Everyone gets to a point in their career where they feel as though it’s time for them to progress. Despite this, it can sometimes be tricky to determine which steps are actually required to improve your career. Sometimes, it’s not enough to wait for a pay review; occasionally, you need to take matters into your own hands and assess your progression by yourself. If you’re in a position where you feel as though you’ve got all you can from your current role, but you’re not sure how to progress, you might consider employing the following steps. Each is very important to improving your marketing career.
Consider Both Specific and Generalized Routes
Marketers pride themselves on being jacks of all trades, and this predominantly stems from the beginning of companies or the start of their individual careers. For instance, start-up companies often want their employees to be generalists, as this allows them to complete all manner of tasks. Similarly, in the early stages of their careers, marketers want to give everything a bit of a try to see which part of the field they’re most interested in. Despite this, as companies and professionals grow, they often find that they want to narrow their expertise so that they can master one aspect of the field.
Understand Your Next Step
It’s not enough to simply know that you’re ready for the next step in your career; you need to understand what this next logical step is. Whether you’re at an entry level and looking to progress to the junior team or you’re a junior team member looking to join the senior team, you need to know which route you’re going down. Take a look at the hierarchy at your workplace and position yourself within this. Then, establish where your next step would be to move up this hierarchy. This awareness will serve you well when it comes to having a discussion with your manager.
Assess Whether You’re Progressing Externally or Internally
There are two ways to progress in your career; one way is to move up the ladder externally, and the other way is to do so internally. There are pros and cons to each method, so it’s about assessing which would be most effective for you. For instance, does your position in your current company allow for progression? If not, it might be looking elsewhere. If your company seems happy to facilitate you in your progression, it might be worth remaining with the company, as you’ll likely benefit from being a long-term employee.
Set Intentional Career Goals
It’s very easy to become obsessed with your title at work rather than the role itself. In order to avoid this from happening, you should set intentional career goals that you’re working towards. This is because there might be aspects that you haven’t yet been able to achieve in your current role. This might include remote work, working with people whom you can learn from, managing budgets, being on a founding team, being part of a larger team, working in a new industry, or pursuing a certain speciality. These are all intentional goals that are likely to actually help you progress.
Determine Whether You’re Actually Ready
Lastly, it’s extremely common for people to believe that they’re ready to progress simply because they’re bored of their current role or they’re looking to earn more money. Despite this, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ready for the progression. Before you can actually work towards your career progression, you need to determine whether you’re genuinely ready for such. This is one of the most important aspects of career progression.
