Improving your career prospects

How to improve your career prospects, chance of promotion or a pay rise

The world of work has changed significantly over the past decade and, unless you're in a career with a very defined path of progression such as a doctor, you're more than likely to have quite an unstructured and often bumpy road ahead when it comes to your career.

So what can you do in order to smooth out those bumps and improve your career prospects?  That's what we're going to discuss in this week's blog.

More important than anything else when it comes to your career is that you should be happy and actually enjoy what you do.  Your time is your life so don't ever waste it on something you don't enjoy doing because you can't ever get that time back.

Whether you're looking to move jobs or you're happy in your current role , there are numerous things you can do to improve your career prospects and earnings potential:

• Volunteer - whether it's helping out in a charity shop once a week or picking up litter in your local community, volunteering will broaden your horizons and develop your skills when it comes to meeting new people outside of your own comfort zone.
• Network - the dreaded 'N' word!  Remember in a previous blog when I spoke about 'chatworking' rather than 'networking'?  It's not something to be scared of, it's simply a way of finding out about other people and how you can help each other.  Be curious, ask questions and LISTEN.
• Find or become a mentor - this works in a similar way to networking but on a one-to-one basis.  What skills do you have that you could pass onto someone else?  Likewise, what new skills would you like to learn from someone else?
• Treat your colleagues as customers - whether you realise it or not, YOU are a brand and you need to promote yourself in a professional way just like any other brand.  How would you like to be treated yourself?  With professionalism, politeness, good service?  That's how you should treat your colleagues. 
• Think outside the realms of your own role - instead of being blinkered to the outside world, lift your head up from your desk and take a look at the bigger picture.  Understanding the role you play within your company as a whole will help you to look at things in a different way and see how it all fits together.

What are you worth?

Money isn't everything but it's obviously very important that you are paid the appropriate salary for your role.  You can easily check this by going onto one of the websites below, typing in your job role and seeing how your current salary compares against the average.

glassdoor

comparemysalary

If you discover that your current salary is not competitive but you love your job then it might be time to try and negotiate a pay increase BUT you will have to prove yourself worthy first.  Compare your original job description when you  first started with the company to the role you are doing now and make a list of the differences.  For example, one of your tasks might have been to book internal meetings but you now find yourself booking and organising external company events.  If you want to negotiate a pay rise you have to prove that you are already working above and beyond.

A word of warning, don't ever compare your salary with that of your colleagues, it's not professional to go storming into your boss saying "he/she earns more than me and we do the same job".  Focus only on yourself, you have no idea of anyone else's circumstances so don't second guess.

Invest in yourself - you are a brand

As I mentioned above, whether you realise it or not, you are a brand and you should market yourself as such.  The brands that we love are those that look good, are of a high quality and provide great service.

• Don't rock up to work looking like you've either just rolled in from a night out or are dressed for a night out.  Keep it simple, classy and elegant.  
• The same applies for hair, make-up and nails too - think chic not sh*t!!
• Ensure the work you produce is always of the highest quality.  Think about the little touches such as making sure all your fonts and formats are the same when creating presentations and documents.  Trust me, people do notice these things.  I shouldn't need to say this but ALWAYS check your spelling, there are no excuses for this one!!
• Always provide excellent service - undersell and overdeliver!  If you've promised to have something done by the end of the week then try and do it by Thursday morning.

What would you like people to say about you when you're not in the room?  This is what it means to be a brand so always have this thought in mind with every task you undertake.

Enjoy your career, do what you love and create your own unique brand.

#2020