Many employees will work at any given place of work, but only a select few will get promoted and move on. Despite many employees being more than competent and even excelling at their jobs they will often get over looked for others. What exactly should be done to help improve your chances of moving on in your career?
- Ask for it
One of the most obvious, but often overlooked rules is that no one will give you a promotion unless you ask for it. This rule applies for most things in your career, unless management are aware of what your future goals are, no one will be offering out training, promotions or raises. Make sure you point out your goals in your meetings with your line manager, and set timescales to these as well. - Get noticed
You have to get noticed to progress your career, working hard with your head down will not help you move forward. One of the most important is to get on with others, people who are team players always progress further. Speak up at meetings, be an active participant. Volunteer yourself, by helping others and taking on new projects you will get noticed by management. - Be persistent
Keep trying and never give up. Stay focused on your goals and remember the path to get there may not be straight, you may have to jump around to get to you final goal. This takes persistence because not everything will come immediately, but it will be worth waiting for. - Negotiate
Take advantage of the power that you have. If you are asked to do something new or you have taken on a new role use this to negotiate a step closer to your goal. This could be a raise or a career advancement. Be careful of using the “I’ll leave if I don’t get this” and you may well have your bluff called, this is fine if you are happy to leave, but not advisable if you are not. - Take some career development risks
You will not get anywhere without taking some risks, whether this is applying for a new job, asking for a promotion or taking a sideways move. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, you will learn more from the mistakes you make than you will ever doing things fine. Don’t be afraid to try new things, especially if they are out of your comfort zone. - Make the most of networking
You never know how a new person that you meet can change your life. Impressing the right people can lead to new job offers, career progression and recommendations. You can use networking to help keep up-to-date on the field that work in. Remember that networking should be two way, by providing opportunities for others they are more likely to provide them to you. Use social networks such as LinkedIn to reach a wider audience, but don’t neglect the physical networking events. - Have passion
Passionate workers get noticed and are a pleasure to work with. When you are passionate about your work you make sure you do your best and and produce excellent and creative results. Your passion will rub off on others and provide a positive energy that management will want to promote throughout their company. Passionate people are more likely to advance in their career and get recommended for promotions and new exciting roles.