5 Top Tips for Career Development

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Career development is the art of climbing the metaphorical professional career ladder. This might present itself in the form of a pay rise, bonuses, promotion or increased responsibility – often it can present itself in all those forms and sometimes there are other perks too. Career development might include the additional responsibilities of managing others or it could mean looking after a larger client account. And this often looks different from industry to industry and role to role. There are some industries and roles where career development and progression are expected on an annual basis, while other industries, companies and roles have less room for career development but longer-term opportunities. In this article, we at PushFar wanted to help you with your career development by offering you five essential tips to climb the career ladder effectively and improve your career development.

1. Practice Proactivity
The art of proactivity is key to career development and it’s one of the single biggest things that separates those who get promoted verses those who don’t. Proactivity is key to career success. Whether in forward planning, upskilling or being ahead of the customer or client, proactivity not only shows organisation and an eagerness to improve, but it can also make your daily working life a lot easier. Those reactive individuals who wait for customers to lodge complaints or things to go wrong before resolving issues are not helping themselves with career progression and development. So, if you are guilty of sitting back and waiting for things to come your way – whether it be problems or tasks to work on, recognise it and put a stop to it. Start doing.

2. Upskill, Always
Nobody on earth is an expert at everything. It simply isn’t possible. However, we can all be experts in certain fields with hard work, research, studying and learning. Strive to be the best you can be in your field and in fields you work closely alongside. Upskilling can not only help you with career development in a very effective way, it can also make you less and less disposable to your employer. If you are the expert that your colleagues come to for help, then you have just managed to secure yourself in your firm, making it far trickier for an employer to dismiss you and giving you more room for negotiation in all walks of your professional life.

3. Mentor and Be Mentored
We love mentoring at PushFar. We are, after all, a mentoring and career development platform. So, it’s no surprise that we advocate professional mentoring to all! But seriously, mentoring is extremely valuable for career development, progression and professional growth. If you are not yet being mentored, consider finding a mentor and starting the mentoring process as soon as you can! At the same time, if you aren’t yet mentoring anybody else (either within your organisation or the wider world) then it is a must! In teaching we learn and in learning we teach, or so the famous quote goes; and it’s true. By mentoring others, you will be amazed at how much you will also learn and it will also help you to reinforce the things you already know but might not be making the most of.

4. Explore
No matter how large your company is, there is always room to explore. While this is closely linked with our point about upskilling, exploring can help you to learn about other aspects of a company and is a very effective way of developing, professionally. Explore different departments, opportunities, colleagues’ roles and competing companies. Don’t even be afraid to explore different industries either.

5. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
A great rule of thumb is to do something every day that scares you. While it’s often quite a challenge to do this, it should certainly be an aim! Every time we step outside our comfort zone we learn more about ourselves and we learn new skills too. Being bold, brave and facing challenges will both show your employer and your colleagues that you mean business and will help you with career development. So, whether it’s giving a presentation to a large audience, thinking outside the box and closing a sales deal or trying your hand at a new skill which you’ve always wanted to have a go at but been to afraid of failing, step outside and step up.

So, there you have it. Five top tips for career development and progression. As always, check out the PushFar platform and register your interest here. Good luck on your professional journey! We’re always here to help you.