Did you make a New Year's resolution to improve your career this year? Here are some tips to help you grow in your career in 2024.
Set Goals at Work
Your employer likely has goals for your work, but you can also set some of your own that will help you stay on track on a day-to-day basis. Try to exceed your own goals and theirs, and you will boost your job performance overall. This will not only keep you motivated, but also can show your employer that you care about your work, which will reflect well on you when it's time for an evaluation or a promotion.
Learn New Skills
Learn new skills that can help you excel in your position or expand into new roles.
"Learning new skills can be highly beneficial to your career as it can help you position yourself to take on new projects and leverage new knowledge to advance," says Jennifer Herrity at Indeed.* "Showing that you are open to learning new things can also show employers that you value your commitment to your career and their company. Learning new skills can also lead you to career fields that you may not have previously considered. For instance, if you learn new customer service skills, you can then be more applicable to higher-level positions in sales, advertising and related roles."
It might be worth it to pursue a new degree or at least take classes. Perhaps online is more convenient if you are working. You can also look for free or paid online courses on sites like Coursera, as well as webinars and lectures on YouTube.
Get Feedback from Your Employer
Ask your employer for feedback on your job performance. You don't have to wait until your evaluation. Let them know that you want to be doing as good a job as possible, and ask how you can improve. They will likely be impressed by your enthusiasm about wanting to perform well and will remember this when there is an opportunity for a promotion or a raise.
You can also ask coworkers for advice on how to improve your performance. Ask customers for feedback if you are working directly with them.
Attend Industry Conferences
Conferences can provide an array of benefits to your career if you attend the right ones. While you might have to do a bit of traveling, look for events in your region that relate to your industry.
"You may want to spend some time reflecting on your professional goals before attending a conference," says Elizabeth Wilcox at UC Berkeley.** "Conferences can be highly effective at helping you advance a wide range of professional objectives. For example, they can help you build and extend professional contacts, find a mentor or collaborator, gain experience presenting original work, advance your subject matter expertise, extend your knowledge of resources, introduce you to new theory, methods, or tools, gain ideas for new programs and workshops, develop new skills, or simply refresh your interest in and enthusiasm for managing programs and working directly with students. Whatever the goal, be intentional in the way you seek to advance your professional identity, contacts and knowledge."
Use LinkedIn More
LinkedIn is a great career tool. You can use it to find work, showcase your career achievements and knowledge, and network with professionals from a wide range of industries. Stay active, even when you're not looking for work. Engage with posts from other professionals, and build your professional network. If you need to make a career change, these relationships can be useful. You never know when someone you're connected with will have an opportunity or be able to refer you to one.
2024 is a great year to start getting more serious about your career. If you feel like you aren't advancing as quickly as you'd like, create your own opportunities.
* https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/learn-new-skills
** https://advisingmatters.berkeley.edu/getting-most-out-professional-conference