There is no doubt that the best investment you can make is in yourself. Seeking professional and personal growth is one of the best decisions you can make. This is because if you dedicate time and money to improve your skills and knowledge, these will be "assets" that will accompany you for the rest of your life and no one will be able to take them away from you.
In addition, professional growth is what will help you progress the most because no matter how hard you work if you do not develop your skills and expand your knowledge, there will come a point where you stagnate and cannot continue growing. If you have questions like, how can I grow in the current role professionally, or how to grow fast in your job, you’re in the right place. In this article, we will look at the top 10 tips for career growth. Keep reading!
Top 10 Tips on How to Grow Fast in Career
1. Get a college degree
To begin with, the most important thing is to learn a profession, and there is no better place to teach this than college. So, if you don't have a degree yet, you should consider starting a college career. Do not make excuses such as "my work demands many hours and I do not have time", "it is a very large investment that I cannot afford to make" or "where I live there is no university that has the career I would like to study”. These excuses were valid a couple of decades ago, but nowadays studying online solves all these problems and more. So, stop thinking about excuses and better think about what career you would like to study and start as soon as possible.
Do not forget that getting a university degree does not depend on your origin, but on the attitude with which you face this challenge. A college degree will not only give you many opportunities at a professional level, but you will acquire many skills and aptitudes that will be very useful in your personal life.
2. Have a professional growth plan
Another important point is planning. Most people fail to achieve their goals for the simple reason that they do not have those goals well set. For example, it is useless to say, "I am going to study 'X' career to improve as a professional" if you do not know how you will study it, what you want to learn with it and what benefits it will give you in the future. For this, you must set short, medium, and long-term goals, and make sure that they are firm, that they convince you and that they are aligned with what you want to achieve in your life. A good way to do this is to think about what situation you want to be in two, five, or ten years. In this way, you will define the lifestyle you want to achieve, and you will be able to make decisions based on "this thing I will do brings me closer to what I want in my life".
Suppose you are interested in working in the tourism sector, particularly in hotels, and you want to study a career that will help you get the right profile. In that case, you might ask yourself things like:
Should I study how to get more guests with marketing? If so, what skills should I have to study Marketing?
Will it be more convenient for me to study Public Accounting and manage the finances of the hotel?
How will these careers help me get a better salary in that sector later?
Of course, that's a hypothetical situation and you can consider anything else. The idea is that you understand that these are things you have to think about. With this small change in your mentality, you will surely get closer every day to that professional performance that you want to achieve so much. In short, try to have clear objectives and align each of your actions towards your goal, in this way, you will surely reach the peak of your professional career!
3. Get a mentor
Although there are things that only college and work practice can teach you, there are plenty more that you can only get through someone with a lot of experience. A mentor is a person who has already traveled much of the path you want to travel. That is someone who has already reached that goal that you are looking for.
Now, you may be wondering "how will this help me?", and the answer is very simple: he or she has already gone through a lot of difficult times and has made several mistakes and successes; you can avoid going through all that if you decide to learn from their experience. If that still doesn't convince you, here are some reasons why you should consider getting a mentor to improve your career:
They have more experience and knowledge than you.
They will help you see mistakes that you are not able to see right now.
You will be held accountable to them, which will force you to progress continuously.
They have more connections than you and that will open many doors for you.
In other words, you will learn from their experience and pave the way for your goals.
4. Volunteer in your sector
This next point on how to grow in your career is quite related to the previous one; let's say it's like "the business version" of a mentor. The idea is that you volunteer to help in a company or a person who is a leader in the sector where you want to professionalize. This way, you will get to know first-hand everything related to your sector, since you will be in front of people who know a lot about the subject and that keeps them above others.
If you start thinking, this is practically the same as what a mentor offers you! However, volunteering benefits you with something else: it will allow you to meet many people, and that will help you get good contacts that in the future you can use to grow even faster. Even if you're doing a job without receiving money in return, don't think that you're not getting paid, because they're actually giving you something very valuable and that money can't afford the experience.
This is ideal for those who have just finished their studies and still do not have a job, as it will allow them to gain experience very quickly and in a sector that is really of interest to them. That said, those who already have a job can also cash in on it by doing so in their spare hours. Although in the case of those who are already working, probably getting a mentor is a better option. Anyway, whatever situation you are in, I assure you that it will help you a lot for your professional growth.
5. Strive to improve and meet your goals
You may have once had the feeling of being stagnant, that you have already reached the ceiling of your career and that you cannot give more to surpass yourself. In fact, that may be precisely why you are here. Let me tell you that such a limit does not exist, there will always be some way in which you can surpass yourself. Of course, sometimes, this means making very difficult decisions such as leaving your safe and well-paid job to start your own company, moving to another job sector that interests you more or studying a new university career. But, without a doubt, those are the decisions that will lead you to succeed and to the top of your professional growth. Of course, it is possible does not mean that it is easy, the main thing to get to that is dedication, effort, and above all making the right decisions.
In the case of women, they may have some extra trouble growing professionally if they already have children, but there are many ways in which a working mother can improve her professional quality. At the end of the day, it all depends on how much you really want to improve as a professional and achieve a lifestyle that is more suited to what you want for yourself.
6. Develop habits and skills that help you in your professional growth
This next tip should be one of your most important pillars for both professional growth and personal growth. Most of the things you do on a daily basis are linked to our customs. Therefore, if you do not have good habits, you will surely be doing many things every day that are not bringing you closer to that goal you are looking for. In case you do not know, a habit is an action or behavior that we do repeatedly and automatically, that is, we do it almost without realizing it. It is not bad that you have habits, in fact, it is practically impossible that you do not have them. The important thing is to try to prevent vices, bad habits from appearing. To make it clearer, a vice may be that, when you get home, you sit in front of the TV and have a beer. I'm sure something like this won't help anyone reach their goals.
The important thing here is that you are able to examine yourself and see what things you do every day that don't benefit you at all. If you do, you may be able to start spending time on other things that will make you better as a person. For example, if instead of having a beer you decide to go for a walk for half an hour or read a book, you will surely make more use of your time and feel better about yourself. Obviously, I'm not saying that not to have a beer or shy away from the idea of resting and having some leisure time. It's clear that's also important for you to stay healthy and in a good mood, but it can't become your top priority. If you don't first understand what vices you're dragging, you won't be able to develop any valuable skills, and if you don't, you'll never be able to stand out and achieve real success in your career. In fact, by improving your skills you will not only become a better professional, but you will be able to discover qualities that you did not know you had and that can help you in your work or even open your own business
7. Make reading your best ally and never stop training
Before, we mentioned that the previous point should be one of your pillars, and this should also be another fundamental pillar for your professional growth: training and continuous learning. To achieve this, it is very important that you become friends with reading. If you already like to read and do it regularly, great! But if not, you should start developing this habit right away.
Why do we advise you to read? Because book authors are people who know a lot about what they are talking about and have captured all their years of experience in these books. That may be invaluable in the future! Therefore, by simply investing a few hours a day in reading a book, you will be able to learn from the experience of many years of work of great professionals, and thus strengthen your skills and your aptitudes as a professional. Of course, reading will not help you grow professionally just because, but it will depend on the seriousness you put into it and the books you choose. Always try that each book you read leaves you with an apprenticeship that really helps you in your professional growth.
Nevertheless, reading isn't the only way you can incorporate new knowledge. In fact, the other form is even more used in the workplace: training. There are hundreds of courses, careers, talks and seminars in which you can learn things that will help you progress. You can also enroll in an online university to continue your studies and attend workshops where you can gain a particular skill. In short, training you will be something that will always be within your reach. Do not miss out on it!
8. Expand your professional network
As we mentioned before, volunteering is a great strategy to generate a network of contacts, but this is just one of the ways you can create it. There are many more and the truth is that they are very simple to carry out: you just need initiative and to dedicate some time to it. For example, something you can start doing now is inviting people on LinkedIn who you think can help you get a job on a site that catches your eye. Then try to send them a message, and if they answer, you can try to have a conversation with them, either in person or online. This way, you can create a bridge with someone who is already well placed in the sector you're interested in. Of course, keep in mind that you cannot go for the great figures from the beginning. It is best to go little by little and start building from below. If it seems to be a very slow process, do not give up. Making a work network is like rolling a snowball: the more it rolls the bigger and faster it will get. Suddenly you will see how your contact list grows exponentially!
If you're still wondering what's the point of putting so much effort into this, let us share with you the benefits that a good network of contacts can offer you:
It can help you to have valuable information before others: this is a great advantage and, if used in the right way, can make you grow a lot.
It will help you get results much faster: if you are looking for a job, want a promotion or plan to start a new business, being linked with the right people can be very useful to achieve those goals.
In addition to the professional aspect, it can also help you personally: a network of contacts can provide you with information about events of your interest, ways to participate in social activities and even help you form good friendships.
If you look for new contacts every day, over time you will have such a large and nourished network that the opportunities for growth will be countless.
9. Carry out social or solidarity actions
Doing tasks without an economic end in mind will make your image stand out, which is very important in the long run. But we are not just referring to the image people will have of you, but also the way you see yourself. A professional who doesn't know what he's worth can't ask anyone to do it. Sometimes, getting out of ourselves gives us a little more of a panorama, and it is in these moments when we are really able to find the motivation, we need to start aspiring for something better. In addition, as you probably know, you do not always need to invest money to help others. Even something as simple as teaching someone something new can be radically life-changing. In fact, there are careers that have greatly improved our society following a similar philosophy, as is the case of the Education Sciences career.
10. Stay open to all options
Never close any doors. Even if you think you have the certainty of what you want to do, stay flexible and adapt to the circumstances, if you build yourself too rigid an idea of what you ask of your future, you can miss great opportunities. As you have already seen, everything can change from one moment to another, your ability to adapt will be key to building your future.
Take advantage of every experience that comes your way, even if you think it is totally opposite to your true vocation, you can always extract useful learnings for your future. Having the will to improve your career is a big step, achieving it requires effort, dedication, and true motivation.
Conclusion
And here we end! Of course, these are just some of the ways in which you can improve your professional growth, but without a doubt, they are the most outstanding. Each of these tips is an action that you can apply on your own and right now. That is, if you want to grow professionally, you can do it now and it's just up to you! We assure you that if you implement them one by one in your life, you will notice the results and achieve your goals! And that is how now you know how to grow yourself professionally.