Career growth and development is absolutely necessary if you are looking forward to gaining maximum success and satisfaction from the time you invest in your work. When thinking about career development, there is a tendency to often think of that colleague who’s not quite as gifted as you or as hardworking as you, but who keeps rising through the ranks – and you don’t. Perhaps He/She is a relative to the boss or maybe having some dirt on the boss. Maybe the head of HR might be having a soft spot for him/her, or perhaps just tackling career from a totally different perspective.
Although it is possible that some of your coworkers who seem to land a promotion each time might be having some inside connections. But the truth of the matter is that it is more likely she/he is just taking personal responsibility for his/her career growth, while you’re still waiting for a miracle to happen. If you truly want to take your career to the next level, it’s high time you took personal responsibility for your career development. Here are some useful strategies you can adopt and implement.
Find Out if You Need any Form of Specialized Training and Chase It
Find a colleague in your workplace who currently holds a position that you are targeting and ask him/her what you will require to get to where he/she is. Listen carefully to the advice he/she offers and start attaining those skills. In some cases, apart from the work experience, you might also need to undergo training. For example, some jobs will favour individuals with MBAs while others may favour people with special courses like project management. If your field relates to something concerning project management, you should consider enrolling for a PMP Certification Training Course as it offers numerous opportunities for career growth and development.
Set Goals and Develop a Plan to Accomplish Them
Could your career growth goals use some help in order to gain momentum? Research shows that the most successful and satisfied individuals proactively determine what they want for work. Consequently, if you want to grow your career, you need to know and understand exactly what you want, set achievable, SMART goals, and create a strategy to achieve them.
Set a Timeline and Milestones
It is important to set a timeline and include milestones of what you want to achieve in your career development quest. Bringing your superior and his/her mentorship or sponsorship into the picture will help to ensure that you always have an internal mentor to help you manage your career development and growth initiatives.
Take Advantage of Company Programs
Some organizations have formal programs in place to help their employees is career development. In others, you may have to informally pursue your development. Generally, most organizations with programs focus their efforts on helping employees to develop and grow in a certain career path. Take advantages of such opportunities to develop your career.
There are numerous ways to advance your career by investing in career development. Overall, you should take charge of your career development plans, and take advantage of the people and programs around you if you want to succeed.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.