Many people have a strong desire to achieve career success and the associated financial and non financial benefits that it brings. So what are the 7 steps to career success?

How many people would set out on a journey without deciding their destination? Yet in truth many people never sit down and consciously think about their career and ultimate destination. If you are serious about achieving career success, it is essential that you get clarity on what you want.

In discovering what you want from your career, you probably came up with a title or role in a specific industry or sector and maybe even an organisation. You need to get clear on what you need to achieve what you want. Specifically:

What knowledge you will need What experience you will have to accumulate What personal attributes you will need to develop What educational or professional credentials you have to demonstrate

When you have clarity on the knowledge, experience, attributes and educational credentials you will need to get what you want your next step is to assess what you already have so far (your personal stock take). The easiest way of doing this is simply to list what you have already accumulated in terms of knowledge, experience, attributes and education.

The chances are that where you are now and what you want will be significantly different. To discover the gaps that you need to do a gap analysis for each of the different areas.

Your gap analysis will demonstrate the areas that you need to work on to move towards what you ultimately want. Use this to produce a development plan which clearly sets out:

What you need to develop How you will develop it When you will do it by How you will create accountability

One of the most effective ways of achieving a career success is to find someone who has already achieved what you desire and implement strategies that they have used. Your mentor will be an excellent sounding board and also someone to help you stay on track when the going gets tough.

You might find that opportunities come up from time to time that on the face of it seems too good to be true. It might be, for example, a huge increase in a salary increase or a job that offers a massive bonus. While tempting, it is much better to stand back and ask yourself what decision is right one in order to achieve your long term goal. Too often people lose sight of what they want in the long term and end up taking short term decisions to that hold them back in the longer term.