10 Ways to Advance Your Career Development

You don't have to wait for a new year, a birthday, or some other career milestone to feel like you need to reinvigorate your career. You can actually make those new year's resolutions anytime you want, mid-year or three o'clock on a Tuesday. We're going to map out some professional development activities that will help you think about new strategies and new approaches to your career and help you move forward. Let's talk about career planning. Our first tip is to organize your life. Make a list. Organization skills are paramount in any career development process. Keeping journals, list-making, and goal tracking are great ways to keep track of your development progress. When there seems to be an endless amount of tasks on my plate, I make a list and draw a circle next to each task. To me, nothing is better than making a list. Well, nothing besides checking those little circles off. To advance your career, I want you to make two lists. First, what I want to achieve in the next year. And next, what I have already achieved. Make your, quote, dreams list first. What do you want in the next year? Do you want to speak up more in meetings? Do you want to raise? Do you want to fill a particular skills gap? Do you want to change jobs entirely? Once you've established what your goals are, make your second list. The second list is composed of the things that you've already achieved. While constructing the list, think about how the things you have done can feed into what you want to do, your goals. It might seem like you don't have the appropriate experience or skills set to achieve a new objective. For example, maybe you want to go into a managerial role this year, but you feel like you don't have any experience. The thing is, you probably do have relevant experience. Think of things you've done in the past. Did you manage your team at a service industry job? You had a college. Did you organize alumni events with your college friends? The great thing about existing skills is that they are most likely transferable. It is usually a matter of context. Looking to make more lists? Check out our uncommon to-do list and watch your productivity soar. Our second tip is to map your goals. Map out your goals at work. Maybe your goals are on a smaller scale, like a software upgrade or the opportunity to organize better in the new year. Maybe your goals are quite lofty, like spearheading an entirely new department in your startup environment or going after a big promotion. However your goals meet your personal style, make sure to prioritize them. It's equally important to break up your goals into smaller pieces and celebrate your progress every step of the way. Which ones are going to be easily achieved? What is a reasonable timeline in which to achieve these goals? Are there specific steps you need to take in order to reach this goal? Our third tip is to keep track of wins. A great way to motivate yourself and recognize your true worth at work is by tracking your wins. This is something that might not come naturally to you. As women, we tend to be more reserved about our accomplishments. Instead of shouting our victories from the rooftops or hanging from the rafters, in joy, we give ourselves a sly, knowing smile and move on. Think about keeping track of your wins on a monthly or weekly basis. Write them down. If the wins are due to a team effort, then describe how you were a key element of the overall success. After a while, these wins will communicate a specific skill set, whether it's leadership, project management, or technical skill. The big perk. When you actively keep track of your accomplishments, you'll also find the daunting task of writing a cover letter to be much, much easier. In fact, you might find yourself having to edit down your expansive career experience. Our fourth tip is to explore losses. Just as you keep track of your wins, you also want to keep track of your losses. Maybe your quote loss is a simple mistake you made. Maybe it's a huge mistake, like a missed deadline or a lost client. I'm a firm believer that you learn more from your losses than from your successes. If you start tracking your losses, you'll be more cognizant of why they're happening and how you can problem solve for the future. Our fifth tip is to identify gaps. Once you have started keeping track of your losses, you'll inevitably improve in some way. Things like spelling errors and missed deadlines can be tracked with simple organizational techniques. When in doubt, do as your most detail-oriented friends and colleagues do. Keep in mind that some losses might be due to a skill gap. For example, maybe your decision-making or problem-solving skills can be improved with a little studying. Make it your mission to do an honest self-assessment of your skills and where they can be improved for ultimate career success. Pay close attention to what you can fix. Work hard on implementing your own spin on organizing your work life, maintaining good communications with clients and coworkers, and focusing on other more detail-oriented areas of work. Our sixth tip is to expand your skill sets. If you have identified your gaps, then you can take steps to fill them with the requisite skills. This can seem daunting and expensive, but that's not true. You don't need to accrue a monumental amount of debt by attending a graduate school. You can likely attain the skills you need to level up by taking an online course or certificate. Here's an extensive roundup of courses, classes, free videos, and more that you can use to expand your skills. Pro tip, if any area where techniques and best practices are constantly changing, like social media, there's likely to be an active community on the internet. Find out where they are, follow them, and interact with what's going on right now. These resources are free and full of insights that you couldn't learn in any class. Our seventh tip is to talk to management. Communication with management is essential for a forward-moving career. First of all, cut off any notion that management is scary and unapproachable. You are a valuable part of the company, and you deserve to be seen and heard. If you're looking for greater responsibility, different types of tasks, or regular feedback counseling, look to leadership as a giant untapped resource. Establish and keep an open line of communication with management. In this way, you might be able to get management to buy into career advancement seminars, skill development courses, and other professional development opportunities that might interest you. Our eighth tip is to always ask questions. The best way to get an answer to a question is by actually asking. Who would have guessed? Use your open lines of communication to ask questions. Inquire about specific changes, about upcoming projects, and about continued education opportunities. Asking questions transforms you into an engaged employee, someone who is dedicated to learning more and progressing within her company. As a perk, you're also doing the work to improve your interpersonal relationships. When you need to ask for help, you'll already have a rapport with several people in your workplace who are willing to lend an ear and help out. Our ninth tip is to learn to negotiate. Learn how to get what you want in your professional career. This will likely involve some negotiation, which is an invaluable skill for upper management. Before ever asking for anything, make sure to prepare yourself with research, numbers if applicable, and possible positive outcomes. Part of the negotiation will come from being able to present confidently and convincingly. Make sure to master this skill. Our tenth and final tip is to get feedback. Get feedback wherever you can. If you're not sure of something you're working on, get feedback. If you recently completed a project, get feedback. If you manage a team of employees, get feedback. Keep a constant loop of feedback open. Some feedback items you can ask about include expected outcomes for a project, such as the budget, amount of time, and any other data points. Components of a successful, whatever your job title is, as you navigate your career. The expectation for your active participation, especially when it comes to department work or raising your hand for other special assignments. Or the expected level of expertise on specific topics. Arm yourself with the knowledge of how you and your work are perceived. This will ensure that you are always learning and growing professionally. If you want to learn about 10 additional ways to advance your career development, check out this article. We'll link to it in the description.