If you’re not careful, you can easily find yourself in a situation where your career is stagnating. Even if you feel comfortable with your employers, things can always quickly change. It’s important to take steps to enhance your career, so you don’t have to rely on your current position to always be there. Use these six suggestions to help move your career forward.
1. Use Small Goals To Push Yourself
Setting goals for your career is an excellent way to avoid stagnation. A lot of people set yearly goals and new year resolutions; however, a year is much too long to achieve tangible goals. Setting a few small goals throughout the year will keep you busy and on track to accomplishing your long-term goals. Evaluate your current situation at work and see if you can come up with daily, weekly and quarterly goals for yourself.
If you want setting goals to work, you have to set a deadline. Without a sense of urgency, you’re going to keep putting off your goals as other life situations arise. When you set a deadline, you’ll be more motivated to make time in your schedule in order to stay on track.
2. Put Together A Portfolio
If you need to push your career to the next level, it needs to be easy for people in your network to see what you’re able to do. A good portfolio takes the skills you use every day and showcases how you can use them to help other people. Take the time to put your work together, create case studies or display projects you were involved with.
If you need to keep your work private, consider using Dropbox to share links to your projects. You can make the links to expire after a certain amount of time to keep your work private. You can also create a personal blog to display your work. Preparing a portfolio also comes in handy when you’re asking for a raise or when it’s time for a review at work.
3. Spend Time Reading Work In Your Field
Staying on top of new developments in your industry is an excellent way to stay to stay on the cutting edge. Find a few industry journals, magazines, and bloggers that you can follow and keep your mind sharp. Reading about your industry stretches your thinking and helps you look at problems in a different way.
4. Take Your Education Seriously
No matter what industry you’re in, taking your education seriously is always going to help your career. Even as a dentist, taking dental hygiene continuing education courses are an excellent way to sharpen your skills. Continuing your education helps improve the quality of work you deliver to your customers and your boss.
5. Seek Out A Mentor
Mentorship is among the most effective ways to put your career on the right track. Not only does mentoring improve the quality of your work, but it will also help you prepare for your future by focusing on the right skills. Mentorship can provide the guidance and connections you need to enhance your career. When looking for a mentor, always lead with how you can help them first. It’s unlikely you’ll find someone who wants to donate their time to help you just because.
6. Attend Industry Events
Industry events are an excellent way to learn about your industry, gain specific knowledge and meet new people. Industry events give you fantastic insight into new developments in your industry and how you can apply them to your company. Industry events are an investment in growing your network and learning information that can help your career.