By Samuel Rosenberg
FEAR is the greatest difficulty that many individuals will face when they choose to advance their career because this means leaving one organisation and moving to another. Nevertheless, should you wish to continue your career advancement, a change may be required if your present organisation is unable to offer you the move you need.
You owe it to yourself and your family to advance your career and, hopefully, increase your earnings potential. Sometimes, a change of work may provide you with more job satisfaction and this is also a way to advance your career.
One way to cure part of this fear is to take steps in advance so that you are prepared to capitalise on any opportunities that arise in the future.
This may mean combining a route of continued education while you are still working at improving your certification or adding a degree to your CV as a great long-term investment.
To be able to increase your career opportunities, you may need to expand your horizons if you have had limited exposure to different industries. Now may be the right time to start learning about other industries, perhaps by participating in conferences and increasing your networking with people outside of your specific industry.
The web is full of advice for individuals seeking a new job, but there is inadequate information to help you learn how to advance your career when you are already employed and have limited time to consider the alternatives.
Many people suffer from an enormous amount of stress at their workplace, particularly through the recent recession and especially when some employees are now working as one person completing the work of two. Many companies have cut back and you have the constant worry that they may cut out your position altogether.
The majority of career advancement is located within your common sense. You will need to create a path for your career success. By clearly writing down where you wish to go, it will be easier to identify the changes you need to make on the way. With some work you may learn more about the technical aspects of your industry while another business will teach you management and client skills so that you can build a combination of abilities required to apply for the next job.
Your boss is not the person to go to for career advice, usually, because they have a vested interest in you becoming their best employee. While you need to make sure you are noticed and rewarded when you have stepped outside your box, on many occasions the boss only knows that you are there when you make a mistake.
You should consider the element of risk that you are prepared to take for your own career advancement. You may not need to waste time moving up the corporate ladder if you have achieved enough to help you move onwards and upwards.
Networking will help you meet with people that can assist you in finding the next step in your career advancement. Having the backing of someone presenting you to a company may mean that you are the only person interviewed for the job and then it will be up to you to confirm or deny your position in the marketplace.
Samuel Rosenberg is the founder and CEO of Axcel Finance Ltd., the leading regional microfinance institution. Share your thoughts and email your questions to [email protected]