If you have recently completed your university studies and successfully applied for the perfect graduate job, you might wonder if the hard work is over. In this article, I will show you ten of the best career strategies that will work for you.
But if you’re ambitious about achieving your goals, there’s still plenty more you will need to do to climb the career ladder.
The workplace in today’s society is growing increasingly competitive. Most employees want to advance in their careers and be rewarded for their efforts. It might be not easy to stand out in a crowd when you work with a high-achieving and driven team.
Building a successful career takes strategy, dedication, and commitment over a lifetime. In this post, we’ll go over why having a career strategy is crucial and 10 different professional development strategies to help you achieve your career objectives.
Table of contents
- What Is the Difference Between a Job and a Professional Career?
- What Is the Importance of Having a Career Strategy?
- 10 Best Career Strategies
- 1. Understand Your Personality Type and What Motivates You
- 2. Be Optimistic About Your Career Objectives
- 3. Build a Professional Resume
- 4. Take Ownership of Your Career Path.
- 5. Consider Other Upskilling Options
- 6. Double-check that you’re accepting the right job with the right company.
- 7. Expand your network
- 8. Maintain a high standard of excellence
- 9. Improve Your People Skills
- 10. You know how to sell yourself
- FAQ
- Conclusion
- References:
What Is the Difference Between a Job and a Professional Career?
A job differs from a career in that a job is something you perform solely to make money. Working on a career plan allows you to create a set of linked employment opportunities that build on each other.
Jobs, on average, have a lower overall impact. This can be helpful and disadvantageous; for example, you may devote less time and mental space to a task.
You don’t have to worry about your employment “staying at the office” on nights and weekends. A job might not make you happy. It might not help you achieve your long-term objectives.
Because it takes more effort, a career might have a greater influence. A career must be sparked, nurtured, and sustained. You may be required to participate in activities outside your regular workplace, such as joining business groups or associations.
You may require further career training, certifications, or new talents. This has both positive and negative aspects. A career may include more labor but it may also imply that your work is more important and pays off in the long term.
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What Is the Importance of Having a Career Strategy?
A career strategy will give you the drive you need to figure out what you really want out of your job and strive toward your objectives. It will make you feel you have control over your future.
Career plans help you focus on your long-term goals while giving you a sense of purpose in your daily work.
You will face choices, chances, and setbacks during your career. Having a defined career strategy can assist you in avoiding making rash decisions that will not help you achieve your career objectives.
A professional strategy, above all, will help you see what you’ve accomplished and how far you’ve come. A plan will help you see past any bad days and see what you have already done and what is still possible.
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10 Best Career Strategies
Your career should be fascinating, inspiring, and gratifying because it takes up so much of your time. Here are ten of the best career strategies that will absolutely work for you.
1. Understand Your Personality Type and What Motivates You
There are a lot of online tools that can help you figure out your personality type. Myers Briggs is one of the most widely used personality assessments.
The Myers-Briggs personality test will categorize you into one of 16 personality types and provide you with information on your likely strengths, weaknesses, and best-suited job paths.
You may use this data to figure out which career path best fits your personality – and, more crucially, which job tasks you’d love and be motivated by in the future.
2. Be Optimistic About Your Career Objectives
After you’ve figured out your personality type, think about your ultimate job objective or goal. If you can narrow it down to a single job role, get a copy of the job description and person specification for that position.
It might be tough to predict where you want to be in 10, 20, or 30 years when you are just starting out in your profession. If you’re having trouble deciding on a specific employment function, consider whether you’d prefer to work in a specific industry.
Consider the chief talents, qualifications, and experience you’ll need for this position and what you’ll need to do to get them.
You can split this journey down into chunks if your ultimate career aim requires you to move up a few notches on the career ladder first. Get a copy of each job’s job description and person specification, and then look at the steps you need to take to make yourself a suitable candidate for promotion.
3. Build a Professional Resume
Your resume is basically your way of saying “I’m good at this, good at that, and I can help by doing this and that.” Well, that is why you should create a professional, neat resume.
By taking care of this aspect, you are making sure that you’ll never be caught off guard. Opportunities are everywhere; you should always be ready with a quality resume. I believe that letting professionals deal with your resume is a productive choice.
Some amazing services like MyPerfectResume can take care of your problem. They can help you create a classic or an impressive visual resume.
4. Take Ownership of Your Career Path.
If you want to accomplish something, you must put in the effort. If you want to attend a training course, don’t just turn up at your performance review and ask your manager if you can do it. Taking this approach means they will have to do all the legwork.
Instead, take the time to find out details such as when and where the course runs, how much it costs, and what skills you can hope to gain from it. Think about how studying for it will help you contribute to the company’s overall strategy. Having this information to hand means your employer is far more likely to support you.
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5. Consider Other Upskilling Options
As a graduate, you may discover that you are on the same professional path as many others in your field. In this circumstance, you’ll need to figure out how to upskill so that you’re the most appealing candidate when a promotion opportunity arises.
You could do the following at work:
- Enlist the help of a company leader as a mentor. Meeting with your mentor on a regular basis will allow you to ask questions, learn from their expertise, and discover which abilities you need to improve. If you want to move up in your job, you could offer to mentor a younger employee to help you improve your leadership skills.
- Look for a chance to do a secondment. Working in a different part of the company (even if only for a short time) can allow you to better understand the organization and the impact your present job role has on other departments.
You could do the following outside of work:
- Pick up a new language. If your company works abroad or if your business offers international career chances, learning a new language will make you a more appealing candidate to recruiters in the future.
- Volunteer. Take a step outside of your comfort zone and try something new. You’ll pick up new skills, meet new people, and experience things from a different perspective – all while contributing to a community.
6. Double-check that you’re accepting the right job with the right company.
It’s critical to stay focused on the objectives you set forth at the start of this process when considering a career change. Avoid being tempted by a high-paying job if it won’t help you reach your long-term career goals.
Make sure you do your homework before joining a new company. On the other hand, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
It’s a good idea to schedule an informal face-to-face meeting with a potential new employer before applying for a job. This will allow you to get a sense of the firm and determine whether applying for the job role is the right fit for you and your current career ambitions.
7. Expand your network
It’s all about opportunities and connections in networking. When you meet new people, you take advantage of their abilities. You must, of course, return something: your services, your knowledge, or your money. Successful people are always networking and building long-term beneficial ties.
Create social media profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to get started. In this type of activity, these three networks are the best options. Along the road, you’ll come across many opportunities and career options.
LinkedIn, for example, is brimming with business experts who are simultaneously promoting their company and networking. Twitter and Facebook are also frequently used in these situations. Facebook is useful for a variety of purposes, including networking.
8. Maintain a high standard of excellence
Another important aspect that distinguishes the successful from the unsuccessful is this. Your standards impact how you think, believe, and act. You’ll never be satisfied with less than you can achieve if your standards are high. Mostly, those with high standards are more successful than the norm.
Take a minute every two or three months to reflect on your standards and values. Try to improve them little by little until you realize you’ve reached your full potential.
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9. Improve Your People Skills
There is only one universal career skill that you will require regardless of your career, expertise, industry, or title: interpersonal intelligence. Understanding and interacting with people is critical for advancement, regardless of your job objectives.
This is fantastic news: improving your interpersonal intelligence and investing in your people skills will help you secure a job. Your career will go more smoothly if you have stronger interpersonal intelligence and superior soft skills.
Negotiating for a raise, making new contacts, expanding your network, schmoozing with the boss, selling your ideas, pitching yourself… the list goes on and on.
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10. You know how to sell yourself
You should know how to sell even if you are not in sales. If you think about it, we are continuously selling. We’re selling our concepts. Our products are being sold. We’re trying to sell our squad. Even if you’re married like me, you’ll have to sell your beliefs to your partner if you disagree! Yes, I’d want to grab sushi once more! ” Learning the science of sales is one of the best professional training skills.
FAQ
The SMART acronym outlines a strategy for reaching any objective. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
The seven strategies include: attaining competence in the current job, putting in extended work hours, developing new skills, developing new opportunities at work, attaining a mentor, building one’s image and reputation, and engaging in organizational politics.
Capable of learning new things and expanding your skill set.
A career strategy is exactly what it sounds like: a strategy for reaching career success.
A Career Development Plan is a written list of the short and long-term goals that employees have pertaining to their current and future jobs and a planned sequence of formal and informal experiences to assist the employees in achieving their goals.
Conclusion
It isn’t easy to plan your future professional path, especially when starting out. When you have options or problems in your job, you can use career strategies to help you consider them.
To make the process less intimidating, break it down into manageable chunks. Think about what you’re good at, what interests you, what motivates you, and what you want to do. These facts will assist you in identifying appropriate employment roles and sectors.
After you’ve settled on your overall goal, you’ll need to consider the many steps you’ll need to take to get there. This could include getting more experience, studying for a higher degree, or honing specialized abilities. Tell us which of the ten strategies is your favorite.
References:
- wikijob.co.uk/content/features/useful-resources/career-strategies
- linkedin.com/pulse/build-successful-career-follow-kazi-mahmudur-rahman?trk=public_profile_article_view
- community.thetechyaccountant.org/community/discussion/career-and-jobs/what-is-your-career-strategy
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