Five top tips for career development

Career development is the art of climbing the metaphorical professional career ladder. This might present itself in the form of a pay rise, bonuses, promotion or increased responsibility – often, it can present itself in all those forms and sometimes there are other perks too. Career development might include the additional responsibilities of managing others or looking after a more extensive client account. And this often looks different from industry to industry and role to role. There are some industries and roles where career development and progression are expected annually, while other sectors, companies and roles have less room for career development but longer-term opportunities.

Five essential tips for climbing the career ladder and improving your career development.

Practice proactivity

The art of proactivity is key to career development, and it’s one of the biggest things that separates those who get promoted versus those who don’t. Proactivity is key to career success. Whether in planning, upskilling or being ahead of the customer or client, proactivity not only shows organisation and an eagerness to improve, but it can also make your daily working life a lot easier. Those reactive individuals who wait for customers to lodge complaints or things to go wrong before resolving issues are not helping themselves with career progression and development. So, if you are guilty of sitting back and waiting for something to come your way – whether it be problems or tasks to work on, recognise it and put a stop to it, start doing.

Upskill, always

Nobody on earth is an expert at everything. It simply isn’t possible. However, we can all be experts in specific fields with hard work, research, studying and learning. Strive to be the best you can be in your field and in fields you work closely alongside. Upskilling can not only help you with career development in a very effective way, but it can also make you less and less disposable to your employer. If you are the expert your colleagues come to for help, you have managed to secure yourself in your firm, making it trickier for an employer to dismiss you, which gives you more room for negotiation in all walks of your professional life.

Mentor and be mentored

We love mentoring at PushFar. We are, after all, a mentoring and career development platform. So, it’s no surprise that we advocate professional mentoring to all! But seriously, mentoring is extremely valuable for career development, progression and professional growth. If you are not yet being mentored, consider finding a mentor and starting the mentoring process as soon as you can! At the same time, if you aren’t mentoring anyone (either within your organisation or through the CIH mentoring programme), then it is a must! In teaching, we learn, and in learning, we teach, or so the famous quote goes, and it’s true. By mentoring others, you will be amazed at how much you will learn, and it will also help you reinforce the things you already know but might not be making the most of.

Explore

No matter how large your company is, there is always room to explore. While this is closely linked with upskilling, exploring can help you learn about other aspects of a company and is an effective way of developing professionally. Explore different departments, opportunities, colleagues’ roles and competing companies. Don’t even be afraid to explore other industries either.

Step outside your comfort zone

A great rule of thumb is to do something every day that scares you. While it’s often quite a challenge to do this, it should undoubtedly be an aim! Every time we step outside our comfort zone, we learn more about ourselves and new skills. Being bold, brave, and facing challenges will show your employer and colleagues that you mean business and help you with career development. So, whether it’s giving a presentation to a large audience, thinking outside the box and closing a sales deal, or trying your hand at a new skill that you’ve always wanted to have a go at but been too afraid of failing, step outside step up.