Feeling stagnant at work is commonplace. Maybe you’ve been working the same job for years, or maybe you can’t find a gig to begin with. Many of us are too nearsighted to think about our long-term career prospects and instead get bogged down in the daily grind. So what can you do to push your career forward? Check out our list of career development tips below and hit us up in the comment section if we missed anything.
- Hire a career coach. Not everyone can afford a third-party career coach, but sometimes we can’t afford not to seek out some extra help. A career coach can help you step back in order to reassess your current standing and career goals, both of which can help lift you out of a rut if you’re feeling stuck. Just make sure to do your research and find a reliable coach.
- Use your school or Alma mater’s career services center. Current students and recent grads alike often skip over their most valuable career development opportunity: the career services center. It might seem like a long-shot scoring a job through the career center, but alumni networking is effective. Not to mention you paid all that tuition money…
- Take advantage of continuing education opportunities. You don’t always have to get another degree to level up: make the most of onsite job training or professional development opportunities that don’t necessarily require full-time school.
- Network! This one is obvious, but the most vital way of developing your career is clever networking. Make sure your name rings out at work for the right reasons, and do your best to make sure your future (or dream) boss recognizes your work. Outside of the office you should stay in contact with potential leads.
- Talk to the Human Resources department about opportunities for advancement. Sometimes there’s a job opening you don’t even know about. (Actually, that’s usually the case.) Obviously your direct supervisor should be aware that of your ambitions, but you can also reach out to the Human Resources department directly to suss out potential opportunities that you might want to apply for directly.
- Request a one-on-one meeting with your boss or coworkers. Even though we interact with many of our coworkers and supervisors on a daily basis, we’re not always talking about our personal ambitions. You don’t have to set a meeting explicitly about a pay bump or promotion, but one-on-one time is invaluable, even just to show off that you’re doing your job well.
- Volunteer for projects outside of your core responsibilities. You don’t want to stretch yourself too thin, but opening yourself up for new types of work and responsibilities will show your supervisor and team that you’re hungry for more. Make sure you don’t set yourself a trap of doing thankless work, though.
- Regularly update your resume. Even if you’re not sending out job applications frequently, updating your resume regularly is a good practice. Not only can you add little updates about recent projects or job promotions before you forget, you’ll get a frequent reminder of where you’ve been (and where you’re going).
- Set goals. One of the hardest career hurdles is just not knowing what’s next. Plenty of people spend their whole lives slogging through jobs they hate, and part of the issue is not knowing what you want to do. Setting tangible goals will help you move forward methodically and streamline your career development.
- Take a break. We don’t do it enough: take a break from work. Take a lunch break out of the office. Take a weekend off. Take a vacation. Get away. You’ll appreciate your job more with a little distance.