27 November 2008 ~ 0 Comments

Career Planning for the New Year

A new year is upon us. 2009 is right around the cor­ner and with it comes end­less possibilities. Are you look­ing to advance your career? Ele­vate your pro­fes­sional image? Cre­ate a more prof­itable you? Finally get agency rep­re­sen­ta­tion? Find financ­ing for your next project? Secure dis­tri­b­u­tion for your film? There’s no time like the present time to hit the ground run­ning with your career.

Are you focused? What do you want, what do you want to be dif­fer­ent this year? Bot­tom line, you need results. And there’s no bet­ter way to get results than to make career res­o­lu­tions to help you focus. If you’re like most peo­ple, you have prob­a­bly given some thought to New Year’s res­o­lu­tions and what you would like to achieve in the com­ing year. Now its time to actu­ally make that list of career res­o­lu­tions.

Have a plan for my career. I will develop an action plan and fol­low through it. Each week I will do at least one thing to advance my career. I’ll make a phone call, write a thank you let­ter, take some­one to lunch, attend an indus­try event, or do some­thing else that will help me move towards my goal. I won’t wait for oppor­tu­nity to knock on my door. Action is what builds momen­tum.

Update my tools. I will make sure my pro­fes­sional tools (pic­tures, resumes, bios, demo reels, films, trail­ers, scripts, busi­ness cards, web­site, 30-sec. ele­va­tor pitch, etc.) are up-to-date.

Develop myself pro­fes­sion­ally. I am will­ing to invest in my career because I know that it costs money to make money. I will attend indus­try con­fer­ences, work­shops and sem­i­nars to hone my tal­ent and skills. I will read some career and busi­ness books, and read the indus­try trades every day.

Build my net­work. I will inject myself into the Hol­ly­wood cul­ture and actively net­work and build rela­tion­ships with other indus­try pro­fes­sion­als.

Get the Nec­es­sary Sup­port. I rec­og­nize that res­o­lu­tions are easy to make, but even eas­ier to break. I’ll look for a career buddy and men­tor to help keep me focused. If I know that I need even more sup­port, I’ll con­sider invest­ing in some coach­ing to help me achieve my goals.

Get real about your career! Rec­og­nize that your career is more than the sum of your gigs. Accept that you have to take respon­si­bil­ity for defin­ing your career goals and sup­port­ing objec­tives. Under­stand that you will have to iden­tify steps and activ­i­ties that will advance your career over time. This won’t hap­pen mag­i­cally if you don’t do any­thing. Sure, some peo­ple get lucky, but don’t rely on it. Don’t sit by the pool wait­ing for the phone to ring. It’s your career and you’re respon­si­ble.

Start today!

Until next time,

TANYA KERSEY www.hollywoodcareerresources.com
Share

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.