Whether you are a student that is studying to achieve their qualifications within a particular industry or you are a seasoned working professional you should always be looking at upskilling your competencies in the workplace.
Professional growth entails growing personally into your role so that you fully comprehend what you do and how to get better. You will need to place a focus on developing the abilities required within your profession as successfully as possible, and it is something that you will do throughout your career.
If you find yourself becoming stagnant in your career then building your resume and portfolio as a professional will go a long way in making you more attractive to employers.
The advantages won’t only take place in the workplace, career and personal development will also improve your competencies as a person.
Many people who set their sights on upskilling and improving their competencies struggle with finding activities that will help them to accomplish their goals. It is important to be selective of the activities and qualifications that you choose to invest both your time and effort in.
Find activities that align with your respective line of work or the role that you are trying to transition towards!
In this article, I will take a look at some of the development activities that you might wish to adopt into your own plan.
Why should you upskill your competencies?
Making sure your knowledge and understanding of your area of expertise for your work is always at the most excellent level possible is essential in order to get the most out of your professional development. This involves learning new things as well as enhancing your existing skills and competencies in order to enhance your job. It also involves some aspects of personal growth.
In general, development refers to formalized education or training that results in a credential relating to a particular profession. In order to build and improve abilities, it can also involve informal training and development programs that may be offered on the job.
These skills will help you to take on more responsibilities at work as well as decorate your resume. Both will help you to progress in your career in the long run!
If you want to improve as a leader, employee, mentor, or colleague, then you should strongly consider personal and professional growth both inside and outside of the office. In short, finding ways to improve your work is what personal and professional growth is all about.
Perhaps you are a consultant, and improving on your hard skills can undoubtedly help you identify ways to work more efficiently. You could work on your familiarity with a host of marketing and statistics programs. This will depend on what industry you operate in.
Alternatively, improving a variety of different soft skills may be more important for your personal and professional growth.
Again, if you are a consultant having stronger interpersonal skills can save a lot of misunderstandings among your clients. As a result of enhanced communication, you might also find that projects are completed quicker and more accurately.
Personality Tests can help you in your development see how!
Transition to a different role
You might find yourself in a company that you really enjoy working for and have great work relationships with. If you aren’t fully satisfied with your work or entirely fulfilled in your role, you can always use your network to investigate other positions within your organisation.
Being a professional and progressing in your career inevitably involves changing jobs. There will be numerous situations that will force you to leave your current job in order to advance in your professional career, whether it's because you need a new beginning or a new job opportunity.
If you decide to hand in the dreaded resignation letter, you attempt to maintain a positive working relationship. These are valuable relationships that you have built over your time working that you might even use in your future career.
Sometimes it might even be the case that you are fully satisfied in your role. This can be the most difficult position to be in if your intent is to progress. Many of us fall victim to comfort and become too comfortable in our roles.
With a lack of new responsibilities and adaptation in our work life, it becomes difficult to progress. It is important that you consult management about potential prospects of career progression internally.
In many situations, the employer will provide avenues for their employees to progress, through the provision of professional courses and training.
If they don’t provide you with avenues to upskill and improve your competencies then you should look elsewhere to develop outside of the office or start shopping around for new careers. There are plenty of reasons you might want to visit a careers coach, here are a few!
Place a Focus on Networking
Perhaps the most effective practice of professional improvement is in developing and maintaining connections at work and across a multitude of other industries.
We all know we should be networking, but it's frequently not clear why, what the advantages would be, or even how to start. However, networking is a topic that is brought up in job discussions for a reason: it is effective!
Having an expansive network will help you in a variety of different ways. You will have more exposure to new roles and interview processes that may be up for grabs in your space.
Having connections across a multitude of different companies will also help you to transition into new roles down the line.
No matter what stage of your career you're in, whether you're looking for a new job or are content with your current company, networking is a skill that can and should be developed by almost everyone.
While looking for a new position you should use your professional network and make new contacts with individuals in your sector, networking has a wide range of other advantages that can be beneficial at any stage of your career.
You will also be developing an expansive pool of resources that you will certainly depend on at some stage in your career.
In reality, networking is most beneficial when done continuously throughout time, rather than only when you're in need of assistance.
This article gives an introduction to how you can find the right career fit for you.
Building Learning Habits
It takes a lot of time to become proficient in all aspects of your career. As you get more expertise, some gains will come effortlessly, but others will call for sustained, deliberate work.
This should be reflected in your personal development plan. The timelines that you set yourself to progress a particular competency must be manageable and realistic.
Fitting effective learning activities into your life might be very difficult, unfortunately, because of your hectic schedule, difficulties in your personal life, and distractions.
In fact, the only way to do that is to view learning as a habit continuously infused into your daily life, rather than as a one-time effort.
By incorporating as little as twenty minutes of learning a new skill into your daily schedule, after one or two years you will find a massive improvement in yourself.
Finding time to concentrate on your professional abilities will initially appear difficult because you will need to make concessions in other areas to make it happen.
But when the habit takes hold in your life, it will soon become almost automatic, freeing up a lot of time for you to invest in developing new abilities. It really is all about consistency!
If you think that this might be of interest then read more about what a personal development plan entails and how it can be used to better your career.
Try using some Feedback Mechanisms.
Another great activity for career progression that you should get into the habit of it in using feedback mechanisms from current and past employers.
It is no secret that the ideas that a person has about their career might evolve or change. It can be a great resource to draw on a number of different perspectives regarding your performance at work. I will even enhance your self-awareness for better-targeted development going forward!
The management and employee should have regular feedback discussions about career development. The organization's perspective on the employee's career may likewise change. It's crucial to talk about those "shifts."
If such support isn’t already in place, you should certainly inquire about setting a meeting up with the HR department at your current workplace.
A one-on-one meeting would be a typical opportunity to check in and ensure that the employer and employee are on the same page.
Finding the right career can be difficult. To think that you will work a job until you are able to reach your financial goals and retire you will need to find one that you love and that matches your skills. Thankfully there are an array of tests that you can use to help inform your decision process. This is an important first step to finding out what skills you have.
Reach out to a career guidance counsellor over on the Superprof platform and learn about how you can progress towards your desired career path.
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