If you have been in the same role for the past few years, you might be feeling a little stuck in a rut. Being able to perform your duties blindfolded and with your hands tied behind your back can lead to you feeling dissatisfied in your role. It’s all too easy to bury your head in the sand and remain in the same position. Your wage might be decent and you don’t have an overly taxing role. However, you want to feel challenged. The easiest way to seek this challenge is to look for new opportunities in the form of a promotion.
Reaching out and searching for a new job can be daunting and leave you open to rejection. This can knock your confidence and make you feel inadequate. You won’t be the best candidate for every role – this is a fact. Some of the best individuals with MBAs and postgraduate Ivy League college degrees won’t get the job at some point in their lives. However, there are some strategies that you can employ to ensure that you maximize your chances of promotion success.
Upskill
If you haven’t undertaken any professional qualifications in the past few years, any potential new employer may think that your skills have become a little stale. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have; if you have been using the same methodologies for the past decade, your skills need to be refreshed. You don’t have to undertake an MBA. Take a look at the promotion you want and read a few person and job specifications. Make a list of the essential criteria that you need for these roles that you are lacking and seek courses and training to help you obtain them.
Upskilling makes your CV more glowing. An employer will glance over your resume or will place it into a piece of software looking for keywords. You must hit these in order to make it on to the shortlisting pile. The essential criteria should be backed up by elements of the desirable. With a more modern and forward thinking resume, you will get your foot in the door.
Work Out What You Want To Do
Sometimes, we can feel stuck in a rut because we no longer have a passion for the work that we are doing. Instead, you need to take the plunge and make a change if this will improve your happiness and professional satisfaction. If you are at a bit of a loss as to what you should be doing, you need to undertake a Career Based Personality Test to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses when it comes your future employment.
If you want to break free from the corporate world, then consider what you love doing and whether you can make a career out of it. If you adore baking, you know your way around a website design package or you fancy crafting for a living, you need to work out whether you can earn a decent enough amount of money each month to make it worth your while. Forging a better work life balance by doing something that you love for eight hours a day is vital if you are to enjoy heading into work and making a real impact.
Apply Prudently
When applying for new roles, you need to be aware of falling foul of the scattergun approach. Just because a job title seems to match your next potential position, you might not find that the role fulfills your expectations. You must delve deeper. There’s nothing worse for an employer than receiving numerous generic template applications. You need to make your letter of application bespoke by addressing a named individual and by showing that you’ve done your research on the company you are applying to. You need to describe what you can do for the company rather what they can do for you, and use metrics and statistics to show the impact you have had in previous roles. Have you saved a company thousands of dollars in six months? Have you improved efficiency by twenty per cent? Detail it, and make a song and dance about it.
When working out the sort of promotion you want and how you are going to get it, always keep the bigger picture in mind. Work life balance and professional satisfaction are key facets to the changes that you are making. Without these, you are simply swapping one unchallenging job for another. Follow this guide and you will soon be securing your next promotion.