Advance your Career with This Ultimate Guide

Do you feel as though your career has ground to a halt? Maybe you feel as though you need to make a positive change in your life and get that promotion, but you just don’t know how to go about it. Either way, you can find out everything you need to know, right here.

Work on the Goals that Matter

It doesn’t matter if you’re in your dream job right now, or whether you are trying to bide some time until you can find something better because you need to make sure that you are always working on the goals that matter. If your boss is always handing you goals that are just not exciting enough then try and find something that you can work towards in your personal life instead. This could be learning a new skill, or it could be trying to learn a new language. Believe it or not, this will cross over into your work life as well and it may help people to notice your enthusiasm.

Get a Reliable Organisation System

If you want to excel in your career then you need to make sure that your personal life and your work life are organised. Developing good habits is crucial, so try and make sure that you are using consistent systems. If you know that you are not good at organisation or if things don’t tend to come naturally to you then you need to try and download apps or even keep a notepad. When you do, you will soon find that you are able to keep track of everything more and this will make you way more efficient in everything you do.

Make the Effort to Learn

Effective team members are always trying to get new responsibilities, goals and skills. Don’t stay comfortable where you are right now. Instead, try and use resources to your advantage and never stop in your pursuit of knowledge. You never know when the next big opportunity is going to come your way, or when things are going to take a turn for the better. If you want to take advantage of this, then you have to make sure that you’re ready. If you’re not quite sure how to push yourself then as mentioned above, you could try and learn a new language, or you could even make the effort to take an online course. Little things like this can work to your advantage and you may find that it helps you to become qualified for other positions within the company. This will boost your versatility while also making it easier than ever for you to stand out from the crowd. If you want a universal skill that can be applied to any job then urine specimen collector training can be a great choice, as testing is often required in the construction, sports and transportation industry.

Navigate Power

You might not want to become VP of the company you work at right now, but that being said, you can certainly benefit from staying sharp and by observing how powerful people navigate the workplace. Understand the priorities they have, how they make decisions, how professional they are and even how they handle things under pressure. When you do this, you will soon find that you can relate to them and that you can also prepare for any demands in your future career too.

Network

Don’t be that one person who only gets in touch with people when they need something. If you remember birthdays, forward articles that are of interest and introduce others, then this will work in your favour and you may even find that it pays off for you when new opportunities arise. The more generous you are with both your time and your network, the more you will find that people are there when you need them.

Develop Good Conflict Management Skills

If you are ambitious, then you will most likely experience some kind of conflict during your working career. The great news is that conflict resolution techniques are very easy to learn. You can take an online course, or you can even look to your superiors for help. Either way, it’s very possible for you to develop skills that will help you to work with the toughest of clients and if you are able to prove that you can do this efficiently then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to advance your career.

Define Success

Every single person out there has an idea of what success looks like for them. For some, it may be getting a coveted executive role, or for others it may be simply spending more time with their family. There are no right or wrong answers here, and it’s important to know that success looks different for everyone. What matters is how you are able to define it for yourself. Think about what is important in your life right now and what you would like your career to look like in the future. What you are striving for right now may be different to what you aim for in 5 years. If you are able to think about the long-term, then this will help you to define your success overall. When you have defined your idea of success, it is then time for you to turn it into an actionable plan. Create a chart which shows where you are right now, and then add more information for the next 5 years, and then the next 10. If you do this then you will be able to plan out where you want to be and actionable steps which will help you to get there. Having a career roadmap will help you not just now but for the future as well, so make sure that you take your time over it.

Establish your Goals

Your goals and your timeline will go hand in hand. If you do not have a timeline then you will find it much more difficult to achieve your goals. Without goals, you will find that your timeline is simply your schedule. If you use them with one another however then you will soon find that this is the best way for you to achieve success.

Stewardship

It’s important that you look at your career roadmap and that you look at the plans you have. These are your biggest goals, and they are also your long-term objectives. If you want to accomplish any of the goals you have listed then you will need to split them up into more manageable goals over the short-term. Consider them as being steps that you need to take in order to reach that next level. What skills do you need to learn? Who is in your network who can help you to really develop? Are you going to be able to reach the goals that you have set with your current company? If not then it could be time for you to make a change. It’s vital that you take the time to think critically about all of this. At the end of the day, there is no limit as to how many short-term goals you can make, but a rule of thumb would be that more is better. The more goals you set, the more likely you are to achieve some of them, and this can really work in your favour.

Seek Feedback

Feedback is a fantastic way for you to not just measure your goals, but also your progress too. If you know that your company only gives you a formal review once per year, then try and arrange a few days every year where you can check in with your boss about your performance. You should never limit feedback to your superiors either. It should also come from your peers, as they are able to give you a completely different perspective or point of view. If you are not quite sure if there is anything that you can do to try and get even more feedback, then don’t be afraid to ask the customers you serve, or the clients you work with. You never know, they may be able to work with you to give you a new perspective and this can work in your favour far more than you realise.

Be Open

Believe it or not, there are usually way more chances for you to advance than you realise. Talk to your manager may be able to help you move into different areas of the company and this can help you to be a much more versatile employee.

Talk to your Manager

It’s vital that you talk to your manager from time to time. They will be able to tell you if there are any other career opportunities that may exist within the company. Share your goals with them that you drafted and organised and then ask them if they can help you to achieve them. By talking to your manager, you can then begin to put yourself on the radar and this can work in your favour far more than you realise.