This post is featured on behalf of Stacey White.
Once you graduate from college or high school and land yourself your first full-time job, your professional development will be your own responsibility. You won’t have your teachers and lecturers standing behind you to motivate you every step of the way anymore. Sure, you will now have managers and supervisors who can help you in their workplace, but they will have a lot more important things to focus on.
So, as you can tell then, if you want a promotion and to develop in your career, you are going to have to be your own cheerleader. Here are a few different ways you can own your professional development:
Find A Mentor
You might like the idea of finding your own personal mentor. There are lots of mentors out there who will be able to meet with you on a regular basis and discuss your career and its progression with you. They will also be able to give you plenty of advice and answer any questions that you may have.
There are now lots of full-time mentors who offer their guidance for a fee, but if you know someone in a personal capacity who would be a useful mentor then it’s worth asking them if they will take you under their wing for a while.
Take Some Courses
If you know that there is one particular area of your job that you are quite weak in, it’s worth taking the time to do some extra training.
There are lots of other courses out there that you might want to think about, including ones that aim to strengthen your leadership and communication skills.
Consider A Professional Membership
Depending on the industry in which you work, you might find that there is a professional society, union, or organization that all employees can join. Even though you will need to pay for this yourself, it will certainly be worth it. That’s because all members will be entitled to a variety of resources and training materials that will help them improve in the workplace.
Some such organizations will also be able to put you in touch with professionals and experts if you ever need anyone’s advice regarding your job.
Talk To Your Manager
Don’t forget that it is always worth speaking to your manager as well. Even though they might not be able to explicitly help you with your own career progression, they could still give you a review. During the review, they will be able to tell you what your strengths and weaknesses in the role are. That way, you will know how you can improve. It’s also worth asking them to give you some short and long-term goals for you to work towards.
It’s important that you own your professional development so that you get to where you want to end up in life!