#AskDesiree: Answering your ecommerce new year resolutions!

Happy new year to all you #AskDesiree fans! I hope you’re feeling well rested and well fed after the festive season…I certainly am! Bamboo cocktails and bamboo buffets are the best recipe for a great nap!

There’s a classic saying you probably hear every January…’New year, new me!’ I’ve always disagreed with this sentiment…I understand the idea behind it of course, who doesn’t want to start the year on a positive note?

To me, it’s about improving each year and not starting from scratch. Any negative work experiences or behaviours you want to ditch have happened, so they are always there to learn from and better yourself. It should really be ‘New year, better me!’

I’ve had a few questions come though from people who want to do just that – better themselves and their ecommerce career. I usually take on one question a month but to kick off 2019, I will try something different to give you a better blog post. See, I’m taking my own advice! What I’ll do is take a few of the big goals, or ecommerce new year resolutions, and offer my top tips for making this happen.

I’ve got my eye on a big promotion – what should I do?

So, there’s an opportunity for an internal promotion in your company and you’ve got your eye on it? Good for you! All you need to do is buy treats for the person making the decision everyday…just kidding, your experience will speak for itself!

You should prove yourself early on, even if there is a wait until any decision is made. Help your colleagues to prove management/mentorship potential, while providing more ideas to demonstrate a strategic mind! If you love what you do, this will shine through and show you have the spark to do an amazing job if given the chance to step up.

I want to find a new job once some big projects are finished – how should I prepare?

Could this year be the year that you move on to an exciting new opportunity? This isn’t always easy when you want to wrap up on projects you’ve already put lots of work in to. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for the time when you have finished those big projects!

Have your CV updated with the latest achievements and start exploring brands who currently have vacancies open – while you won’t want to apply straight away, you can at least reach out and ask about potential vacancies in your field later down the line. Having an initial conversation can lead to great things. You can also reach out to recruitment agencies, allowing you to give them a timeline of when your projects will be finished which means you will be ready to search. They will have you at the top of the list when this time approaches, with some exciting roles to discuss.

How can I find the time to focus on that new skill I’ve wanted to learn?

All I can say to this question is make it happen! Whatever the skill is, this is something you want to focus on and improve on so it’s your goal to achieve. You have a whole year to do this so if this is an important career resolution of yours, you must set a plan of action.

The first thing to work out is when you will find the time to work on this skill. Are you able to set aside some time each week to work on training and development of this skill? If you are, engrain this into your week moving forward; a set time, a set day and a set place. Developing this routine will aide the learning of this skill massively. If you can’t pull this off, is your time management something to look at first?

You can also discuss this with management – explain how this skill will help your role and they might support you with more learning time or send you to a specialist course! Furthermore, there are resources all around you and one of your colleagues could already excel at this skill. All you need to do is ask for advice and tips.

I wasn’t happy with my work-life balance in 2018…how can I work on this for 2019?

There are a few ways you can begin working on your work-life balance in 2019…

• Are you the one stopping yourself from striking that perfect balance? Can’t resist checking the email inbox during down time? Staying in the office later to finish tasks that can be picked back up the following day? Time to draw a line under this – if it isn’t urgent, it isn’t worth affecting your rest time for!
• Is work-life balance not encouraged by your management or company overall? Do you stay later or work on weekends because you feel pressured to do so? It’s time to break barriers with the management team and have discussions around these issues.
• Perhaps there are other factors at play…does your commute mean you spend most of the day working, including your journey to and from? Does stress follow you home? Are you simply feeling tired? You really need to determine what it is that made your work-life balance suffer last year and nip it in the bud. Even if it means finding a new role, you should never allow yourself to stress out so much that your home life suffers.

Has your ecommerce career resolution not been answered today?

Don’t fear! I’m here all year to help you with ecommerce career dilemmas and hiring calamities! All you have to do is send your questions to me via email! You can reach me at desiree@cranberrypanda.co.uk!