We all need to enter the business world and forge a career to survive. After all, without the money that working brings, you cannot live a nice lifestyle or even pay the bills. In truth though, work should be more than that, and your career should be something you find satisfying personally. If you can combine these two disparate elements into your own career, then you are heading down the right path.
Very often, the best way to do this is to make the effort to advance in your career over time. You may be in a relatively low-paid and mundane role now, but with a little effort, you could soon be doing something much more rewarding. There are many stories of business leaders who started at the bottom of the career ladder before making it all the way to the upper echelons of their company.
Progressing in your career will not happen by itself or overnight though. It is down to you to do what you can to earn promotion and bag that new role. If you need a few tips to get started, here are some fabulous ones to think about.
Online education
The simple fact is that having the right qualifications is vital to progressing in your career. Although you might have got an entry-level job without any specific qualifications being asked for, most senior positions will ask for degrees or certain types of professional qualification. If you do not hold what is required, you will not be able to progress.
A great way to get the qualifications you may need to move up is through online education. This is perfect for people who work, as it allows you to study online with no need to attend classes in person. It will also generally incur fewer costs than full-time study and also be much more convenient.
Just remember to choose a well-respected college to study online with – this will mean that you get the best-quality education to use in the future. Bryant and Stratton College is one of the biggest names in the US to offer online courses – visit the Bryant and Stratton official YouTube channel to find out more. Whichever college you choose, just make sure that it has a good reputation and confers widely recognized awards.
Take responsibility
Moving up the career ladder will generally mean taking on a managerial position with responsibility for what happens in your team or department. Your bosses will not be likely to trust you with this if they feel that you do not accept responsibility for your actions when needed. The key point here is to accept the blame for things that go wrong as much as taking praise for what went right.
If you always try to pass the buck when things go badly, it will actually reflect badly on you with senior figures. Instead, accept the responsibility for what has happened if it is down to you, and then tell them how you plan to fix it.
Stand out from the crowd
Do you think that senior figures in your company will notice you for promotion if you just turn up and do your set job with no extra effort? The answer is “No”! To mark yourself out as someone who possesses the hunger and drive to be worthy of moving up the career ladder, you need to show them more.
While this is not necessarily working crazy hours every single day, it is about getting involved with new projects, being vocal with ideas, and going the extra mile when you do your usual job. All of this will impress them and help you advance.
Network when possible
A great tip to get on in your career is to network within your company when you can. Is a senior figure asking for volunteers to attend their presentation after work on their vision for the company’s future? Make sure that you are there and that they see you.
Is there a lunchtime working group to improve cross-department communication? Make sure that you go and mingle with key figures from other departments who may be useful connections. Building up the right network of people where you work but from outside your own department is a great way to catch people’s eye when they need a gap filling next.
Make career progression a reality
As the above shows, the great thing about advancing your career is that there are some simple yet effective ways to do so. Naturally, the one golden rule to always remember is that you must work professionally and always produce quality work by any given deadlines. If you do this and follow the above guidelines for career progression, then you should find it easy.
