How to Progress in Your Career

Ok, so you have been in you job/position for a while now and you just feel like you're not getting anywhere. You're not advancing and feel like something's holding you back or stopping you from where you want to be. Firstly let me tell you that you are the only thing that is holding you back and stopping you achieving more.

Now that we have cleared that up, let's work on how you will progress with your career. Let's start by creating both short and long term goals as to where you want to be both within the next year and next five years. Creating goals will help keep you focused and motivated, and they will definitely help keep you on the career progression path of your choice.

Next we need to work out a plan as to how we are going to achieve those goals. Let's for example say you are a sales representative for a retail store. You want to be an area sales manager within the next 5 years and area team leader within the next 12 months. So we start by assessing our day to day jobs, highlighting our weak areas and working on making them our strong areas and selling points. Get a close friend or family member to help you, they see you differently and may be able to offer a perspective you have not seen before. In your plan, cover how you will progress within your career. Will you go for that promotion, will you look for a new job within a new company. Remember you make the rules.

After ironing out strengths and weaknesses and creating a plan to move forward we next need to work on how you will get ahead of the competition, as you are not going to be the only one going for that job, that pay rise or that promotion. What is going to be your unique selling point? How are you going to stand out from the crowd? For example, are you going to sit around waiting for opportunity to knock on your door or are you going to take a new part time evening course in leadership to show your superiors you are ready and waiting to fill that spot.

Career progression is not just about being in the right place at the right time. It is about working hard, making sacrifices and making changes to get to where you want to be. To progress in your career you must be able to listen. You must be able to handle criticism and learn from it. To be the best in your chosen career you need to keep an eye on the competition and an eye on the job market. Do not stay stagnant in your position, instead keep pushing for more, and keep evaluating yourself. Evaluate where you are now and where you want to be and with persistence and effort you will get there.