Reboot your career over the holidays with these 6 tips

In many parts of the world, professionals are wrapping up projects, finalizing year-end reports and preparing to take some time off over the upcoming holidays. Even for those who may not be celebrating a holiday, working for an international employer usually means days off and a much quieter office. As the New Year quickly approaches, this is often a time of reflection when we have extra time to assess where we are and where we want to go in our personal as well as professional lives. Whether you are an active job seeker hunting for your next opportunity or someone looking to take your career to the next level, here are six things you can do over the holiday break to give your career a boost: 1. Recharge The life of an international development professional is high stress, with very little downtime. In resource-strapped organizations, dedicated professionals put in long hours, sometimes working in isolation, travel frequently and bear witness to some of the most atrocious inequities. Few aid workers receive the staff care and support they need and can feel stigmatized when they do ask for help. Read: When aid workers ask for help, still a sign of weakness While not every aid worker is able to take a break during the holidays — after all, world crises don’t take a break — it is so important to use any opportunity you can to recharge. Reconnect with family and friends, a hobby that you love, catch up on much needed sleep or just completely unplug from the stress of the job for a few days. If you have been actively job hunting, spending your days writing cover letters, applying online and following up on applications, it’s OK to take a break from that, too. Hiring usually comes to a halt during the holiday break, so use this time to recharge and come back to the job search with a renewed sense of energy. 2. Reignite your network connections The holidays are a great excuse to reach out to former colleagues, classmates, acquaintances or anyone in your network you’ve haven’t engaged with in a while. You have a built-in excuse to drop a note or phone call — to wish them a happy holiday — and some extra time to craft personalized messages to those you’ve lost touch with. Holiday parties abound this time of year provide ample opportunities to connect with and grow your network. Even if you dread socializing in this way, you can pop in for a quick hello and use the excuse of another holiday party on your schedule as a way to bow out early. Before you do, watch this webinar on networking for people who dread networking to pick up a few tips. 3. Research new employers If you’re actively job seeking or thinking about it in the New Year, now is the time to do some research on the employers you’d like to pursue. Use the Devex directory of 12,000 employers worldwide to identify those working in the countries, on the issues or with the donors that are important to you. Start a list of target employers and identify anyone you know with a connection there, like a former colleague, a friend of a friend who consults with them or someone from your alma mater in a senior role. Once the holidays are over and people are back at their desks, reach out to these connections to learn more about the organization, potential hiring needs or to set up an informational interview. 4. Brush up your resume Even if you aren’t actively seeking a new job, it’s wise to update your CV at least once a year. You never know when a dream opportunity might present itself and you’ll need to quickly produce an updated version. Additionally, the longer you wait, the harder it can be to recall specific details of your accomplishments, making the task of updating all the more daunting down the road. Updating your CV is also a helpful way of assessing where you are in your career trajectory. We often don’t take the time to step back and examine where we are, where we’ve been and where we want to go. Synthesizing all of your experience into one document can be a good exercise in self-reflection, noting gaps in skills you want to develop, roles you imagined you would do at this point in your career or noticing strengths you never realized you had. Watch this webinar on development CVs that make a difference to get some tips on how to format yours, and brush up on what you need to know about writing a resume as well as on tips for developing a successful global aid CV. If you would like assistance with your CV, consider working with a professional at the Devex CV Writing Service. 5. Update your Devex profile Did you know that thousands of international development recruiters search the Devex community of people every day to identify candidates for their home office, project and consulting positions? Devex also offers a recruitment service to firms and organizations looking for top candidates for their vacancies. Make sure both employers and our internal recruitment team can find and notify you of new opportunities by updating your Devex profile. Check out these tips on how to make your Devex profile count. 6. Catch up on reading If you plan to lounge on a beach, cozy up in front of a fire or spend a lot of time in airports, a good book is a must. It’s hard to find the time in our busy day to day to read all the many books that are so relevant to the work that we do or hope to do. If you want to catch up on some industry-related reading over the holidays, check out these Devex curated lists of must-reads. #DevReads: 10 books on how girls’ empowerment is the key to development #DevReads: 10 classic reads on gender and development #DevReads: 10 books on how women are changing the world of technology #DevReads: 10 books you should read if you would like to work in urbanization and development #DevReads: 10 books to read before beginning a career in food security What do you do over the holidays to recharge and refresh your career? Please leave your comments below. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or budding development professional — check out more news, analysis and advice online to guide your career and professional development, and subscribe to Doing Good to receive top international development career and recruitment news every week.