If you want higher pay, more job satisfaction or a new challenge, it may be time to take the next step in your career. But climbing the career ladder isn’t always straightforward.
Furthering your education may help you advance, but college and grad school can be costly. If you choose to step away from work to go back to school full-time, a personal loan may help you cover household expenses. However, you may not need an advanced degree to level up your professional life. Several other strategies may help you move your career forward.
Conduct a self-assessment
The path to career advancement may not always be clear. Maybe you know you’re ready for a change, but you’re not sure what your ideal next role would look like. Or perhaps you know you want to be in a director position in a year or two, but you’re not sure how to get there. Career assessments may provide direction.
Many career assessment tools are available to evaluate your skills, interests, ideal working environment, temperament and values. Here are a few free tests that may be helpful:1
- The Holland Code Career Test: Identifies potential career paths that may be compatible with your interests.
- The Keirsey Temperament Sorter: Matches you with one of four temperaments (artisan, idealist, rational or guardian) and corresponding careers to consider.
- The Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential Test: Asks you how you would handle various workplace scenarios and suggests working environments that you may feel most comfortable in.
Career assessments can’t provide definitive answers, but they may help you build a roadmap for your ideal role.
Sharpen your skills on the job
You may not need to make a drastic change to prepare for the next step in your career. Instead, look for chances in your current position to develop new competencies or strengthen your skills.
Seek leadership opportunities
Stepping up to lead a project or mentor a new employee shows your employer that you’re ready for more responsibility. New leadership opportunities also help you grow in skill and confidence. For example, as the lead on a new project, you might foster creative problem-solving and communication skills. Plus, you’ll have more relevant experience to pull from in future interviews.
Shadow a coworker in another role
Shadowing colleagues for a few hours a week may give you the understanding necessary to make moves within your industry.
You might see if you can sit in on meetings with your manager to see the skills you need for a more senior role on your team. Or, if you’re interested in different aspects of your company, you might ask to shadow a colleague in a different department. Shadowing gives you a firsthand look at other employees’ daily tasks and helps you understand the skills required to succeed in that position.
Ask for cross-departmental work
Another way to expand your professional horizons is by collaborating with other teams on projects. Cross-departmental work exposes you to new processes, tools and perspectives that may serve you throughout your career.
Volunteer
Volunteering may help you get different types of experience and expand your professional network. Nonprofits and community organizations often need help with communications, event planning, data entry or management. Depending on the organization, you may not need extensive experience to get started; you just have to be willing to learn.
For example, you might be a copywriter looking to build your email marketing skills. You could volunteer to help a food pantry write the monthly donor newsletter and learn email marketing basics. You might even connect with other volunteers who already work in marketing and can offer recommendations or job leads.
Never stop learning
Going back to school isn’t the only way to expand your knowledge. Continuous learning helps you thrive in your field.
Take online courses
Instead of enrolling in a higher education program, consider taking an online class. Online learning platforms provide thousands of courses on topics ranging from coding to public speaking. You may complete these classes at your own pace, making it easy to fit education into your busy schedule.
Some classes are free, but many charge a fee. If you don’t have the money to pay up front, use a personal loan calculator to determine whether a loan may help you fit the class into your budget.
Stay informed
A little homework may help you hone your expertise. Reading relevant books, listening to industry podcasts and subscribing to trade publications are excellent ways to stay informed. Keeping up with the latest trends and thought leadership could give you a competitive edge during interviews and networking events.
Take charge of your career
The future of your career is in your hands. You can choose how to reach the next milestone, whether that means taking a graduate school class, diving headfirst into a new work project, volunteering at a local animal shelter or heading to the library. Whatever path you take, success is possible with dedication and hard work.
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