Are you feeling bored in your current role? Stuck? Do you feel
like it’s time to advance your career?
Then it’s time to start thinking about what your next steps
are.
We’ve provided what we believe are 7 key steps senior
professionals can take to progress their career and achieve their goals.
1. Optimise
Your CV
One of the most common oversights senior professionals make
is neglecting their CVs. It can be easy to forget to update your CV once you’ve
been in a senior role for a while. But many people are surprised at how
outdated their CV is when they start looking for a new role.
Devoting the time and effort to updating your CV to ensure
it’s an accurate reflection of your current abilities is key in securing new
opportunities. Ultimately, your CV is often the first bit of exposure you have
to a new employer. It’s your first impression, and first impressions can make
or break you when it comes to new opportunities. Your CV should be optimised so
that it’s concise and stands out. Optimising your CV means ensuring it’s well
formatted, easy to read, concise, and value-heavy. Cherry-pick your key selling
points as a candidate and make sure it’s as accessible as possible for the
reader.
2. Practice Interview
Techniques
Many senior candidates find that they haven’t been
interviewed in so long that their interview skills are somewhat rusty when the
time comes. As such, it’s always a good idea to practice your techniques should
the opportunity arise. You should be prepared for any questions and tests that
might be thrown your way, after all, your responses will be the difference between you and another candidate.
Do some research into the type of interviews carried out for
roles such as yours in your sector or perhaps you know a friendly recruiter who
can help.
3. Brush Up On Your Skills
– Self Development
There’s always time to improve yourself. Your skills are
like muscles – you need to train them to make them stronger. When you don’t use
them, they grow weak.
You should be continually working on developing your current
skills and expanding your knowledge even further. Try and pinpoint what your
sector needs right now. Do you have these skills already or if not, can you learn
them to help meet this need? When employers analyse you, they look at your
skills to determine in what ways you can add value to their business.
There’s no better time to start than now as the more time you
give yourself to expand your key skillset, the more valuable you’ll be to
potential employers. Remember, it’s not always about being the best at your skill, it’s about being the
most valuable.
4. Create a Timeline
of Where You Want To Be
Set your goals and visualise where you want to be. Where do
you want to go, how are you going to get there, and when do you want to get
there?
Without a solid timeline,
your plan to advance your career could fail. Think about what milestones you
want to reach and the feasible timeline in which you could achieve your goals
at each stage.
Write down a timeline. Write deadlines in your calendar.
Print off a goals timeline as a motivational poster that you’ll see every day
as a reminder. Whatever it takes, just
ensure you’re always aware of where you stand now, where you want to be, and
what you can do today to get there.
5. Research Your
Target Industry and Build Knowledge
If you want to be noticed by the top brass in your target
industry, you need to know your stuff. With the market evolving so rapidly,
it’s easy to fall behind on the latest news and trends. It’s never too late to
start brushing up on your knowledge of the industry.
The best way to get the attention of top employers and stand
out as a trailblazer is to position yourself as a thought leader. Be
insightful. If you were stood in front of industry leaders, what genuinely
helpful insight could you provide them with? You need to be able to add value
to your target business. Knowledge and valuable insight into your sector are
essential to advance your career.
6. Get Networking
Networking is the single most important thing you can do
when you’re looking to advance your career. Not only will it help you build a high-quality network of connections, but it will also keep you in the know about
exciting new opportunities. By getting your name out there and networking with
the best and brightest senior executives in your target industry, you allow
yourself to get a foot in the door when it comes to contending for new roles.
Attend conferences, reach out to influencers and thought
leaders on social media. Put your name out there and get marketing yourself.
7. Know Your Own
Worth
Don’t put yourself down. Too many talented individuals
downplay their own value and end up taking offers that aren’t right when they
could do much better. Don’t let yourself go for opportunities that won’t propel
your career forward.
Do your research and set your expectations in regards to
salary, position, and responsibilities. Remember that the value you place on
yourself comes across to others. If you don’t truly believe in your abilities,
top employers won’t either. Take some time to reflect and take pride in your
strengths. Look at yourself from an outside perspective and try to understand
where your value lies, then work on marketing this value to potential
employers. Often this means focussing on your very best features rather than
spreading yourself too thin. Anyone can say they’re great all around, but you
need to be able to convey to top organisations exactly why you’re brilliant in your area of expertise.
If you want to take your career to the next level, these 7 steps are a great place to start.
