8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. Multiply that by the number of years that you spend in work. Actually, that’s probably a number that’s not worth thinking about, but it’s true.
You spend a large majority of your life working, so why not make the most of it.
Allow yourself to reach for more goals and push yourself to develop your career, do something you can look back and be proud of what you have achieved. Use your passion, where you won’t mind waking up in the mornings to go to work, and dare I say it, look forward to Mondays. Has that got you thinking? If you are considering a move in developing your career within a company, here are some tips to get your brain ticking.
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Create Goals
It is important to set yourself goals, giving yourself something to aim for and achieve. Especially with the year coming to an end and 2018 looming ever closer, now is a good time to start creating goals for next year. Know what your current skills are and think about how you can improve and develop these to push yourself onto bigger and better things. Set yourself an achievable timeline and give yourself a goal to reach for month by month. Having goals gives you a plan to set next year around, and can benefit the company and the people working around you from your continued motivation.
If your work has company development programmes, then go for it. Take advantage of these, as they can only help progress in your working career. It gives you the chance to develop your skills and knowledge, allowing you to always be up to date, plus, it doesn’t hurt to add a few more things to the CV.
Think about this time next year. If you were to take a step back and look at what you have completed throughout, would you feel proud? Setting goals allows you to give yourself that sense of achievement, at the end of the year, and feel accomplished.
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Stay Determined
Determination will show to the decision makers in your company. Focusing on what you feel is important within your route to success as you are more likely to achieve throughout your career.
It is essentially all down to you. It is you who chooses your career path, and it is up to you to keep your motivation levels high. By staying determined, this displays that you know what you want from your work, and will therefore build up a great reputation to not just yourself, but to others, and allows you to be considered for a promotion.
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Talk
Communication is key. Even if it is just for advice, speak to your colleagues. Speak to your manager. The only way you are going to get somewhere is by asking. Don’t be afraid to ask or put yourself forward for any upcoming opportunities that may arise within your workforce. More often than not, this happens within performance reviews. Being one on one with your manager, you have the opportunity to discuss potential openings for your future. Simply just by speaking to your manager it could highlight potential benefits to both you and the company.
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Get a mentor
Having a mentor gives you the chance to shadow someone within your work. Opening your potential, it gives you the chance to learn what they do, pick up more experience and assess if you have the ability to take on more opportunities and take that step forward to develop your career. That one on one support gives you the opportunity of someone to look to for advice and feedback on how you can adapt to different environments. It has the potential to open doors. A mentor can really benefit both professional and personal progression, increasing knowledge and involvement within work.
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Build up a Network
No matter whether you wish to develop your career, move department, or to a new position all together, maintaining and keeping up your online presence is always important. Social media pages such as LinkedIn, Google +, and believe it or not even your Facebook reflect your working potential.
Keeping you profiles professional highlights your competency and represents your potential to employers, maintaining that you are serious about your development. LinkedIn is a great way to show your interest in the business world and share this with your employers, which can go a long way. Obviously stay away from crazy night out pictures and keep all your profiles clean, as they can come back and haunt you when you least expect it.
Many companies offer the opportunity of career development as it allows staff to progress and raises morale in the office. A great example is a small load securing business based in Glasgow, Reid Brothers UK. Despite having a small team, they offer great opportunities for each of their staff to grow within. Next year is the company’s 150th anniversary year, and as an established company, many of the staff have been working there for a while.
Reid Brothers UK offer career development opportunities to all their staff, as a company they like to develop within, giving employees the chance to develop their skillset through further training and allow them to take on more responsibility in their positions. This is beneficial as it allows employees to stay and grow with the company, with a low staff turnover.
Career development allows for professional and personal success, and if the option is there to take your career to the next level, take it, and allow your workplace opportunities to continue growing.
