Tips for Career Advancement Strategies

I’ve been promoted 11 times in 20 years at 6 companies Here’s how I did it: 1. Eliminate entitled expectations and patiently play the long game 2. Be truly exceptional in your current role - don’t underestimate how long it takes to achieve mastery 3. Clarify and communicate your long term career goals including your ideal next step  - it is not up to your manager or anyone else to do this for you 4. Demonstrate you can do the next role by taking on key responsibilities of that position - you don’t need to ask permission to solve important business problems 5. Make your manager’s life easier, become indispensable to them and seize learning opportunities to take projects off their plate 6. Lead by example by exuding optimism, assuming positive intent and helping others, especially through challenging times 7. Don’t complain and only talk about problems, design and implement solutions that drive real results 8. Act like an owner and don’t let your current job description hold you back from doing what is required for the business to be successful  9. Respond to inevitable disappointment gracefully and don’t give up  10. Choose the company and evaluate the hiring manager wisely - a great company and an invested manager are two key ingredients to create the conditions for career advancement My biggest lesson 20 years into my career: The promotions are great but don't feel as good as you think they will - focus on the journey and the process, that's the good stuff #personaldevelopment

3 Ways to Advocate for Career Growth and That Promotion You Want!   I commonly get asked how I can advocate for myself or speak up about moving up within a company I work for. What do I need to say to my managers to tell them I am looking for something bigger?   Are you looking to take your career to the next level but unsure how to get noticed?   Here are 3 ways to be your own advocate and show leadership you're ready for more:   1. Schedule a Career Development Meeting: - Script: "Hi [Manager Name], I'd love to discuss my career development goals. Would you be available for a meeting in the next couple of weeks?" During the Meeting: - Discuss your accomplishments and how they've benefited the company. - Express your interest in specific growth opportunities or future projects. - Ask for feedback on areas for improvement and a development plan.   2. Take Initiative and Lead Projects: - Script (to a colleague): "I noticed we're facing a challenge with [X]. I have some ideas on how to tackle it. Would you be interested in brainstorming together?" Benefits: - Showcase your problem-solving skills and ability to take ownership. - Gain valuable experience outside your current role. - Get recognized for your proactive approach.   3. Shine During Meetings and Presentations: - Script: "[Summarize key point]. Additionally, I'd like to suggest [your idea] as it could potentially [positive outcome]." Tips: - Be confident and articulate your ideas clearly. - Back up your suggestions with data or previous successes. - Be an active listener and build on others' points.   Advocating for yourself doesn't have to be loud.   Be proactive, take initiatives, and demonstrate your value, and you'll be well on your way to achieving your career goals!   Let me know what you’d add to my list!   #careerdevelopment #promotion #leadership

When I first started at my company, I was eager to take on more responsibilities but hesitant to speak up. I worried that my request might be seen as overreaching. Then, a mentor gave me invaluable advice: "Opportunities are rarely given; they’re taken." This changed everything for me. Here’s a step-by-step guide based on my journey to help you leap: ➙ Self-Assessment 📝: Before asking for more, evaluate your current workload. Are you consistently meeting your deadlines and excelling in your tasks? This will show that you're ready for additional responsibilities. ➙ Identify Areas for Growth 🔍: Look for gaps in your team or company where you can add value. It could be a project that's been neglected or a new initiative that aligns with your skills. ➙ Prepare Your Case 📊: Approach your manager with a clear plan. Highlight your achievements, explain how you can contribute more, and detail the benefits to the team and company. ➙ Show Enthusiasm and Commitment 💪: Demonstrate your passion for growth. Enthusiasm is contagious and shows that you're genuinely invested in your role and the company's success. ➙Be Ready for Challenges 🚀: Taking on more means stepping out of your comfort zone. Be prepared to tackle new challenges and show resilience. After implementing these steps, I not only got the additional responsibilities I wanted but also gained the trust and respect of my colleagues and superiors. My career growth skyrocketed, and I felt more fulfilled in my role. Big Lesson: Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Take charge of your career by proactively seeking out more responsibilities. You'll grow, learn, and stand out as a proactive, driven professional. How Do You Go About It? 📞Regularly communicate with your manager about your career aspirations. 📞Seek feedback and use it to improve continuously. 📞Network within your company to identify potential growth opportunities. Have you successfully asked for more responsibilities? Share your experiences and tips below! Let’s inspire each other to take control of our career paths. 🚀 ————————————————————————— Meeting me for the first time? I’m Rudy Malle, a clinical researcher dedicated to improving public health outcomes, and a career advisor helping ordinary professionals take their careers to the next level to enhance visibility for individuals and companies. #CareerAdvancement #ProfessionalGrowth #TakeTheLead #WorkplaceTips #CareerAdvice #LinkedInCommunity #personaldevelopment #20daylinkedinchallengewithhaoma #rudyhacks

Hey there, it’s me, your coach Nina, how are you today? Are you feeling overwhelmed by the exciting but vast possibilities in your career? Society, your parents, friends, strangers on social media, and even your own expectations have all been suggesting paths you “should” take professionally. If you're intellectually curious and enjoy learning, you likely have a strong drive to grow already. You might already have some ideas about where you want to go and how to get there. However, with endless possibilities and only 24 hours in a day, it's important to have a focused and sustainable approach to your career development, one that prevents overwhelm and burnout. Here are some strategies to consider: 1️⃣ List out your career goals: What do you really want in your career? Is it money, title, creative freedom, influence, fame, or making an impact? In my early career I wanted to get promoted because the society says so, but after a few years I started to optimize for learning new experiences (hence jumping from corporate to startup to stand up a new team.) 2️⃣ Figure out your why: understand why you want to achieve something adds meaning and boosts motivation. Are you aiming for FIRE (financial independence to retire early), seeking respect as a manager, or craving intellectual exploration? 3️⃣ Define success: know your destination helps you figure out what resources or skills you need to get there. For instance, aspiring to be a people manager might require learning how to inspire others. 4️⃣ Identify the resources you need: Just like planning a trip, you need to know what to pack for your career journey. Determine the skills or knowledge necessary for your dream role. 5️⃣ Choose how to learn: Different people prefer different learning methods—reading, visual cues, podcasts, or hands-on experience. Find what works best for you and experiment if you're unsure. 6️⃣ Practice: Apply your new skills whenever possible. Shadow others, volunteer for projects, and actively develop the competencies you need. 7️⃣ Reflect regularly: Set a monthly reminder to assess your progress and adjust your strategies if needed. 8️⃣ Seek accountability: Remember the saying, "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." Find a mentor, friend, or a coach friend to support and hold you accountable. What strategies have you used or would you recommend to feel less overwhelmed and more empowered in your career growth? #careerdevelopment #professionaldevelopment #midcareer

*4 tips to make space for career growth this year* Did you decide to focus on any career growth improvements this year? Like a lot of New Year’s resolutions, it’s easy to lose steam on annual career growth goals fast — so nowadays I try to proactively find ways to keep the momentum up. Here are 4 tips that have helped me over the years: 1. Choose 1 specific goal to focus on right now. When I think of everything I want to get better at, it seems impossible to narrow down the mind-boggling list of options! But I’ve found it’s most important to just pick one thing and get started. After all, I’ll likely want to get better at my whole list of improvements — but the sequence usually doesn’t matter! So why not just get started at getting better at something, instead of wasting time identifying the perfect place to start? 2. Be clear about what progress looks like. It’s tempting to keep career goals really high-level, like “I want to write more.” But we’d never accept that sort of goal for a product because it’s too hard to know whether we’re on the right track and what to do next. Instead, I identify and write down specifically what it will feel and look like to be successful, eg, “I’ll publish a short post every two weeks in Q1 and feel proud even if no one else reads them.” I generally share my goals with my manager and peers so they can help hold me accountable and cheer me on. 3. Remind myself that growing my skills helps my team today. With the constant influx of urgent, necessary work, sometimes it feels selfish to focus on my personal growth! But it’s been helpful to reframe that — after all, how can I help my team tackle harder problems unless I’m growing my skills? I try to remind myself of how investing in myself will help my team today, whether it’s because I’ll be better able to solve specific problems the team needs or just that I’ll have more energy and creativity every day. 4. Operationalize the time to invest in growth. The biggest reason I end up falling behind on my goal is that I just can’t find the time to focus on it — my calendar gets filled up with meeting requests or urgent work. So nowadays I set aside an hour or two on late Friday afternoons. That time is otherwise underutilized (who tries to schedule a heavy-duty review then?) so I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing core team time. Then I can use that time to take the next step on my personal goals, which re-energizes me to focus on work tasks again. I’ve found that weaving a constant thread of something I’m learning into my standard work routine has been great for my energy. What are you working on in 2024? (This is part of an ongoing series about product, leadership, and scaling! For regular updates, subscribe to amivora.substack.com)

I went from coordinator to CSO in 5 years. It has been crazy. Here’s my “Top 7” for an explosive career in marketing 🚀 TL;DR 1. Passion 2. Fill gaps, don’t just fulfill orders 3. Connect the dots 4. Meetings = Classes 5. Apply Feedback 6. Rabbit Hole 7. Strength = Weakness 1. Passion 🍍 This is the most obvious and the most crucial. If you are going to put in the hard work to grow your career, you have to want it. You have to have an innate motivation and you have to go all in. 2. Fill gaps, don’t just fulfill orders. 🥧 Do things because they need to get done, and try to get to them before you are asked. Pick up the stuff that is left in the gray area between roles. And don't be afraid to challenge priorities for the betterment of a business (be a thought leader). 3. Connect the dots. ⚫⚫⚫ Don’t just do things. Always try to figure out why you are doing them. Understanding how your role impacts the bigger picture is the first step to a promotion. 4. Meetings are career development classes 🏫 As a coordinator you are usually sitting in on meetings while “bigger” people go back and forth. Make sure you are listening and picking up on patterns. Use what they are talking about to help you understand your role, the company as a whole, and the goals of the organization. Also, learn from how they conduct meetings. Use this when you are called on to speak, present, or lead a meeting. 5. Apply Feedback 🔏 No one starts out knowing everything. We all get feedback, and it is easy to get upset or ignore it. Don’t. Feedback is free help to get closer to the next level. Apply it as soon as possible so it sticks. 6. Send yourself down the rabbit hole. 🐰 Leave no stone unturned. This applies to your work, the business as a whole, testing creative, client strategy, training, etc. Having a deeper understanding of how things work will make you stand out. 7. Don’t let your strength be your downfall. 😴 If you are doing all this, you are probably super ambitious and motivated. That’s great. But it can also lead to burnout REALLY quickly. Make sure you are carving out time to disconnect and recharge. This may feel like this goes against trying to grow your career, but it is actually part of it. People can tell when you are burned out, and they will be hesitant to give you more responsibility. These are the 7 things that have had a HUGE impact on my career growth- what would you add? Let me know below!

Are you putting your JOB before Your Career?   Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith authors of How Women Rise, cite this as one of the main reason women stay stuck. You are working on a strategic project. You need to stay up late to talk to your counterparts in Australia. You are invited to an exclusive leadership dinner with the CEO of your company and senior leaders of a sister company. You feel conflicted. You want to show up at the dinner but you also have a big deliverable due the next day. You decide its best to make sure you are doing a good job in your role now instead and keep you eye on the current ball in the air. You miss the opportunity to network with senior leaders who could have career opportunities for you. Or…. You decide to go to dinner and instead ask you number 2 to get on a call with your counterparts in Australia. You feel nervous about trusting your team member in this situation but you realize if you are to step up into a bigger role they will need to step into your role. You see this as a win-win opportunity for everyone to stretch. You feel encouraged and hopeful. 🚀 It takes a lot of discernment and clarity to put your career before your immediate job duties. There is a way you can do both if you allow your creativity and resourcefulness shine through instead of choosing the easy, safe option. 🌟 Here are 3 things you can do when you notice yourself at a choice point between your career and job duties: Prioritize with Purpose: Evaluate the potential long-term impact of your choices. Consider how each decision aligns with your career goals. Sometimes, it might be worth taking a leap and attending that leadership dinner, even if it means delegating tasks to others. It's about strategically investing in your future. Delegate and Empower: Recognize that to grow, you must empower your team. Trust them with important responsibilities and offer guidance. By doing so, you not only ease your immediate workload but also foster growth within your team. It's a win-win situation that can lead to bigger opportunities for everyone involved. Embrace Networking: Networking is a powerful tool for career advancement. Don't miss out on opportunities to connect with senior leaders, mentors, and peers who can provide valuable insights and open doors for you. Step out of your comfort zone and build those essential relationships that can shape your career trajectory. 💡 Remember, it's not about choosing between your career and your current job; it's about finding ways to harmonize them. Be open to exploring unconventional solutions, taking calculated risks, and continuously learning and growing. Your journey to success is a dynamic, evolving path, and it's up to you to make the most of it. 🌐🌆 Let's discuss these strategies and more in the comments! What's your go-to approach when faced with a choice between your career and immediate job duties? 👇 #CareerGrowth #WorkLifeBalance #ProfessionalDevelopment