By: Murray A. Mann and Rose Mary Bombela-Tobias
You are the Architect of Your Own Destiny
- Life and career success can only be defined by you for you.
- Taking the time to develop your definition of success is essential to achieving career satisfaction.
The following are twelve characteristics you should master if you want to achieve career success:
Know Yourself
- Evaluate your interests, values, knowledge, skills, abilities, contributions, accomplishments, uniqueness and worthiness.
- Understand your cultural programming, if any, and how to transform those gifts into career assets.
- Embrace your attributes, family history and culture.
- Craft your combined attributes into a foundation to launch or grow your career.
Develop a Goal that Inspires You
- Develop a vision of what you want to accomplish in life and your career.
- Arouse your passion and desire to be successful at whatever you do.
- Allow your goals to be courageous to drive your career forward. Your objectives should not be self-limiting.
- Make sure your goals, no matter how large or small, contribute value to others.
Believe in Your Personal Power
- Trust that you are the most important person in your career.
- Embrace your personal power to fuel your career power.
- Activate your career power so you can be proactive in your job search, manage the process and to respond well, rather than react, to the events you cannot control.
- Learn to adapt and transform any self-limiting cultural programming into power centers.
Learn to Dance in Both Worlds
- Recognize that adapting to an employer’s workplace culture is neither selling out nor changing your cultural identity.
- Build a cultural bridge that crosses from one environment to the other that we can walk on and help others to cross.
- Know your culture and share it gently.
Create Opportunities and be prepared to Take Advantage of Them
- Initiative and networking create opportunities.
- Preparation and practice are often the difference to career success.
- Keep your attitude positive and picture yourself as lucky.
- Use tested strategies to overcome any job search FEARs (False Expectations Appear Real) you may have.
Persistence and Success Go Together
- Remember that it is not the fastest or brightest job seeker but the prepared and judiciously persistent candidate who generates an interview and secures employment.
- Recognize that job search roadblocks are only minor detours that you can find an alternative route, outwit, or avoid altogether.
- Work smarter and use the increasing number of Latino specific, diversity friendly, networking generated and skills focused access doors at employers.
Build Your Personal Career Brand
- If you do not develop a Personal Career Brand, others will label you.
- Paint a compelling picture of who you truly are and the unique promise of value you offer to an employer.
- Building your reputation or Personal Career Brand increases your confidence and job search power.
Make Learning a Life Long Process
- Life-long learning maintains and enhances your employability and upward mobility.
- Continuous professional and personal development improves your career staying power, agility and marketability.
- Your commitment to self-improvement validates an employer’s Return on Investment (ROI) in you.
Be Flexible
- Keep your job search and career options open.
- Be open, adaptable and accommodating to different approaches and opportunities
- Be willing to weigh job offers and career opportunities on how they fit into your career goals and plan. Don’t just look at the money.
Create a Strong Support System
- Grow your “career familia”, a network of a people who will be there for you in the various capacities that aid your job search.
- Nurture your network through maintaining contact, being thankful and giving back where you can.
Know When to Let Go
- Being willing to let go should not be seen as a negative. It is often liberating, empowering, and leads to career success.
- You may have accepted a job that turned out to be the wrong fit or your work situation may sour to the breaking point. Choose to move on.
- Your duties may have changed or you have or a team approach may be more productive requiring that you give up some control. Recognize that it is time to let go.
- Learn to accept your mistakes and use them as learning experiences. Leave them behind.
Remember to Give Back to Our Community
- Appreciate the Latinos who were among the first in their career fields who blazed a trail for you to follow.
- Helping Latinos who are your colleagues or coming up behind you opens up even more opportunities for other Latinos.
- Giving back adds to your own value and helps build your Personal Career Brand.
- Leadership and volunteer positions offer professional development opportunities that may not be available in the workplace.