You work hard at your job; therefore, you want to know that there is room for you to progress. In any thriving, successful business, progression opportunities should be rife, and you want to make sure you’re making the most of them!
If you are wanting to progress, the first thing you must understand is that real growth comes from taking a leadership role in your career development. Rather than waiting for things to happen, be hands on and make them happen.
Being motivated is one of the key ingredients of progression. You can do this by ensuring that you are constantly challenging yourself, as this will add more and more value to your work. A great way of maintaining motivation is to both experiment and explore. One allows you to look for new, and possibly better ways to do things, whilst the other looks for new things to do, meaning that you can add more strings to your bow. So, don’t be afraid to ask questions, take every training opportunity you can and get stuck in!
Here are our top tips for career progression:
Set SMART Goals
By setting goals, it allows you to put into perspective what you want to achieve. However, to make your goals more meaningful, you should make them SMART.
Specific
Make your goals clear and specific, otherwise you won’t be able to focus your efforts or feel truly motivated to achieve it. When drafting your goal, try to answer the five “W” questions:
- Who is involved?
- What do I want to accomplish?
- Why is this goal important?
- Where is it located?
- Which resources or limits are involved?
Measurable
You must make your goals measurable in order to track your progress. To make your goals measurable, ask yourself how much? How many? How will I know when its accomplished? For example, if your goal is to become head of HR, you could measure this by deciding that you will have gained the relevant experience and completed the necessary training courses within 5 years’ time.
Achievable
It’s important to be realistic when setting your goals. They should be stretching your abilities whilst remaining possible at the same time. When setting an achievable goal, you should ask yourself how can I accomplish this goal and how realistic is the goal, based on other constraints?
Relevant
Your goal should matter to you, but it should also be relevant to your progression. You can make sure that your goal is relevant by asking yourself the following 5 questions:
- Does this seem worthwhile?
- Is it applicable in the current socio-economic environment?
- Does this match our other efforts/needs?
- Am I the right person to reach this goal?
- Is this the right time?
Time-bound
Give your goal a target date so that you have something to focus on. Answer these questions to make sure that your goal is time-bound:
- What can I do today?
- What can I do in six weeks?
- What can I do in six months?
Welcome Constructive Criticsm
Someone who can take on board constructive criticism and choses to learn from it, shows that they want to progress. Doing this can open your eyes to things you may have never considered or would have previously overlooked, which can really help you grow!
Speak Up
You may well be motivated to progress but does your manager know that? It’s perfectly fine to sit down with your manager and express your desire to move up within the business. A good manager will discuss with you the opportunities available to you and help get you to where you want to be. Moreover, this also demonstrates your commitment to the business and that you’re willing to put the work in. Why not create a personal development plan to track what you can do and what you’ve achieved, something which will bode well for you when going for that promotion!
Use Your Network
Make yourself known both in and outside of the business. Introduce yourself to as many people as you can and get your face known. This way, you’ll be thought of when a new opportunity arises. Go out of your way for others, show you’re a good team player and let everyone know what you’re capable of. A well thought after employee has a much greater chance of gaining that promotion. Why not follow us on LinkedIn to kick-start your networking?
Stop Settling
Our final piece of advice would be to stop settling. At the end of the day, your main priority should be you and achieving your own, personal career aspirations. If the company you’re working for isn’t offering its employees progression opportunities, then it may be time to move on. Nobody deserves or wants to be stuck in a dead-end job but making that decision to move on can be very daunting, especially if you love and respect the company you’re working for.
If you do decide that you want to change the direction of your career, why not get in contact with us? At Charterhouse Recruitment, we take pride in getting to know our candidates as an individual and not just as another number, which is why our repeat business rate is over 85%!
We have successfully built in-depth expertise across our five core recruitment specialties of Accountancy and Finance, Office Support, Human Resources, Marketing and Procurement & Supply Chain.
So, if you’re currently working in one of these industries or want to start a career within them, get in touch with us today or take a look at our current vacancies!
