We live in the era of immediacy. This can be reflected in all aspects of life from entertainment to career development. While some people take 30 years or a lifetime to get to their desired positions, others achieve the same results in just a few years.
Is it possible to fast-track one’s way to the top? This article presents some guidelines to achieve your professional goals faster.
Setting your objectives and timeline
First, we need to establish what it means to develop a career. Although this goes beyond the scope of this article, we can pinpoint a few concepts. Career development is the process a person makes towards finding their ideal job position or lifestyle. This includes decision-making, training, and self-improvement.
Ask yourself why you want to boost your career growth. Generally, professionals strive to get the highest positions for three reasons:
- Better payment
- Professional achievement
- Greater status
The next step is setting your objectives. The clearer you can establish them, the better. Not having a goal will only lead to a waste of time and effort. Along the way, you’ll be offered many propositions including paid jobs, internships, etc. In some cases, you won’t be able to take them all. So, how to choose?
If you have a clear goal in mind, you can assess the value of the proposition. You can prioritize the opportunity that will lead you to where you want to be, even if it’s not the most profitable one at the moment.
This is an important stage of your journey. Your goal sets out the foundation of your career project and serves as an assessment parameter. You can ask yourself ‘Am I closer to the goal?’, ‘Am I where I was supposed to be at this stage?’ ‘Am I stagnant in one job?’
The next video brings an insight into establishing your professional goals.
Let’s suppose that your objective is to be CEO by 2030. Now you need to establish the positions and roles you’ll need to assume throughout the journey. These can be Senior Sales Agent, Sales Manager, and Head of Production. This works as a career timeline.
How to achieve the result? – Career moves
With your plan properly set out, you can start thinking about how to achieve your goal. The first thing you need to understand is that your career won’t develop by itself: you have to make it happen. Generally, there are three basic ways to move one’s career forward:
- Get a more senior position in a different company
- Get a promotion within the same company
- Move to a similar job
Option number 1 is the best but also the hardest. Usually, people prefer to move to similar positions at a different company. The second alternative requires a little luck. Professionals are promoted when a senior colleague retires or leaves their position.
If you see the opportunity for promotion in a near future, then moving to another company might not be the best move. Anyway, if you decide to do it, it must be with a strategy in mind.
When to change jobs, keeping the same position?
This is not the best move option if you are following a strategy. Professionals may be tempted to accept jobs that offer higher salaries, better work conditions, health plans, etc. But these are only short-term benefits.
Professionals must keep focused on the bigger picture. Choose a job that will take you closer to your ultimate objective. Consider what new skills will you acquire that will help you develop as a professional. Will this job get you recognised qualifications? Will this company improve your reputation within the industry?
Jumping to the next level: How to get a senior position
While there are many ways to land a senior position, we will focus on two. These are factors that you can control and can be of great help: CV and interview skills.
The CV
Like we discussed in our article ‘Tips and guidelines on how to write a strong CV’, your resume is your presentation card. It must convey your skills clearly. Make sure the CV reflects what you actually can do. Avoid writing descriptions that are hard to measure like ‘Highly organised’, ‘Attention to detail’, ‘Motivated’, etc. Focus on your hard skills so recruiters understand the value you can bring them. It helps to describe your previous roles, responsibilities, and achievements in detail.
The job interviews
The interview will be harder depending on the position and company. Highly coveted jobs will mean tougher competition. You may be going against candidates within the same company striving for a promotion. In this case, you have more to prove. You have to give them a reason why they should hire you over a person that’s been working with them for some time.
Proper preparation is vital for a successful interview. It’s also the best complement to your CV and qualifications.
A conclusion on how to fast-track your career development
Picture your career as a table. If you want yours to be solid enough to support your future, you need a strong base.
Your four table legs must be:
- Properly established goal
- Motivation
- Investment
- Perseverance
With a properly established goal, you can build your career plan and assess your results. Don’t hesitate to invest in yourself. Invest time and money in courses, training, research, summits, and conferences. Finally, there will be times when the picture looks discouraging. Keep up the good spirit knowing that you can achieve great things.