Whether it’s a promotion or a new position, looking for advancement in your career should always be on your mind. While daydreaming about raises and titles may help motivate you to accomplish day-to-day tasks, you’ll often need more than just hard work to push your career forward.
As a career-driven individual, you’re likely already taking many of the necessary steps for advancement. For that reason, we’ve compiled a unique list of five things to do that can boost your career in 2023.
Network Beyond the Job Hunt
Likely, you’ve read about the importance of networking in job search tip lists. However, using your network exclusively to advance your position, can actually be detrimental to your career. Nobody likes a friend who only reaches out to ask a favor, and no connection appreciates simply being the means to an end during a job hunt.
So make sure you’re giving back. Praising accomplishments and congratulating promotions for those in your network will strengthen the ties you have with your connections. Having hundreds of connections on LinkedIn can’t help you advance if most of them have become strangers. How you go about keeping these connections alive will depend on the individual. For tips on how to improve these connections, check outthis guide.
Get an Online Encyclopedia Page
The odds are that you already have a professional profile on various free platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook. If you’re relatively savvy, then you might have expanded your visibility by creating pages for yourself or your company on more niche sites related to your field.
Whichever platform you use, your page’s visitors may take the information you present with a grain of salt if it’s obvious the content was self-written. While writing in the third person can mitigate some of the apparent bias, many professionals, such asMaryland attorney Alex Brown, have opted for online encyclopedia pages to increase their visibility and credibility.
Sit Down with your Supervisor
If you’re looking for advancement and a raise within your current company, working directly with your supervisor will likely be your best bet. Unless you have a bad supervisor, he or she should thoroughly understand your skillset and contributions to the company. Asking them to set aside some time to review your performance can show initiative on your end. What’s more, these one-on-one reviews can give you the feedback and tips you need to improve and advance in your field. To get what you need out of these sessions, make sure to ask theright questions.
Take up a Leadership Role
It isn’t always necessary to have an official management/leadership position to become a leader around the workplace. With the restrictions of in-person office spaces fluctuating in the past two years, there is a good chance that your company has employees with a modest amount of experience despite never setting foot in the office.
With formerly remote workers now coming into the workplace, this can create an opportunity for you to show coworkers work-related tasks that may not have been otherwise accessible. The complications created by the pandemic can be yours to use to demonstrate your leadership qualities.
Find a Mentor
Unless you are the most experienced individual among your coworkers, there’s a good chance you can learn a fair bit from them. Pestering your older coworkers won’t likely get you quality information. However, asking to quietly look over their shoulder as they work or occasionally asking questions and for advice can. That said, more experience does not always mean “better.” There may be a reason that a particular coworker hasn’t received a promotion in a decade. If you’re looking to push your career forward, take the advice of those who haven’t moved forward with a grain of salt.
All the performance reviews and networking you do can’t save you from the hard work needed to advance your career. While connections and supervisors have the potential to guide you toward success, the largest factor going into your advancement is your drive for success. Once you’ve found that motivation and are succeeding in your current role, then applying a few of these five things can take your career to the next level.
