This is a guest post by Ray Holder.
We live in a world that is literally “first come, first served.” Gone are the days when people patiently waited to build their business – or their career – from the ground up. Today, we want quick results; we don’t want to sit around and wait patiently. It is no secret that in this fast-paced world, “time is money.”
Here are some simple yet effective tips on how to accelerate the progress of your career
1. Chasing Success? Rookie Mistake!
A word of advice that I always give to anyone who asks, is this:
Don’t be concerned with success. It comes about as a byproduct of striving to achieve excellence. So instead, focus on excelling in your professional endeavors.
Forget about making money. Forget about getting promoted. And forget about making it big.
Focus on dedicating yourself completely to performing every task that is assigned to you. Practice excellence and you will get noticed. Promotions will come – or they won’t, and you may have to move on. Obsessing over how to get ahead will get you nowhere. Being excellent where you are is the key to success.
2. Develop Your Skills—Professional and Interpersonal
In order to succeed in today’s world, you need to constantly fine-tune your skill set and/or learn new skills. You can’t expect to make it big on a mere college degree – that’s just the price of entry today. Take additional courses, volunteer for internships (or community service, if you’re in the workforce), and do all you can to ensure that your skills don’t become stagnant.
You should also be looking for opportunities that will allow you to communicate with colleagues and clients at different levels. You’ll become more confident and you’ll increase your chances at getting noticed.
To develop your professional skill set, look into a certification or course learn new skills geared towards your respective field. For example, Porter and Chester is a vocational school that offers great career services and courses in a variety of fields like automotive repair, computer networking and dental assisting, which are geared towards building specific, professional skills in students. Your skill set can increase in mere months by attending a similar vocational school.
3. Build Your Network
Networking merely means connecting with and talking to professionals at your workplace as well as the people you meet outside of your work.
Take every opportunity to meet people and have meaningful conversations with your superiors to get yourself noticed as an asset. Do everything in your power to ensure that people know what you can offer and what you’re interested in doing next in your job and your career. You never know when the next opportunity will present itself!
4. Show Initiative
To get noticed, you need to put yourself out there. Show your skills, smarts and work ethic by:
- Participating in company events enthusiastically
- Offering to take on additional responsibilities
- Organizing team events
- Offering your services to struggling colleagues, whether or not you get anything in return
The goal is to get noticed by superiors as a dedicated individual who truly has the company’s best interests at heart.
5. Become Indispensable
Being indispensable to the company means becoming such an integral part of the team that the company couldn’t imagine functioning (as well) without you.
Work your way to the team responsible for turning profits, innovation, or creating revenue, if you can. That’s the team that will get resources and attention. Learn all you can.
If you can prove your value on that team, you’ll have increased your ability to achieve your goals – both in earning and responsibility.
Ray Holder is an independent career counselor. Connect with him on Twitter @holder_ray.
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