Career Development: Top 5 ways to boost your career

Not everyone thinks about their career development, but here’s why you should. While many people are content to land a job in their field and let time and luck dictate their career path, there are definite advantages to grabbing the bull by the horns and taking proactive steps to chart your career path. Charting your career can give you a plan and the insight you need to make the right decisions to advance your career. As you’ll discover, many of top 5 tips go hand-in-hand. Think of your career development plan as a holistic plan and make sure you focus on each of our top 5.

Tip #1
Become a life-long learner

Seek out continuing and professional education programs in your area to refresh your skills or add new skills to your repertoire. Lifelong learners earn more over their career lifespan because they keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date, according to Randstad. By staying on top of changes in their field, lifelong learners demonstrate a willingness to be proactive when it comes to learning new things.

According to the Randstad’s 2017 third quarter Workmonitor, lifelong learning is also considered essential to increasing employability and avoiding unemployment. Regularly refreshing skills and competencies enhances your long-term job prospects and career development.

With new technologies entering the workplace, there will be a need for workers to learn new skills. Whether you are learning new skills or staying up-to-date on changes in your field, seeking out continuing education opportunities makes you an attractive employee.

PACE offers a number of online and part-time programs to help you keep yourself at the cutting edge of high-growth industries. With online and part-time courses and programs, you can update your skill set at your own pace. Or if you’re considering retraining in a new field, intensive one and two year programs get you ready to launch a new career.

Tip #2
Get a professional designation

Many industries have professional bodies that regulate professionals working in the field. In some fields (like medicine and engineering), certification is a precondition of working in the field. In others, it signals that you have committed to your profession and are well-trained. Getting certified recognizes your professional competencies and gives you the professional validation you need to succeed in the field.

For example, if you work in management, taking the CIM (Certified in Management) designation signals to potential employers have developed competencies in leadership, strategy, finance, accounting, management operations, and organizational analysis. Many of the PACE programs are built around meeting professional certification standards, such as the CIM (Certified in Management) and CPHR (Certified Human Resource Professional), and PMP (Project Management Professional) designations.

Becoming professionally certified also gives you an edge in your earning ability. I n their 2018 Earning Power report, the Project Management Institute (PMI) reports that those with their PMP certification garner on average a 20% higher salary than those without a PMP certification.

Tip #3
Build your network for career growth

Don’t underestimate the power of making meaningful professional connections. While some might roll their eyes and say networking is rarely fun, who you know can be at least as important as what you know. There are many ways to do this. Find the professional association in your field, become a member, and attend their networking events. Whether you’re in marketing or project management, financial, human resources management or the tech field, there’s likely to be a professional association with a chapter in your city or province.

Joining a professional association can also give you access to professional career development opportunities, which ties back into Tip#1 of becoming a lifelong learner. Take all the opportunities you can in order to develop your skill set and network.

Tip #4
Hone your soft skills for career progression

Soft-skills are the new buzz word in hiring. Yes, employers want to make sure you have the technical know-how to execute your role, but they’re just as interested in your ability to work with others. According to Randstad, soft skills like communication, teamwork, and leadership are the future of work.

But, there’s a mismatch between much sough-after soft skills and candidate skills. Four of the five most common applied skills shortages are critical thinking/problem-solving, professionalism/work ethic, leadership, written communications, and teamwork/collaboration, according to SHRM’s New Talent Landscape Report.

Hone your soft skills by looking for courses and professional development opportunities that focus on improving key soft skills. At PACE, training soft-skills is a core element of our Management Certificate. The Management Certificate can be taken as a stand-alone credential in-class or online and is also embedded into our full-time programs.

Tip #5
Volunteer to enhance career development

Volunteering has many benefits for career development. Getting involved in volunteer work helps you stand out in the job market, feel better about yourself and your community, builds your network, and lets you refine your skill set.

The Doing Good is Good for You Study by United HealthCare and VolunteerMatch, says that volunteering provides intrinsic benefits to individuals, fostering their physical and emotional health. In addition to the benefits to your personal well-being, volunteering also develops essential skills for your professional well-being. The study found that volunteers believed they improved their professional skills as well as learned better time management. Respondents in the study also reported that volunteering improved their people skills and ability to work in a teams, and overall helped them to strengthen relationships.

When looking for volunteer opportunities, take some time to think about what your professional goals are and whether you want to hone any skills in particular. You may want to find volunteer opportunities that address those skills. Regardless of your goal with volunteering, it’ll look great on your resume, expand your network, and give you the opportunity to build new skills.

There you have it - our top five career development tips will help you take your career to the next level. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or starting your first professional job, take some time to chart out how you will leverage your skills and build on your success by creating a career plan.