Make the right career resolutions for 2009

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December 1, 6:31 PM

by Eileen P. Gunn, Jobs Examiner

 

The research reveals that people who were conscientious, cooperative and socially very active in high school earned more money 10 years after graduation than students who didn’t display those traits.

This really shouldn’t surprise anyone.

They described conscientious students as those who worked hard for good grades and handed assignments in on time.  Applying yourself and respecting deadlines are the baseline requirements for success in world of work.

Cooperation is something that has become increasingly important in the workplace.  People who are good at working with a group and who have a knack for crossing gender, ethnic and other social dividing lines to gather a range of opinions and skills for the task at hand (whatever it is) are the people who thrive in today’s informal, team-based work environments.  They’re also likely to have the broad and deep networks people need to get work done—not to mention to hear about and land the kinds of project and job opportunities that make for dynamic careers.

Finally, students who were active in sports and other extracurricular activities were also most likely to succeed.  Again, no surprise, really.  You have to be motivated and know how to assert yourself (even if you aren’t gregariously outgoing) to seek out participation in these group activities.  You’re also more likely to be well-rounded than someone who just goes home or to the mall after school, and if you do the extracurriculars and get good grades you’ve had some early practice at balancing work-life demands.

In short, the folks who are highly motivated, prompt, social, and interested in stuff in high school continue to be this way later in life and it helps them to succeed.

So, what if you weren’t that person in high school?

I mean every high school has its handful of all-around type-A's.  They earn top grades in addition to joining student government and playing sports and doing yearbook and volunteering at a nearby soup kitchen on weekends.  But most of us come up short somewhere: we procrastinate more then we should, we’re less outgoing than we could be, we tolerate teamwork instead of reveling in it, we’d love to get more involved in the community, but gosh darn it, that couch is awfully comfortable after dinner.

Well, the New Year is just around the corner. Why not skip the usual eat-less, exercise-more resolutions and think about the one thing you would most like to improve about your at-the-office self. And then get to work on it.

Sign up for every e-mail alert and online calendar function you can to help you manage your time better and meet those pesky deadlines.  Make an effort to schedule one social date a month (just one a month) — lunch with a colleague, a mixer with a professional organization, maybe even drinks with the boss or a customer— to boost your profile and work on those social skills.  Or find someone in your organization who is great at teamwork and make them your role model.  Watch what they say and do and emulate them as much as you can until this learned behavior starts to become habitual. If committing to routine volunteer work is too daunting ook for one-off opportunities, such as joining an annual park clean-up day or recycling drive or charity event at your church and take it from there.

The idea with these changes we know we would benefit from and maybe even enjoy is to summon the motivation to get started and keep going long enough to see some benefit. Once you see the upside of meeting deadlines, getting out and about more or committing to teamwork, that should motivate you to keep going until it becomes second nature.

If it works — and I trust it will if you really try — just think of all the success and good will you’ll generate for yourself and the opportunities it might lead to.

You’ll have so much to talk about that you’ll look forward to your next high school reunion — imagine that.

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