Career Planning
The Pillars Of Your Career
Having a long term perspective on what your career goals are and planning ahead is important from before you even start your first job until the day before you retire.
The first years of your career, however, are most important when it comes to setting yourself up for success. It is the period in your career when people are most willing to invest in your development and is when businesses are most likely to give you an opportunity to do something different.
Not allowing yourself to get into a situation where you cannot make decisions from a position of strength is another important factor in being successful in what you do. Read more on this in our blog Pushes and Pulls
0-6 months
Graduating from university and entering the workforce can be daunting and trying to figure out if what you studied is what you want to do for the rest of your life even more so.
Your first 6 months have the main purpose of trying to work out if you like the nature of the work.
Unless there is something about the culture or the people you work with or you really don’t enjoy the work, you should give it at least 6 months.
The main reason for this is the best job you could get with less than 6 months experience is likely to be the job you have.
Where Gilded Youth helps at this stage by:
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We can help you find the right job for your aspirations and understand the different opportunities businesses are offering
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Talk to us if you have questions around the work you are doing and the exposure you are getting to understand whether you are on the right track towards your goals
6-12 months
At the 6-12 months mark you will have gained a good understanding of the nature of the work and it will become more and more important to get a clear idea of what aspects of the work you will want to be focusing on in the long run.
It is important you start looking at the nature of the work experience you are gaining and access to training and development compared to other opportunities.
Where Gilded Youth helps at this stage by:
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Every business has a different training and development plan, Gilded Youth will help ensure that regardless of your current employer, we will give you access to the technical training that is essential to your long term development so you don’t get left behind.
1- 3 Years Experience
The 1-3 year experience level is where you really start to develop your technical skills and grow your professional networks.
Most people with less than 3 years experience have only had the 1 job so probably have no idea if that job is helping advance their career or holding them back.
Where Gilded Youth helps at this stage by:
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Giving you access to networks of professionals you can ask questions of and equally important, will ask you questions of yourself you may not have considered;
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Providing access to the best possible job opportunities with Australia's leading employers who are screaming out for motivated professionals who want to advance their career.
3-5 Years Experience
At 3-5 years this is when you are going to be in the highest demand to the most number of employers.
That being said, this is where you can really get left behind.
It is at the 3 years experience level where you should be qualified and you will have seen enough in your role that you will be technically capable of getting through the work.
No matter your field, it is possible though that you are not being pushed enough to improve, rather than 3 years of experience, you could have experienced the same day 365*3 times.
There is a distinction to be drawn between being inpatient and not getting the right kind of experience which is why you need experienced people in your network, not just people in your friendship group, to ask questions of.
Assuming your career is tracking smoothly in terms of the type of work you are getting experience with, it is at the 3-5 years level that gaining formal staff management experience is imperative to your development.
Gilded Youth is able to help you are this stage in your career through:
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Connecting you with a mentee, where you can start to get a practical understanding of what it is like to be at the very least a sounding board for people at the start of their career;
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Connecting you with practical training programs to help you develop your communication skills;
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Connecting you with the right recruiters to help you me;
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Give you feedback on any areas of development that may be important to help you achieve your long term career goals.
5-7 Years Experience
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By the time you get to 5 years experience you should have:
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Sound technical skills, evidenced by your ability to explain complicated concepts to a layman;
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Experience managing junior staff, preferably a formal staff management role, failing that, informal staff management experience through mentorship programs;
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Track record of success, evidenced by promotions within an organisation.
In addition to the above, you should also have reasonable stakeholder management skills.
From years 5-7, you need to be improving your sales and negotiation skills.
No one cares how smart you are, they care how well you can solve a problem for them and how solving that problem will improve their life.
Gilded Youth will help you at this stage in your career by:
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Providing you with access to the best resources available to improve your sales and negotiation skills;
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We will provide you with regular opportunities to test your skills through structured learning programs;
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We will help connect you with career opportunities at employers who will offer you day to day practical experience;
In summary, engaging with Gilded Youth through the first 7 years of your career will give you the best chance of long term success because you will be:
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Surrounding yourself with industry leading professionals at various experience levels who will challenge you to be better;
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You will have access to the best training and development opportunities available;
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Any career move you make will be made with your long term goals in mind.