. The pay wasn’t great. And when you work from home, you don’t enjoy the camaraderie that you have when working in an office. But I achieved my priority, which was to have a career that allowed me to be an available parent.

So, when working toward a career that is satisfying to you, take responsibility by figuring out your priorities. What do you want from your employment? High pay? Interesting work? A flexible schedule or the ability to work from home? Decide what you want, and then strategically work toward getting exactly that.

Be Willing to Change Jobs

Unfortunately, long gone are the days when you could start as an entry-level employee and work yourself up to CEO of a company. These days, employers are reluctant to promote from within. The problem is that if you start out as a secretary in an organization, your colleagues will always view you as a secretary. That is true, even if you have the skills to be the marketing director or head of human resources. So, in today’s world, if you want to advance in your career, unfortunately, you likely will have to change jobs or perhaps even move to a different city for another job.

Realize that your employer doesn’t owe you a promotion, even if you do a great job. So, you can’t complain about your employer, or blame your employer for your lack of advancement. That is futile. The only thing your employer owes you is a paycheck at the end of the week for the hours that you have worked. Nothing more.

As a result, if you aren’t being promoted in your current organization, then take responsibility for your career and change jobs. Realize that the only person who is going to be truly concerned about your career is you. Even if your employer likes you, your employer isn’t going to be invested in your career advancement. So, be ready to do what is necessary to advance your career, especially if it requires you to leave your current job for a better one.

Take Responsibility for Your Career by Getting the Skills You Need

Taking responsibility for your career means, in part, developing whatever skills you need to take your career to the next level. And typically, that means being willing to commit some of your free time to professional learning.

For example, if you want to get a job which allows you to travel internationally, you will want to become fluent (or at least highly proficient) in a second language. That may mean taking language classes after work, and spending your weekends studying and practicing a second language.

Or your dream job may require a degree that you don’t currently possess. If so, you will have to save your pennies to get that degree. You may need to find a school that allows you to attend online or at night while you work during the day. You may even have to move in order to go to whatever school accepts you. Be willing to make those sacrifices!

I knew one woman who had a multitude of certifications in her field. She loved what she did, and she wanted to learn everything about it. I suspect she had to spend her personal time getting these certifications, and perhaps even her own money. But her in-depth knowledge led to her becoming viewed as an expert in her area of work.

The bottom line is that if you have certain career aspirations, taking responsibility for your career may mean figuring out how to get the skills you need.

Unfortunately, no one is going to hand you the career of your dreams on a silver platter. Instead, you each have to work for what you want. That means strategizing to figure out what you need to do to make that happen. Follow the approaches above, take responsibility for the trajectory of your career and see how incredibly successful you can be! (To read more about the power of taking responsibility for your life, click here.)