We have all been there – found ourselves in a job that leaves us wondering what we were thinking when we took it. But the
re still were investments that you made to be in that position. You definitely invested time, money and effort into your career. Here’s some thoughts on how to evaluate those investments, and what to do if you aren’t happy with the current return on your investment. It’s never too late to start over!
Investments in Your Job Today
While everybody invests three things in their career: time, money, and effort. But they vary widely on both the quantity and quality of what they put into it.
- Time invested includes how long you looked for your job, how long you’ve worked at your job, and how many hours you work. Time adds up in small increments, and the accumulated effect of the time you invested is valuable. You have experience when you have spent time doing something. This goes for your current job as well.
- Money invested can range from buying the paper to look at the job listings to buying the Job Search Success System that we offer. Your interview and working wardrobes, transportation costs, professional workshops; if you spent it to get or keep a job you invested it, it counts.
- Effort invested is harder to calculate. You can spend time at a training session and get nothing out of it because you were not really thinking about improving your skills. Effort means you have invested more than time or money — you put energy into it. So whether that means all of the time that you spend looking for, preparing for and actually doing the job – it all adds up.
Improving Your ROI For Your Future Career
Professional development is all about adding effort to the money and time you invest in order to improve your return on that investment. You could buy that Job Search Success System, for instance, and invest money. You may even invest a little bit of time skimming the contents. But until you put effort into applying what you learn, you aren’t going to see much improvement.
You don’t have to buy anything to improve your ROI for your future career because you already have time and money invested to some extent. Add some appropriate effort to what you have and you will see positive change. It may take some more time or money, but those are useless without what you add to the equation.
