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Everything You Need to Learn About Career Growth and Development

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Written By Emily Harrinson

Career growth and development encompass several variables.

It comes with financial and professional growth benefits, which are the basics you can almost always expect. Ideally, it makes it easy for you to achieve financial freedom.

If you are considering changing occupations or you are in the process of selecting the best one for you, you will need to assess your characteristics proactively as this is part of your career growth and development. The information you will remain with after assessing your characteristics will help you develop realistic career goals.

In assessing your characteristics, some of the basics you will need to look into include your areas of strength, skills, weaknesses, interests, as well as likes and dislikes. You can then use this information to match your profile and determine realistic career goals you can work towards

This guide breaks down helpful tips that can help you develop your career. Read on.

Step 1: Master the Basics

Career Growth and Development: 6 Big Steps to Follow Now

Now, career development can be loosely translated as the process of forming your work identities. It isn’t just a phase but a process spanning your entire life. 

It begins with the moment you become knowledgeable that you need to have a career to make a living and know different occupations that may fit you. A career, in this case, maybe used in describing your vocation or profession or jobs you did before ultimately retiring.

This doesn’t imply that the jobs you do must be related though this possible. For example, your career may include working as a brand ambassador, a programmer, or even a hotelier.

Step 2: Build professional networks and know where to get help

One thing that you must not overlook in career growth and development is your professional networks and being well-behaved. You may want to build relationships with people within or outside the company you are working in.

Now, there is no guarantee that these relationships would be valuable to you when you are still committed to your present job. Even if they are not valuable at the moment, you should still develop relationships with different people to expand your social networks.

There are chances you will still connect with these people and you may need their help. Getting a helping hand will go a long way in ensuring that this process is smoother for you and has tremendous success. Here’s where career guidance also comes in.

Career guidance, in this case, involves combining different services to make navigating the process easier. This would include working with a knowledgeable mentor who will assist you in finding and choosing occupations.

It doesn’t end there still. A good mentor will also help with services that will be of need to you during your career.

Step 3: You may need more than Just a Mentor

Now, you will need help at different stages in your career growth and development, implying that having just a mentor may not be enough. Ideally, you will need other groups of experts who will offer professional guidance.

The different groups of professionals you may find help from in this case include career development facilitators, counselors, and coaches. As a general rule, you should not hire anyone just because they have the ‘title’ of the specific professional you are looking for.

Spare some time to do due diligence and check their profiles. Reviews may also be of help. Picture this with a scenario of searching for the best essay writing services in the UK.

In this case, you can be sure that you’ll get reliable essay writers after checking the best essay writing service reviews. The bottom line here is ensuring that the ‘professional’ you choose to work with has the ideal qualifications required to provide the kind of help you need.

Step 4: Know when to Make your Move

It is prudent that you do not blindly stick to a company that doesn’t have practical opportunities and a culture favorable for career growth and development according to your goals. When you are certain that you have got the ideal skills, you can make a move.

Career Growth and Development: 6 Big Steps to Follow Now

In moving, you can get started with a new business or even get started on a new job. If you wish to quit and start a business, it is imperative that you do it the right way by resisting any ‘temptations’ to employ your friends from the company or stealing the company’s clients.

Now, you have probably come across claims that there are tests that can help you determine the best career for you by answering simple questions.

Sadly though, these are not ‘career tests’ as some of them claim, and you cannot really rely on them for navigating your career growth and development. They are just self-assessment tools implying that they may only be helpful if you wish to discover your personality types, values, and interests.

After using these self-assessment tools, you can use the final information to narrow down to occupations matching your traits. This implies these tools may only help you in widening your thoughts and thinking on a broader scale.

This is even important since you should not be placing yourself in any geographical boundaries. You can get clients from any part of the world in your career, so any geographical boundary you may create for yourself may only work against you.

Do note that you will bump onto several opportunities when you widen your thoughts and begin thinking on a broader scale, which will be more apparent after your self-assessment tests. Chances are, there, you have limited information about these opportunities.

It would be best if you didn’t let them slip through your grasp that easily. Gather essential information on these opportunities, such as the educational equipment, earnings, job descriptions, and job outlooks.

Reviews from other people in the industry may be of massive help. Again the example of going through the best essay writing service reviews fits here beautifully. 

Take your time to get a feel of what you can expect in that profession from people who have been there. Incidentally, you may want to check out some of the best dissertation writing services to hire for unique and quality content done by professional writers at affordable prices.

The takeaway here is that you need to have a broader knowledge of the jobs you can do and be able to work within the global market. In widening your knowledge, it would also help if you get to learn about working with different cultures, and of course, learn new languages. 

The international exposure and experience you will gain in these processes will give your confidence a boost in the global marketplace. It will also give you a clear idea of finding jobs that may be appealing to you once you are ready.

Step 5: Tracking your Progress

You will need to keep track of your progress periodically as you navigate your career path. This is the time to re-evaluate your options after every quarter and take note of any changes.

You will typically need a career action plan for tracking your progress. A career plan, in this case, works like the roadmap that will be guiding you from point one to point two.

Point one is when you have completed your self-assessment and done your research on different occupations that are appealing to you. When you have the preliminary list of the professions you’d want to pursue, you will need to settle on a specific one you are more interested in.

You will get to point two after you have acquired the qualification requirements that would make you a prime candidate for the occupation you have chosen. Some of the things that should be included in your career plan include long-term and short-term goals.

Step 6: Have a Success Journal

A success journal will be important because your employers will want to know your capabilities, so you will need to prove this. Quite simply, some of the things you will need in your success journal include lists of the activities or projects you’ve completed. 

This will not only help you prove your abilities to potential employers but also make it easy for you to remember any rewards or skills that may be relevant to the occupation you’re pursuing. In your success journal, be sure also to include lists of places you’ve worked, positions you’ve held, and the different types of training you have received. 

It is also important to note that there are instances where the career you chose ceases to be as satisfying to you as it was when you just got started. This is normal, and it is wise that you do not force yourself into a career you no longer enjoy.

You can always switch careers. Just be sure to have the qualifications required to be a worthy candidate for the next job. Also, take time to assess all your options before pulling the trigger.

Wrapping Up

Career growth and development success don’t happen overnight. You will need to be committed and be honest to yourself regarding your goals, likes, and dislikes.

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