Start Your New Year’s Resolution Now To Improve Your Ad Career in 2021.

The end of the year approaches, and your career is in the tank. Don’t lament. Use the next few weeks to get your career in high gear by early 2021. Here’s a checklist of things to do until it’s time to sing “Auld Lang Syne.”

1. Analyze your current portfolio. Consider any updates that will position you as perfect for your next role. Use the remainder of the year to polished your work, your website, and your resume.

2. Prepare a prospect list. Note work that you admire. Discover who is doing it. Visit the websites of those of interest to learn about them. If everything matches well with your desires, put them on your list. Then dig deeper. For example, search LinkedIn for present and past employees. They can give insight into the company and what to do to be a great fit.

3. Once you have your list, do a status page for each. Keep track of whom you contacted. Build relationships now, so when a job is available, they already have you in mind.

4. Cast a wide net. The bigger pool you fish in, the quicker you accelerate the time needed to make a job change. If you can move, move. Check The Creative Ham, a blog that lists agencies in major US cities.

5. Invest in yourself. It requires time to find the right position. Make it your second job. Sacrifice your social life and anything else in the way. You’re worth it.

6. Leave a better employee than when you arrived. While you’re searching for your next job, do your best work for your current employer. Find positive things upon which to focus. Assign personal goals to achieve. A positive attitude makes the present more fulfilling, and when you do leave, your employer will wish you well, rather than “good riddance.”

7. Keep an optimistic attitude. The toll a nightmare job takes on your psyche shows up in interviews if you harbor a negative attitude. You appear as you feel. Go into job interviews with optimism. Don’t share your disappointment in your present job. Find positive things about your current job to relate to in the interview. Move the conversation to the future with the prospective employer. Employers hire positive people. Stand out by being the person most excited about working for them.

Persevere, and you will succeed. Change things for the better. Your future will change for the better sooner than later if you do.