Career Advancement: Making it Happen

Every eager young graduate starts their career aiming for more. The ones who are the most successful know that career advancement depends on constantly staying ready for the next challenge. It means pursuing additional education, or focusing on professional development offered either inside or outside the company. It means knowing the decision makers in your company and others in your industry, and making sure that they know you and what you are capable of.

Career Advancement: Work Hard and Smart

It’s important to do all the things that a good worker commits to, such as being on time and doing your job to the best of your ability, but it’s not always just about who’s the best “worker” per se, especially if you are not in a field where success is easily measured. For example, in sales it is easy to tell who is excelling because the numbers tell the tale. In many other careers, no metrics exist that will so easily allow you to compare yourself to others. In many ways that means that career advancement can be harder because it depends on your interpersonal skills. The way that you present yourself, the way you participate in meetings, the way that you interact with your superiors. Much of your career success and advancement will happen because others perceive you as being successful.

Your job, in addition to doing your job, is to make sure that your company considers you invaluable. You will advance when you show that you have the personality and skills that will help your company succeed. Their success is dependent on having the best possible person at each position.

Moving Somewhere Else as a Stepping Stone?

Sometimes you will determine that the only way to advance in your career is to move to another company. Perhaps there are better opportunities at a larger company, or a smaller one. It’s vital to determine where you’ll be able to succeed. Would you work better in a different type of structure, such as one with a larger support team or conversely, one with more autonomy? Have you been pigeonholed in your current job? Is your advancement thwarted? Sometimes you need to move out to move up.

Your Career is up to You

The main thing to keep in mind concerning career advancement is that you are the only person who determines what your career path will look like. Even if it’s easy to blame your potential advancement on forces beyond your control, the truth is that you and you alone can determine how successful you will be.

As your career path unfolds, you will figure out what you need to do to be successful. You will realize that it’s who you are and who you show people you are that will determine your career advancement. When you realize you are in charge and take the steps to create that career blueprint, the sky is the limit.

Articles on career advancement:

• Four Simple Things to Change That Can Make a Big Impact in Your Career
• The Long Haul: How to Determine If There Is Career Advancement and Longevity at the Company
• Taking Charge of Your Career: Pulling vs. Pushing
• Ten Ways to Help Your Career Outside Work
• Three Tips for Career Advancement that People Often Ignore
• No-Nonsense, Practical Approach to Getting Ahead at Work

Articles on promotions:

• Ten Ways to Get a Promotion
• Rising Through the Ranks with Knowledge Obtained from Within
• You Did Not Get That Promotion Again, Now What?
• Individual Performer Versus Leadership: Interviewing for the Next Level
• Is a Management Role Right For You?

Articles on leadership:

• RESTORING TRUST: Steps for Recovering from a Breakdown in Trust—or a Betrayal
• Don’t Fool Yourself, Everyone Can Make a Difference
• Leadership: There’s Some People I’d Work With, No Matter WHAT the Job!
• Are You Growing in the Workplace?

Articles on visibility:

• Career Advancement: When Getting Visibility Is a Good Thing
• How to Build a Personal Brand Inside a Company
• Personal Branding: Touting Your Accomplishments

Articles on how to form your personal board of directors:

• Assembling Your Own Personal Board of Directors
• Form Your Personal Board of Directors to Gain Insights from Others

Articles on mentoring:

• Making Your Mark as a Mentor
• Using Your Network to Find a Mentor
• Why You Want a Mentor
• Finding the Right Mentor