If you’re looking for a few unusual ways to boost your career this year, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’re going to take a look at 10 ways you can boost your career that you may have never considered before. Take a look and who knows where you could be!
1. Dress For The Job You Want
Start by dressing for the job you want, rather than the job you have. This doesn’t mean you should start strutting around with a scepter and crown if you want to be the queen or king – be realistic. Just dress smarter. There’s no reason you can’t go smart/casual and take a step up from your usual casual dressing, whatever your role is. You don’t want to be so OTT that it feels strange to those around you. You simply want your clothes to convey a message about your professionalism and attitude. Your clothes will also impact how you feel and how much you get done throughout the day, so bear that in mind!
2. Build Your Social Media Presence
Building your social media presence could help you to become known as an expert in your industry, providing you put high quality content out there regularly. Posting selfies with useless captions won’t do a lot to help you build your following and let people know what you’re about. Make sure you share your expertise and aim to help the people that follow you.
3. Network At Every Opportunity
Every opportunity you get, make sure you network. It doesn’t matter whether you’re waiting for your cup of coffee in your local coffee shop or whether you’re at a conference – network! Have cards with you and things you can hand out at all times so you’re never caught short. Of course, this doesn’t mean attempting to sell something to everybody you meet. It simply means getting used to striking up conversations, listening to people, and figuring out how you can help them.
4. Get a Mentor
A mentor can help you to look at your career objectively, and give you useful steps to improve. They aren’t as emotionally attached to things as you are, so they will easily be able to let you know the best course of action for moving forward.
5. Develop A Timeline, Including Milestones
By developing a timeline, writing it down, and including milestones, you will have a goal set in mind that you can aim for. Boosting your career is quite a vague thing to want to do, but knowing where you want to be and when you want to get there will help you. Getting specific is sometimes the most helpful key to success.
6. Own Your Career Path
Not everyone’s career path will be the same. Each and every person will have a different route that they take to get to where they want to be. There may be setbacks, and you have to accept that. The key is to get comfortable owning your own career path, and being comfortable with your obstacles. Don’t compare your journey to anybody else’s journey. There are companies that specialise in helping clients get fair compensation after a maritime injury if you have hurt yourself at work if you need specialist help, and similar companies out there depending on your issue. However, if you really want to get to your destination, you need to be prepared for these little setbacks and know what you’ll do if you have to face them.
7. Nurture Existing Relationships
Don’t just network and aim to build brand new relationships. That’s all well and good, but what about nurturing your existing relationships? Keeping those relationships healthy is key if you want great results. Make sure you send out christmas cards, for example. You could even invite a contact you haven’t seen for a while for coffee. Nurturing these relationships is a must if you want to stay at the forefront of people’s minds and stay in the loop in your industry.
8. Do A Course Or Learn A New Skill In Your Own Time
In your own time, pick a course or a skill and aim to master it. You won’t get paid for it, but it could very well help you to better your career later on down the line. At the very least, it’ll look great on your resume. If you aim to continue learning no matter what, pretty soon you should have a great list of skills you can talk about and present on your resume. Don’t just do things that are directly related to your career, either – just do something that sounds interesting, for the fun of it!
9. Change Your Mindset
Changing your mindset is really important if you want to make a change in your life. How do you feel about your current position and where you may be heading in it? If the answer is not good, it’s time to change that. This might sound easier said than done, but if you can accept the present and envision a better future, your mind will find ways to help you make it reality. Just take a look at visualization stories, mood board success stories, and people talking about the power of the mind. It really does work, but you have to put it into practice!
10. Look After Yourself Outside Of Work
Making sure you look after yourself outside of work is crucial if you’re going to be your best self inside of work. Exercise and eat right and your mind will be in a better place to make good decisions. You’ll feel more confident, happier, and enjoy other benefits, too. You should also get plenty of sleep, as we rarely perform at our best when we are sleep deprived. Be smart about how you take care of yourself and this should reflect in your career later on.
Are you ready to boost your career with the above unusual tips? Which will you use first? Leave a comment!