How To Improve Your Career Prospects In 7 Steps January 8, 2015My CareerOff

Each year, we spend over nine thousand hours at work, which is around one-third of our lives. That’s why it is vital that you are in a job that you enjoy and are truly passionate about.

Lack of funds and bad economic conditions can take you down a career path that you don’t necessarily enjoy. Whether you feel like you are stuck in a job that isn’t taking you anywhere, you are earning less than you want to be or you just don’t enjoy your job. Perhaps it is time to start thinking about how you can improve your career prospects.

Just because you are not currently working in your dream job role, it does not mean that there is no hope. Whether you are yearning for a promotion in your current job, you are looking for a new job or you are aiming to start your own business. By taking a few small steps you can become more engage, more employable and much happier.

Boosting your career prospects is not about creating an incredible resume, it is about taking action, honing your skills and learning new ones.

To improve your career prospects in seven simple steps, have a read of this.

Step 1 – Ask For An Evaluation
Arrange a meeting with your current employer and ask for an evaluation. Asking for an assessment is a bold move to make, but it should give you a vital insight into how you can improve yourself and your career.

Whilst being criticized by your boss may not give you the best feeling in the world, a good evaluation will help you to understand the point of view of your employer. A good evaluation will also allow you to understand what you need to address to improve. Once you know what you need to change, create an action plan to help improve your future performance.

Step 2 – Become More Organized
Organization is one of the key components to improving your career prospects. Whether you are leaving some of the ‘less-important’ tasks until the end of the day or not giving yourself enough time to respond to important emails. A lack of organization and good time management can have a negative effect on your work performance and career prospects.

To improve your organization, start off by making a list each morning of all the things you need to do that day. Once you have created your list, number each item on it in order of importance – that way you can keep on top of the most important tasks. As you go through the day, take time to make sure you will be able to check each thing off of your list. Make sure that by the end of the day, you have completed every task.

Step 3 – Take a Course
Just because you already have a job, it doesn’t mean that you should feel bad about improving yourself and making your resume stand out. Learning new skills and polishing old ones is an excellent way to boost your career prospects and employability.

Taking a course, either online or at a local school or institution can help you to move your career forward at a faster pace. By learning and gaining new skills, you can open up important, new career opportunities.

As well as paid courses, there are also many free online courses to choose from, such as free phlebotomy training courses. If you are short of funds, it is a good idea to take advantage of any certified, free online courses, instead of paying out for them.

Step 4 – Create A Long-Term Career Plan
Making a long-term career plan can help you to see what you need to do to get to where you want to be.

Start off by creating a five-year plan, decide where you want your career to go, and then plot out the steps you need to take to get there. It may include applying for new jobs, undertaking a work placement or talking to your employer about career advancement opportunities. If you are aiming to start your own business, your long-term plan may include things like saving up funds, creating a good business plan and finding a mentor.

Creating a five or ten-year plan is all about working out where you want to be and plotting out the steps you need to take to get there.

Step 5 – Read And Research Your Industry
Whether you don’t plan on staying in your current job  for long or are aiming to make a career out of the company you are currently in, either way, it pays offs to read up on your industry. Library books, blogs, internet sites, trade magazines can help you to learn more about the industry you are working in.

By taking the time to learn and understand the trends of your industry, you are demonstrating that you approach your job from a professional standpoint.

Step 6 – Improve Your Communication Skills
Make sure to be a strong communicator, both in person and over the phone, as well as via email. Ensure that any emails, you send, are always clear, concise, confident, and direct.

If you are unsure about your communication manner, have a look through your sent folder and read through your emails. Are you clear about what you want? Do you get good responses to your emails? Do you think you can improve on anything? When reading back over your emails, you may be surprised at how they are written. Perhaps they are too passive or too forward – think about how you can change and improve your communication skills.

Step 7 – Network
Networking is the key to building up useful business contacts. Sometimes improving your career prospects is about who you know and not what you know. You may find that getting your foot in the door for your dream job is simply down to your business contacts.

To build up your contacts, you can use social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook. Or, you could join a local networking group and build up your business contacts from there. Most towns and cities have various networking groups, find the most suitable one and commit to attending on a regular basis.

Photo by Baranq | Shutterstock

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