A lot of people in the US have started thinking hard about their careers. In 2022, over 50 million of them decided that they weren’t satisfied with their current career trajectories and quit.
A percentage of those people opted to quit in favor of full-blown retirement. For the rest of those people and anyone who stuck with their jobs, there is a burning question:
How do you advance your career?
Has your career advancement stalled, or maybe you just want it to move faster? If so, keep reading for some key things you can do to get your career on track.
Set Career Goals
All too often, people think about career goals in terms of the next promotion. They don’t think about it in terms of where they want their career to end up.
Without a clear end in mind, you never really know if a promotion will prove good for your career or dead-end it. For that matter, you’ll struggle to know if you should lobby for a leadership role when projects come along.
Knowing where you want to end up will shape the kind of work you try to take on, as well as the promotions you seek.
Get New Skills
Some people eventually decide that they’re in the entirely wrong industry. Just as often, though, people realize that they’re in the wrong job in the right industry.
The problem is that their current skills don’t offer an easy way to transition. The good news is that gaining skills can open up new doors for you.
For example, if your company uses agile methodology, you could look at getting SAFe certifications. If you work in front-end development, you can learn back-end development languages and frameworks.
There is another career advancement benefit to skilling up. Let’s say that your current company resists letting you shift positions. Those new skills can also make finding a job elsewhere easier.
Pursue Opportunities
A vanishingly small number of people get a job with a company and work there for the rest of their careers. If you’re actively working toward career advancement, there is a good chance that you’ll outgrow your current employer.
In many cases, smaller companies simply don’t have any positions available where they can promote talented employees.
That means it’s on you to look for good career opportunities. You can do that by keeping an eye on open positions. It also means keeping a healthy professional network. You can ask people in your network to let you know about good positions that open up.
You Can Advance Your Career
It is possible to advance your career. It will take time and probably some work, but you can do it.
Setting major career goals is the first step. You must know where you want to end up if you’re ever going to get there.
In many cases, you need to add to your existing skills to promote or transition laterally. Finally, you must keep your eyes open for career opportunities.