So what are 7 things you could do to progress your career straight away?

Make It A Priority

Anyone can talk about wanting more success in their career but like anything worth having it requires an investment of time and energy.  If career progress matters to you make it a priority.

Get Clarity

Before you can embark on any kind of career progress you need to get clear about what you want in both the long, medium and short term.  The clearer you are the easier it is going to be to make progress quicker.

Speak To Your Boss

People often wrongly assume that the only way to progress your career is to move on to a new job.  Sometimes you can get a secondment or involved in a project to broaden your experience.  On the other hand you will never get this unless you are willing to ask.

Do Your Own Self Assessment

Sit down and do an honest assessment of what you do really well and what are your weaker areas.  Chances are your strengths will far outweigh your weaknesses.

Get Some Feedback

Others can often see qualities and attributes we don’t see ourselves. Asking a group of people for feedback is the fastest way to get these insights.

Create a CV or Resume That Markets You Well

At the end of the day your CV or Resume is your personal marketing document.  How good a job is your document doing in effectively marketing you?

Use All The Job Search Options

Up until a few years ago the options around job search were quite limited.  These days there are so many options at your disposal yet many people fail to utilise them.

Take A Long Term View

A career is more of a marathon and less like a sprint.  Make decisions with the long term in mind.  Remember too that the more senior you are the longer it is going to take to find the right opportunities as there are fewer opportunities around.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to climb the career ladder and achieve the career success and rewards they desire.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio masterclass at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

In this short video I will be sharing my tips on successfully transitioning to leadership.

If you have some great tips to add to make the transition successful please go ahead and leave a comment.

Lack of clarity
• Are you really crystal clear on your next role? Do you really know the type of industry or geographical location you want to work in? Getting clarity about these key questions is vital to you progressing your career.

Lack of strategy

• You need to approach your job search systematically rather than just randomly. Make really clear choices about the types of roles you want to pursue, how you are going to find them or how you will create the opportunities you are seeking.

Out of date skills

• The pace of change is extremely fast these days in organisations so you need to make sure that your skills reflect the market needs. Make a point of taking stock of your skills and what needs developing.

Not selling yourself

• Whether you like it or not, you have to sell what you offer in job applications and in interviews. Start keeping track of your achievements and results so that you can sell these effectively. Don’t be afraid to share your successes.

I wonder what else you would add to the list? Why not leave a comment with your suggestions?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

While there might be no blueprint that will provide you with the sure-fire way to achieve career success, there are some things you can do to boost your chances in my experience.

Get a breadth of experience

While it might be tempting to be known as the expert in something, the truth is that, if you want to get to a more senior level, you need to get a breadth of experience. This can be achieved in a number of ways:

• Taking a secondment
• Running a project
• Moving between sectors
• Covering a maternity leave.

Don’t become too comfortable

We all like to enjoy our job but in every post the first 18 to 24 months are in my experience the most fruitful in terms of personal growth. Be alert to when you start to plateau and do something to get yourself a new challenge.

Make time for continuing professional development

This is a big one and yet so often I come across people who see getting professionally qualified as the end of the journey. In reality, it is just the start. Employers look for people to have invested in their personal development. If you are serious about your career, so will they.

Get a mentor

The fastest way to progress is to find mentors who have achieved what you want to achieve and learn from them. Despite what most of us think, successful people love to help others achieve success.

In truth, many want to achieve career success but few make it a reality. What tips would you add to the list to help others achieve career success?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

1. You are great at working alone on activities but struggle at managing.
2. You have not kept your skills up to date.
3. You don’t believe in yourself and what you have to offer.
4. You are more afraid of failing than trying to succeed.
5. You are not clear about what you want from your next role.
6. You don’t sell yourself effectively in your resume or CV.
7. You struggle to sell yourself at interviews.
8. You understate your achievements.
9. You won’t ask for help to get to the next level.
10. You are not willing to invest in acquiring the skills, training or mentoring to make it to the next level.

Truth is every step in your career brings with it new challenges. So what do you need to focus on to get to the next level?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

The truth is in my experience a professional qualification or an MBA merely gets you in the door.  What determines how far you go in the longer is at least in part to making your professional development count.  So how can you make your professional development count?

Get a handle on your strengths and development needs

Until you know what you do well and what needs development, it is impossible to put in place your personal success plan.

Focus on the long term

Be clear about what the end game is and what you will need to achieve the ultimate goal.

Don’t restrict your approaches to professional development

It has never been easier to access development opportunities.  Too often people think just about expensive training courses and if budgets for training are cut say there is no funding.  There are plenty opportunities for low and no cost training and development, it is just a matter of seeking it out.

Remember your needs change

Don’t view professional development planning as being a task and finish exercise.  See your plan as a live rolling document that is updated as new needs arise.

Bottom Line – If you are serious about your career you need to make your professional development count.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements is author of the Career Accelerator Self Coaching Workbook.  For more information click here

Tip 1: Know what you want to achieve 

When you have a career as opposed to a job, you take a long term view.  Those who achieve most will generally have a very clear vision of what they want to achieve.

What’s your vision?

Tip 2: Set out a plan

Once you have clarity on your vision, the next step is to develop a plan.  Your plan needs to clearly set out:

• Where you currently are

• Where you want to get to

• The steps to move you to where you want to get to

In setting out your plan, think about skills, knowledge, experience, education and personal attributes.

Tip 3: Find a coach or mentor

Most people have 10-15 years to reach their vision so you need support and accountability to make it happen.  A coach or mentor can help you:

• Get clarity on your next move

• Make the right moves that contribute to your overall vision

• Avoid wasting time and effort going down the wrong path

Tip 4: Deliver outstanding performance

If you want to progress and reach the top, you need to build a reputation of being someone who consistently delivers outstanding performance.  One of the ways of delivering outstanding performance is to be clear about what you are measured on and make sure everything you do contributes to success.

Tip 5: Don’t move out of a job because you are disgruntled

Sometimes people move jobs because something short term annoys them.  It might be that they are not feeling valued, that they are not supported or whatever they do it will never be good enough.

If you find yourself in this situation, speak to someone more senior before taking action or to you coach or mentor.

Tip 6: Discuss you career with your boss

Employees are sometimes reluctant to discuss their career with their boss.  They worry that their boss might misinterpret this.  The truth is that the best bosses want to have people around them who are motivated and have a desire to get on.

How could you create a relationship with your boss that allowed you to openly speak about your career?

Tip 7: Avoid job moves that only offer short term advantages

It is easy to be lured in the short term by money.  Keep the focus on your vision and test job opportunities in terms of what you need to progress rather than short term financial gains.

Tip 8: Leave jobs on good terms

You might be working with someone today who pops up at some organisation you want to work with in the future.  This is more common than you think so always leave on good terms.

Tip 9: Speak openly to superiors about internal positions that are of interest to you

Managers often form a completely wrong impression about individual’s career aspirations.  If there is an internal post that would help you closer to your goal, speak to your superior about it.

Tip 10:  Be open to lateral moves

It is easy to think that every job change needs to be a move up the ladder.  Sometimes it might be useful to move at a similar level to get new experience.  For example imagine all of your experience was in subsidiary companies and you wanted some head office experience.  A lateral move might be the best way to do it.

Tip 11: Plan moves in advance

When you have secured a position and have got some clarity about some of the skills and experience you are gaining, start thinking about your next couple of moves.  Why?  The main reason is that it keeps you alert for new opportunities that might be ideal for you as you move towards your vision.

Tip 12: Keep your CV or Resume up to date

Make a habit of regularly updating your CV to capture new experience, skills or attributes that you have developed.

Tip 13: Record achievements and successes

In every interview you will always be asked about achievements and successes.  If you record achievements on a weekly or monthly basis you will have a bank of successes available to draw from when faced with this question.

In addition, you will also have the drive and motivation to do even more.

Tip 14: Don’t stay in a job too long

If you want to reach a senior level, you need to find the right balance.  Move too regularly and your loyalty will be questioned.  Stay too long and your ambition and desire will be questioned.  Three indicators that the time might be right to move on are:

• The excitement has gone from the job

• You are not getting any new experience

• The job is too easy

In my experience moving every 2-4 years is about right, but be aware of industry or sector norms.

If you want a career rather than just a series of jobs, you need to take control.  What’s your first step?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements Ltd is author of the Career Accelerator Self Coaching Workbook.  For more information click here

• Financial rewards and benefits

• The status and standing of being in a senior role

• The challenge of climbing the career ladder and overcoming the obstacles that arise

• Sense of personal achievement

While there are a whole host of reasons why people want to achieve career success, there is in my experience one key question that you need to be able to answer.  So what is that question?

WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL CAREER GOAL?

There are a number of reasons why it is essential that you answer this question and they include:

Reason 1: Helps you make choices

If you want to climb the career ladder and get a senior level post, you will need to gain a wide of skills, knowledge and experience.  In addition, you will have to develop a broad range of personal attributes.  Chances are there will be many opportunities that will arise which might appear attractive financially but might not be beneficial in achieving your overall career goal.  By being clear on your overall career goal you can make informed career move choices.

Reason 2: Helps you decide priorities

Every time you make a choice around your career, for example, stepping up to the next level, chances are you will be required to commit more to work.  If this fits in with your priorities around lifestyle then there is no problem.  The reality is that most people don’t take the time to consider where career fits into there overall lifestyle priorities.  We sometimes forget that the majority of people work to live not live to work.

Reason 3: Helps you determine how much you want it

Climbing the career ladder and holding down a job at a senior level is not easy.  A question you need to be able to answer is how much do you want it?  You will need to consider how determined you are, how much sacrifice you are ready to make, how much pressure you are comfortable dealing with to name just a few.  I suggest you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 means that you want it 100% and are willing to do what it takes to get there.

Bottom Line- Achieving career success requires determination, drive and a whole range of other personal attributes.  At the end of the day you need to be clear on your overall career goal if you are to maximise your chances of career success.

As someone who climbed the career ladder starting as a 16 year old with minimum qualifications and progressing through the ranks to Finance Director before deciding to set up my own business, I noticed a number of things that seemed to get in the way of success.

I recently did a free teleseminar where I spoke about some of the reasons why people might be stopping themselves even getting to the starting gate.  I shared my view on the biggest mistake that people make in their CV and offered some tips on interview success.

A link to the audio of that event is available below

If you find it valuable, I invite you to check out the Career Accelerator Self Coaching Workbook that I refer to towards the end of the recording.

As always, please leve any comments, observations or tips that you would add from your own experience.