Career advancement for women is very important, but it seems few women actually know how to go after it. Many women end up working the same job for many years, with hardly any pay raises or increase in benefits. Women have so many different things in their lives that sometimes career advancement takes a back seat behind other life goals such as family and children.
Here are some simple strategies that you can employ to ensure that you remain completive in the work place.
Know who you are. Self-confidence is perhaps the number one difference between a successful career person and a non-successful career person. Being confident in yourself will make others confident in you, too. The first steps to becoming confident are to recognise what you can do, who you are in life, and where you want to go. Knowing who you are will help you better identify the paths that you want to take in life.
Know what skills you bring. Knowing what unique skills you have will help you become more confident in your work environment. Make a list of all of the tasks and projects that you complete at work. Are there any skills that you have that others do not? Knowing skills that few people have is a great way to achieve career advancement. Whenever possible, volunteer for additional projects or to learn new processes.
Know where you want to be. It is important that you have a clear career goal. Determine where you would like to be in five and ten years. If that goal cannot be achieved through your current job, then it might be time to move on. If your dream job is in another field then consider taking steps to alter your skills so that you can have the job you really want. The only person you are hurting by working a job you do not like is yourself.
Do not allow others to put you down. Some women in corporate settings have a tendency to put other women down. Do not allow others to take you for granted. Make sure you stand up for yourself with confidence. You bring a unique set of tools to your workplace and everything that you do has value. Make sure others in the workplace see you performing that valued work.
Make sure others know your worth. Your marketable skills are what will advance your career. However, if no one knows about the things that you can do, they will be much less likely to offer you additional responsibilities and promotions. Whenever possible remind coworkers in a polite way what unique and valued services you offer to the workplace.
Keep your skills current. When you have been working in a job for many years, it is easy to become complacent in the work that occurs. It is easy to get set into a routine and never vary from those usual tasks. However, to advance a career, it is necessary to push the boundaries of the normal work tasks. An easy way to do this is to keep on top of new ways to complete tasks. If there are new programs at work, make sure you are one of the first to learn them. In most business settings, there are additional training courses and certifications that can be taken on a regular basis that will help keep skills current. It is also very important to know how to work with the computers and other technologies in your workplace.
Know your worth. An important part of confident career advancement is the knowledge of how much your services are worth. It can be very advantageous to discover what other professionals in your field are making across the country. Employers normally try to pay the least amount they can for any job, so it is important that you take no less than what your services are actually worth. If an employer will not pay you what you are worth, then it is probably time to move on.
Confident career advancement takes a wide variety of performance, knowledge and confidence. To advance to a new position you need to be very competitive. With the knowledge of what you can do and what you are truly worth, you can become much more competitive in the work place. Acquiring new skills will also keep you ahead of others in your field. Still, one of the most important aspects of career advancement is confidence in yourself. You bring valuable services to your workplace. Do not allow them to take advantage of what you offer.
Recommended Reading
For more information and advice on career confidence, take a look at the book, ’The Girl’s Guide to the Big Bold Moves for Career Success: How to Build Confidence, Conquer Fear, Manage Up, Navigate Change and Much, Much More
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