Career Development

Building your career and progressing through it is easier than ever in some fields today. At the same time, others are facing more challenges due to the same factors. As always, it’s important to stay in touch with these trends and know what the best approach to developing one’s career is.

Of course, this is highly individual for the different sectors of employment. But in general, there are a few things that are always important to keep in mind, no matter what line of work you may be in.

If you want to move through your career as quickly as possible, it’s not just about working hard every day and giving it your best.

There is a political and social side to it as well, and it’s very important that you pay attention to it right from the start.

Jumping Jobs May Be Better for You

The long-standing idea of dedicating your life to a company and investing all your work into it is dying fast. On one hand, workers have started to wise up to the fact that their employers don’t really care for them on a personal level. On the other, the climate in many industries has changed to the point where jumping to a new job can result in a significant salary boost, compared to waiting for the next raise at your current one.

In most cases, you can easily negotiate for 20%-30% on top of your current salary when applying for a new job, as long as you’ve built the right skills and have something to show for your time working at your current employer. In some cases, you may be able to ask for even more if your skillset is particularly valuable and rare to come across. And, unfortunately, you’ll usually be offered a fraction of all that when you get promoted at your current place of work.

Side Income Is Easier Than Ever

If your main job is not enough, it’s not that hard to set up a secondary source of income. The internet has made this easier than ever, and it can be a very lucrative field to explore if you have certain skills. You can set up an online shop if you’re a savvy trader, or you can become a freelancer if you want to sell some specific skill of yours. You can easily get in touch with clients on the other end of the world, and you can overcome problems like language barriers without any issue as well.

It doesn’t even take much effort to get most of these gigs set up in the first place, and it’s in your best interest to look into doing that as early as possible if you feel like you have a lot of free time that’s going unused. It doesn’t matter how many hours per week you have for this – there are many types of side gigs out there, and some are ideal for those with very little free time.

Learning Faster and Better

Career development largely relies on your ability to learn, and that’s something that can become quite easy with the help of some modern solutions. It’s not just about the internet. The general integration of technology into our lives has created a situation where we have more access to information, and a greater range of options to pick from when it comes to staying informed. You can absorb more information than ever before and it’s all right at your fingertips. It’s only a matter of getting started. As long as you know what skills of yours could use some improving, it’s not very difficult to find the right learning materials about them.

This will be appreciated both by your current employer, as well as any potential new ones that you might be considering switching to in the future. Don’t underestimate the importance of keeping yourself up to date with recent trends in whatever field you’re into.

The Importance of Management Skills

No matter what your line of work is, you’re not going to get very far without good management skills. Sure, you’ll get through some promotions – but you’ll hit a brick wall sooner or later. Because no company wants to put people without proper management experience in positions of leadership, with some rare exceptions. You have to show that you have the right approach to the job and that you’re capable of delivering measurable improvements to the company.

If you’re in a technical field, you should look into an online engineering management masters degree from an institution like Kettering to fill any gaps you might have in your knowledge. The fact that you have an actual degree won’t hurt either, and it will improve your chances of landing good jobs significantly in the future.

The World Is Your Home

Don’t forget that you’re relatively free to move around and don’t have to restrict yourself to your current country if you’re not happy with the working conditions there. This is especially true for some lines of work, where you can always find a new job no matter what part of the world you’re considering moving to. Don’t underestimate the benefit of just packing up your things and leaving because this can significantly expand your range of options when searching for a new job.

A Good Understanding of Technology

You can hardly talk about a modern approach to career development without having a good grasp of technology. There’s a lot to gain from learning how the internet and surrounding technologies work on a deeper level, especially when it comes to improving your job prospects. For example, if you’re a software developer, you might want to look into something like machine learning if you want to expand your range of job options significantly.

The bottom line is, you can’t afford to stop growing at any point. There will be many obstacles along the way, but some are easier to overcome than you might think at first. Remember to keep exploring all options available to you, keep improving yourself, and study the market as much as you can.