Checkup Will Help You Reach Career Goals

It’s the beginning of 1995. Do you know where your career is headed? Now’s the ideal time for a career checkup.

Here’s how experts say you can get off to a smashing start in

Create a vision. “Plant a mental picture of where you’d like to be at the end of the year,” says Peller Marion, Ph.D., author of “Crisis Proof Your Career: A Planning Guide for Job Security and Satisfaction in the ‘90s” (Berkley Press, $4.99). “Do you want to work at a more leisurely pace? Do you want to have more responsibility? It’s OK if you don’t know how to get there. As long as you know what the ingredients are, you’ll be open to opportunities as they arise.”

Expand your bank of contacts. “People are reluctant to build a network because it takes time, energy and effort,” says Richard Koonce, author of “Career Power! 12 Winning Habits to Get You From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” (AMACOM, $17.95). But you’ll need contacts if your employer downsizes or if you decide to switch jobs.

There’s no better time to get connected and collect information about companies, salary levels and industry trends than when you’re employed and don’t need favors.

“Plug into a professional society and become active on the membership committee,” Koonce advises. “You’ll informally rub shoulders with people. My previous jobs came through early knowledge of job openings through my associations.”

Review your last performance appraisal. Your boss probably identified areas in which you can improve, but in the tension of the moment, you may have discounted them. “It’s time to address those issues,” says Cheryl Heisler, a Chicago career coach. “Reread the review and attack the problem areas now.”

Revise your resume. Have you been promoted? Did you attract new clients? Did you receive an award for Total Quality Management? Add these to your resume. “Always keep a list of what you’re doing and what you’ve done,” says Koonce, a career counselor in Falls Church, Va.

Learn a new skill. “It’s a good time to assess what you’re missing,” says Carol Olmstead, job strategist and president of CareerStyle in Bethesda, Md. “What training do you need to be more effective in your current job? What do you need to move up?” Take courses offered by your company’s human resources department or at a local college. Improve your public-speaking ability, learn another software program or develop negotiating tactics.

Rewrite your job description. “Get a little ‘intrapreneurial,”’ Koonce says. “Perhaps the organization has needs that you can meet. Or perhaps you can join a cross-functional work team.

“It’s important to make your job a learning ground, where you’re taking on extra projects and expanding your job description.”

Update your marketing tools. Be prepared for publicity, whether it’s in a newspaper, corporate newsletter or alumni magazine. “If you’re in a high-profile industry where you’d benefit from having your picture published, by all means, have a head shot taken,” Heisler says.

Catalog on-the-job obstacles.

Identify any on-the-job roadblocks and then brainstorm action steps.

“This exercise helps you move from feeling victimized to feeling empowered on the job,” Marion says.

Resolve to add greater balance. “People are under an enormous amount of unseen stress,” Marion says. “You need to find something that changes the channels on your mental television station so you can step back and look at life in a different way.” Pursue endeavors that have nothing to do with your job - a yoga class or maybe poetry writing.