Curating Your Career

In the movie Jerry McGuire, Jerry is fired after issuing a manifesto for how the company should operate. Most of us who hit job hiccups at organizations do for much less dramatic reasons—a restructuring, not enough work, or a reduction in our book of business. Nevertheless, it is still devasting. To mitigate the impact of one of these events, you want to ensure that you curate your career, aka future-proofing it from an unexpected setback.

Here are some of my tips for curating your career:‍

Take Initiative‍

The first step in curating your career is understanding that you control your career and can take steps to create the type of career you want. This means investing in yourself, which means time and perhaps money.

To best position yourself for success and navigate unexpected events, you need to think about what you can and should do to move forward and mitigate any risks. To do this, you want to expose yourself to thought leadership and bring it back to your organization, learn new skills and behaviors—no matter how uncomfortable and accept that learning new things may not always happen the first time. You will also understand that failure is simply learning.

This also means asking for what you need to build your career. It is essential to ask for opportunities to learn and to shine. ‍

Build Your Brand‍

Second, you must know and understand your value and brand. You wish to create a solid professional profile that may prevent unforeseen events from impacting you or increase the speed you recover from a setback.

You need to assess and update your brand regularly. You should ensure that your career and marketing documents, as well as your skills and behaviors, accurately reflect your brand. Finally, take steps to broadcast your brand through brand channels, such as speaking, writing, and the stories you tell at networking events.‍

Create and Leverage Your Network‍

A strong network is the number one indicator of success, no matter what industry you work in. You must build a network to help you during good and bad times. You should regularly assess your network to ensure you have contacts that will help you if you need to switch. This means understanding whether you have people in a position to do this and are willing to do this for you. It is also imperative that you feel comfortable leveraging that network. ‍

Celebrate Small Wins‍

As you develop a sustainable career, you can become discouraged and lose focus because it can take time to reach your goals. It can be challenging at times to continue persisting. It is essential during these times to celebrate our small wins. I recommend you keep a list of them nearby to keep you motivated.

Curating your career enables you to navigate opportunities and setbacks better and mitigates future risks in your career. And if you do this, you will be the one who can say: “Show me the Money.”

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Want more insights?

Tune into my latest podcast episode on Legal Disruptors where I sit down with Rebecca Wood to talk about what it really means to change the legal game with authenticity. Listen here.

And big news—my new book, Rainmaker Power Moves: A Lawyer’s Guide to Build a Book of Business, is officially available on Kindle! Grab your copy here now.