10 Ways to Develop and Progress Your Career

Building a life for yourself is something we all want. Yet, it’s not always that easy to do. In fact, you can often find that you can often get sidetracked or doubt yourself from time to time. When that happens, it can be disheartening. But you can’t let it stop you or hold you back. Instead, you need to make sure that you are focusing on what you want and putting everything in place to make it happen. However, that is only possible when you know how to do it. For most of us, this will also centre around our careers. Your career is a big part of your life, and it’s often the one thing that enables you to create opportunities and really open up your life. This is why it’s always wise to funnel time and energy into furthering your career.

However, in order to progress in your career, you really need to know how to do it. This means spending your time focusing on the things that matter most. It also means knowing exactly which steps to take to get to where you want to be. So, in this blog post, we’re going to help you with exactly that. Read on to discover the ten best ways to develop and progress your career.

1. Decide What You Want

To get started, you need to make sure that you know what you want. This sounds quite simple, but not many people know exactly what they’re working toward or where they want to be. Identifying this is always the first step. When you have this figured out, you can then work on getting there.

2. Create a Career Plan

When you’re super clear on what you want to achieve, the next thing for you to do here is create a plan. Developing a career plan gives you the time and bandwidth to sit down and focus on the right steps you need to take to get to where you want to be. This can be a fun way for you to focus on the roles, training, and even experiences that you need to get and pass through in order to reach your goals.

3. Focus on Education

One of the first areas that you might want to work on here is your education. It could be that you need to go back to school to get further qualifications in order to progress. Or maybe you want to take a practical skills course and pivot industries. Here, it’s all about focusing on what you need to get further along.

4. Get Advanced Skills

You may also find that you need to go beyond the basics of education and get advanced skills in place too. This will always be very much tailored to your industry. It’s important to realize that getting further qualifications for the right roles will help you to get better-paid work and even advance quickly too. It might be that you want to do specialist WHMIS training that is connected to your career path, or even go on to become a member of your field’s local governing body. Here, it’s all about advancing as far as you can in your current career path.

5. Get Experience

Sometimes, you may need to deepen your experience too. Maybe you want to move into a managerial role, or you want to head up a division? Looking to step up and take a supervisory role could be just what you need. Or, if you’re looking to pivot slightly, you may need to build up experience before you can do that.

6. Go Above and Beyond

However, you also need to make sure that you’re standing out as an employee. It’s not enough to just meet the job description; you need to go one step beyond that. This is where the idea of going above and beyond comes into play. You need to showcase that you’re willing to put the work in, that you’ll go the extra mile, and that you’re someone to watch. You may find that this is when your seniors start to take notice of you.

7. Network

You may also need to network a bit more. It’s safe to say that many opportunities can come your way when you get out and meet people. Networking online or attending events could be great for you. You may find that you open new doors for yourself or meet people who could help you later on down the line.

8. Put Yourself Out There

But at the same time, you also need to make sure that you’re putting yourself out there. If you know that you want to take up different opportunities, you need to go out there and find them. This can feel intimidating when you’re introverted, but putting yourself out there is all about wanting it enough, feeling confident in your abilities, and knowing that you need to be in the right situations to get the opportunities.

9. Ask for What You Want

With that in mind, it’s also important for you to ask for what you want. You can’t just wait for things to land in your lap, as you’ll find that they rarely ever do. Instead, be proactive. Go beyond the idea of putting yourself in the right rooms and make sure that you actually ask for what you want. Let it be known that you want to progress and are looking for a promotion, knock down doors, and ask for opportunities. This is when things really start to happen.

10. Be Ambitious and Determined

Finally, you also need to make sure that you’re willing to see this through. If you have goals and there are things you want to be able to achieve with your career, you need to be ambitious about it all. You won’t get to where you want to be unless you’re hyper-focused on it and you’re willing to make it happen. This is where drive and determination come in. Ensuring that you’re all in and willing to put the work in can make a huge difference. After all, only you can take the action to make your dreams come true. So, it’s down to you to put the wheels in motion and make it all happen!

Photo: Saulo Mohana, Unsplash