5 Ways To Boost Your Career

This blog post is for you, if you love your career but you feel you are currently stuck and not moving in the right direction. I am here to give you a few good tips that I have learned from others and have used myself to boost my career and give you that drive to move forward.

1. Set New Goals With Your Employer  – You have to be proactive with your employer, have a discussion with them, seek assurances on how they can help improve your skill set, being proactive will impress them as well. Your employer will have an idea of where you are at currently in your position and what you can do to improve and reach your set targets. This is also a chance for you to tell them what it is you are looking for to reach the next step in your career. Whether that is to get promoted, learn a new skill or even transfer to another department within the organisation, this is your chance to speak up and let it be known so there are no surprises further down the road. I understand putting yourself forward can be a daunting task, but you have to learn that being too comfortable in your role will not help boost your career in the long run. Once you and your employer have a common ground on what to do to improve your career it is now up to you to put in the hard work and graft your way to the top.

2. Networking – One of the things that has helped me over the years is making genuine connections with people, which is why I believe networking can help to boost your career. If you find it hard to introduce yourself to someone new at an event, here is a tip that has work for me – find someone who is not occupied and has a friendly expression, walk up to them and introduce yourself, tell them why you are at this event and what you are looking to gain. Then you can ask “How about yourself?” and really listen to what they have to say, being a good listener helps improve your social skills. The reason as to why I recommend networking is because most people look to their network when hiring, referrals are what companies use most of the time to bring people in. Having a good network opens up opportunities that you would not necessarily expect to elevate your career. A good network can help you a great deal, you can have a mentor within your network who helps you get through rough patches in your career and also be there to provide tips on how to get better in your professional field. You can also become a mentor, which is a great opportunity to share your knowledge, also having someone ask you potentially challenging questions just means further growth for you.

3. Invest in Yourself – You should not be relying on your employer all the time, and what I mean by this is that you need to invest your money and your time in yourself. I have bought books related to my field which have helped me progress in my career, I could have waited for my employers to buy the books for me, but this could mean I would not have had the books to keep on a permanent bases.  Take it upon yourself to do a course outside of work, you will be more invested and focussed on the course as it is your money and you have to answer to yourself. Invest time, outside of work put in time and effort to work on a project in your field or take up a freelance project, this size of the project is up to you dependant on how much work you have capacity to take on. Investing time and money in yourself has big benefits for your career and gives you the edge over your peers. Your growth will be exponential and it will reflect in your work and boost your career.

4. Educate Yourself – Continuous learning is so important in boosting your career. There are a wide range of ways that you can do this. One way is to study the industry you are in. You can find blog posts, books, articles and sites in your field – look out for them and study them. Being open to learning will help you grow, expand your knowledge and make you more curious about your industry. Learning this way will spark questions in your mind, which you can ask your manager or colleagues to help find the answer, and this is a great way to get you engaging with people. You are also letting your employer know that you care about not only your personal growth, but the industry as a whole. Find new ways to learn, take a new course or blog about a topic in your field, you will grow naturally, and curiosity will lead you to gain knowledge and seek answers that will reflect in your work and help you boost your career.

5. Rest – This is one of the biggest, if not biggest, ways to boost your career. We live in a world where we get celebrated for working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yes you should work hard and strive for the best, but we need to remember that our body and mind needs a break. You are slowing yourself down in your career and causing yourself damage by not resting or taking a break from the hard work. Take a break, spend time with your loved ones, go on holiday. Give yourself the chance to go and discover what is out there outside of your work, this will help you feel rejuvenated and will give you the boost to come back to work and work even harder.

Thank you for reading my blog post, these 5 points have helped boost my career and is why I wanted to share with you, and as it has helped me hopefully it helps you.  What steps have you taken to boost your career? Do you have any further advice? Or perhaps you disagree with some of my points? – Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!