7 Ideas To Turbo Charge Your Career Today
By Pinyo • Oct 26th, 2008It’s hard to think about your career with all the news about layoffs, bad economy, and volatile stock market. However, this time of turbulent is in fact a great time to position yourself for career advancement. Since I spent my career in a Fortune 500 company, ideas listed below may be less relevant for those who work in a smaller company.
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1. Do Really Well In Your Current Job.
I think this one goes without saying and if you can’t get this one right, other ideas below will not help you. If your manager is not good with giving feedback, schedule some one-on-one time with him to go over your performance — remember, it’s his opinion that matters. I believe that if you want to position yourself for career advancement, you have to perform within the top 20% of your peer group.
2. Put Together A Career Plan.
If you haven’t thought about where you want to be a year, three years, or five years from now, then think about it. The way I see it you have about 40 years to get to where you ultimately wanted to end up. Each job is a stepping-stone that takes you one step closer to your goal. If you spend on average 2 years in each job, you have about 20 chances to get it right. If you spend too much time in a job, you’ll have to figure out short cuts or you may never get there. It’s important to know where you are and where you want to go. In your career plan, each job should help you build skills and experience to necessary to get to the next job.
A good way to put together a plan is to ask people that are already in the position you are working toward. Ask if they could share the steps they took to get to where they are today.
3. Perform A Gap Analysis.
Next, look at your strengths and weaknesses along with gaps in your skills and experience. Write them down and figure out how you are going accentuate your strengths, improve your weaknesses, and close the skills and experience gaps. This list becomes your developmental action plan, and all you have to do is just keep working your plan until you complete all the tasks.
Remember, you don’t have to do this all by yourself. Reach out to your manager and others within your organization for help. Also, there are external clubs, associations, and groups that you can join to help you improve various skills.
4. Let Your Manager Know.
If you haven’t done it already, get your manager involved. Let him know that you have a desire to advance your career, share your career plan, and your developmental action plan. When you get your manager involved, you open up more opportunities for development. For example, he may give you more managerial responsibilities to help you learn essential skills, or get you involved in management meetings to help develop you. A good manager will be more than happy to help you grow and achieve your career goal.
5. Volunteer For Special Projects.
It’s one thing to be an excellent employee; it’s another to go above and beyond. A great way to help your career is to volunteer for special projects; especially the ones that help you meet people outside of your core workgroup and develop skills identified in your developmental action plan. Moreover, don’t limit yourself to the confine of your company. You could also participate in relevant professional and industry associations to get the necessary skills and experience.
6. Network. Network. Network.
Networking occurs at many levels and in many forms. There is no right way or wrong way to network. The goal is to get your name and good reputation out there. You want other people to think about you when there’s an opportunity or a need. In my opinion, there are four levels of networking (from worst to best):
- No Networking – Do your job, mind your own business, and go home when the day is over. This is a surefire way to stall your career advancement. This is not recommended.
- Casual Networking — You connect to your peers and theirs through social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. You attend meetings and social gatherings. You participate in professional and affinity groups. This casual networking (inside and outside of your job) helps get your name out there and opens doors to opportunities.
- Work Related Networking – These are people who are working or have worked with you. They know how you perform in various professional capacities and could become your eyes and ears, or even vouch for you. These are the people that help build and spread your reputation.
- Core Networking — These are the core group of people that you establish extensive relationship with. They are your coaches, champions, mentors, or otherwise people that act as your sounding board. These are the people that know you really well and understand what you are capable of — you may even consider some of them personal friends. These are the people that will have the most significant impact on your career.
You should always remember that networking is a two way street. You must give before you take, so be sure to act as eyes and ears for people in your network. If you help enough people advance their careers, yours is bound to move in the right direction as well.
7. Groom Your Replacement.
A lot of people with disagree with me on this one, but I think it’s important for you to start grooming your replacement the minute your start in your new position. Remember that you want each job to be a stepping-stone and not a final resting place. You want to be able to move into a position, do really well, and take your next step. If you are hard to replace, it will also be tough for you to move forward without burning bridges. Always give yourself the ability to leave any job gracefully.
I know it’s tough out there and career advancement may be the last thing on your mind. However, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t at least try to position yourself for the best possible outcome.
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I really like #7 on grooming a replacement. I’ve done this several times and it worked out very well. Your replacements will also look to repay the favor one day if they can.
I would also recommend a psychology based communication test. It sounds lame at first, but these tests can often tell you small insights that you won’t learn for months (or years) into the job.
For example, if your boss has a visual and analytical mind, submit reports in graphical versus written form. It also bridges any communication gaps you might have with your colleagues.
I think your tips to turbo charge our career are very helpful, thanks for sharing.
However, I feel more than just doing things for yourself, you have to keep other people in mind… it will make you do things with more purpose and passion. Take for example volunteering for special projects—I don’t think it necessarily has to be business related; it can very well be something that’s totally outside your main profession like helping out an NGO or an advocacy, a way of giving back to the community. I think expanding your horizons and doing things for others aside from yourself will help improve your life perspectives and morale and ultimately you’ll be more contented and fulfilled in your career and life disposition.
Cheers!
Networking would be tops on my list for boosting my current career. If you just talk to people, you never know what will come out of the conversation. A lot of people become business partners or end up knowing somebody who knows somebody to get them in a better job position.
@Matt — In a way, your replacement become part of your core network for future opportunities. I think it’s a win-win all around.
I have done several tests like Myer-Brigg, DiSC, etc. Not sure if that’s what you’re referring to.
@Lady — Great add. I appreciate it. Thank you.
@Donny — I agree. Networking is the golden key. I personally can say that I am where I am today because of networking.
I think #7 is just good business sense. Unfortunately, too many times in my company we have been stiffed when someone left rapidly and didn’t train a replacement or leave behind enough documentation to do their job. The rapid departure was often due to employee dissatisfaction or layoffs, admittedly, but it could have changed how we think about this person in parting if they had taken the time to prepare the person after them.
setting goals and objectives from an employment perspective is always essential when you are in employment as it gives you something to push towards, rather than simply existing. However not all people are motivated in the same way and some people draw more social input frm work than they do career potential.
Another way to advance in your career is to think of yourself as a business within your company. You should always be thinking in terms of your sales, marketing, customer service, and competition. In these days, if you think of yourself as a company with all the options being up to you, you will have a lot more empowerment than if you think of yourself as an employee at the mercy of whatever the leadership above you decides.