The key to a successful career is an early start. You need to brush up your skills and improve your knowledge to be one step ahead of your peers. Also, you need to choose the right career path in order to become successful. If you are passionate about machines and technology, and you choose a career in literature, the chances are that you may require more time and effort to gain success.
As mentioned before, there is no particular recipe for success. Sometimes people get it early in their career like Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook) did, and sometimes it takes years to taste success, like Colonel Sanders (the founder of KFC) did. So, if you are looking for a sure-shot hack to get to the top, we can assure you there isn't anything like that. However, you can boost your chances of having a successful career, if you can implement these following steps in your routine.
Career Advice That Will Get You to the Top
- Choose a career path that you personally enjoy: As mentioned previously, it can be extremely hard to taste success in career that you don't enjoy on a personal level. It is true that under financial pressure we often choose a job that helps us earn bread and butter, but that will not land you anywhere near success. If you aren't passionate about the job, it will reflect in your performance, and sooner or later, your superiors are going to find that out and replace you with someone who enjoys his job.You only live once. So don’t waste it by doing something that you don’t like. Choose a career path that allows you to do what you love. If you are passionate about your job, you end up accomplishing more by putting extra effort into your work. When you do what you love, it no longer feels like a job. It is like pursuing a hobby, where you are getting paid for doing what you love. When that happens, you tend to achieve more.
- Focus on gathering experiences: When you are employed at a place, you need to focus on what you can learn and achieve in that job. There is no point thinking about how long you are going to serve in the particular job. Also, focusing only on the area that you majored at in your college/university is not the best way to ensure success. You need to gather experience throughout your career, and your focus should be learning new things as long as you work.
Experience plays a crucial role in your professional career. When you have gathered experience while working with various employers or running your own business, you develop a new perspective. You start looking at things from a different point of view. In fact, it makes you a lot more interesting. A successful person generally has these traits, and if you are also willing to make an impact, feel accomplished and get to the top, you also need to keep learning new things every day.
- Make a positive impact as early as possible: In this competitive environment, you need to stay a few steps ahead of your peers. The key is to leave a long-lasting impression in the first few months of your job so that you can receive the support and attention from your current company. If you don't prove your worth to your superiors, they may not hand you any large scale project for at least five years in the job. Time is money. So, learn new things every day and make your move as early as possible.
If you need to get to the top, you need to be better than the rest. And the best way to prove your worth is by showing what you got. However, it is important to understand that acting early is not the only criteria here. You need to master the skills before you can make your move. Acting early won't get you anywhere if you lack the necessary knowledge and skills. So, be a little careful while taking this critical step in your job.
- Communicate with people on a personal level: Networks are very crucial for being successful in your career. You will require people’s support to get to the top. So, it will be wiser to build your network of people from the very beginning of your career. Professional networking platform such as LinkedIN allows you to connect with thousands of people on the internet, but to have a fruitful relationship with your connections, you will need to interact with them personally.
Since the technology has taken over the world, we rarely find a young person who does not own or use any electronic device such as cell phones or laptops. As a professional, your technical knowledge may come in handy, but you need to understand that your communication skills are something that adds value to your profile. Conversing with different people can be really enlightening at times.
- Don’t hesitate to take risks: If you look at all the successful people around the world, you will find that most of them are risk-takers. No one has achieved anything great by playing safe. If you need to get to the top, you need to prepare yourself to take risks right from the beginning of your career. In fact, you need to take risks quite often. You may fail, you may lose, but you will make progress towards your ultimate goal.
The biggest risk in the world is not taking a risk. When you take risks to achieve greater results, it grabs the attention of your superiors. In fact, if you are running your own business, it is the thumb rule for being a successful entrepreneur. Odds may not be in your favor all the time, but if you start taking risks, you will learn some great life lessons for sure.
- Keep your priorities straight: You need to understand that even the most successful people on earth do not have everything in the world. Even they have made some sacrifices in order to get to the top. We are not asking you to sacrifice any precious possession of yours, but at times, you may have to make hard choices in order to move forward in your career.
The best way to deal with such critical situations is by sorting out your priorities. Your colleagues may be having a party this weekend, but you have a presentation to prepare which needs to be submitted on Monday. You can't have it both ways. You can either party or work on the presentation. Make a choice that you won't have to regret later on.
- Know how to make your CV look good: If you are starting your professional career right now, you need to prepare an impressive CV. Whether you realize it or not, the people who are applying for the same position, also have more or less the same qualification as yours. Also, a lot of them have had some experience as an intern to boast in their CVs. How would you make your CV stand out in the crowd?
Well, whether you are applying for a job for the first time or willing to switch job, you need to prepare a CV or a resume that describes your qualifications, abilities and experience effectively. What most of the people do is put their experience in the bullet format like "worked on XYZ project". What you can do, is mention small details of your contribution in the previous company (as an employee or an intern), to let the interviewer know how you can add value to the new company.
- Familiarize yourself with the global arena: If your aim is to go big, you need to operate in the bigger marketplace, means the international turf. You can either stay is a small pool and rule or go to the ocean where there are plenty of big fishes to give you a tough fight, metaphorically speaking. The domestic marketplace is good for small operations, but to be successful, you need to understand the international market.
Travel often and familiarize yourself with the new culture and language. That is the first step towards understanding the market of that particular place. If you are working in the marketing field, you need to learn how things operate in different countries, in order to make your company or business successful in those parts of the world. It may seem a little insignificant to you if you are at the beginning of your career, but it is perhaps one of the crucial steps towards a successful career.
- Find a mentor who can guide you well: If life is a game and you are a player, then you definitely need a coach who can guide you towards your success. Having a mentor is not essential for success, but he/she can help you choose the right path when it becomes difficult for you to decide. You should choose a mentor who has plenty of experience in the field that you desire to pursue. If you are fortunate, you may become an apprentice of the leader whom you have idolized for long.
As we mentioned before, you will require support from different people to get to the top. A mentor, who has the knowledge and experience about the field, can guide you throughout a particular phase of your career. If your mentor has already achieved the heights that you aim to achieve, he/she can provide fruitful advice that may help you get there much quicker.
Well, this career advice may be quite effective, but they aren’t going to work unless you put efforts to succeed in life. Remember this – “there is no alternative to hard work.” So, even if you have learned some useful tips to get to the top, you need to work continuously to improve your skills and knowledge to reach the peak of your career and stay there until the end.
Author's bio:
Jijo Thomas is a Marketing expert who is currently associated with an MNC in Australia. He is also an independent assignment helper and passionate blogger and who publishes interesting blogs on wide range of topics related to Education, IT, Marketing, Careers etc.
Image source: Pixabay
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