Whether you’re seeking a fresh new challenge, or you’re looking to develop in your current role, knowing exactly how to progress in your career can feel daunting. Read our top tips and advice on how to move up the ladder and excel in your professional development.
Identify your career development options
This one may sound obvious, but identifying your potential career options will help you plan for your future.
To identify your career development options, first try an online search to find out where you can take your current experience, and/or your qualifications. You could even do an online careers test that could help highlight different career options that you didn’t know were available.
There’s a wealth of knowledge and information online, such as forums, careers sites and social media that you can use to your advantage.
If you’re still unsure about how to progress in your career, and which path you want to pursue, often pinpointing what you don’t want first will help to highlight where your skills and interests should take you.
Wherever you’re looking to develop or change your career, you should feel empowered and supported to do so.
At Churchill, to empower our team’s personal development, we offer progressive and supportive employment opportunities, as well as career development options across our group.
Prepare evidence
Once you’ve identified your development options and established where you’d like to go in your career, it’s time to prepare. This means collecting a variety of evidence that details your career and training achievements. For example, you could document:
- Any qualifications you’ve received
- Evidence of skills you’ve learnt in your current role or in your own time
- Results or stand-out things you’ve already achieved
This is something you can do even before you think of moving roles.
Documenting anything you’ve achieved, or are proud of in your career, will help you by supporting your CV and interview when you’re ready to move up the ladder.
If you think you’re ready for a promotion, having this portfolio of achievements will help your employer to see some of your stand out achievements.
Find a mentor
A mentor can be someone inside or outside of your company. Or, if you’re just starting out in your career, a mentor could be someone you’ve met networking or during training.
They can help to give advice and offer perspective on the challenges you might be facing. On top of this, a mentor can help you identify career development options in a completely new or current role. Having this encouragement can stop you from stagnating in your role while supporting you in progressing your career.
At Churchill, we aim to mentor our team members by developing training opportunities so that everyone can thrive in a successful career. On top of this, our Employee Wellbeing Programme has been designed to prioritise the mental health of our staff.
Actively seek new challenges in your current role
You don’t always have to move jobs to develop your skills and gain valuable experience. Actively seeking out new ways you can upskill and learn something new will help you in progressing your career.
This might involve volunteering to tackle a new task or assist on a project. One of our Business Development Managers – Nadia Williams – has constantly sought new challenges to progress her career. Starting in Facilities Management 10 years ago after a career as an international triple jumper, Nadia worked her way up in Churchill from a Helpdesk Administrator to a Preventative Maintenance Manager.
Seeking out these new challenges will teach you how to be versatile and pivot – an invaluable professional skill.
Confidence
Once you’ve established where you want to be in your career, and built up that useful portfolio of evidence, the final piece of the puzzle is confidence.
Whether you’re looking for the next promotion or for a new career, being sure of your abilities is crucial to career development. Although it’s always easier said than done, having confidence in yourself and your professional abilities will help when it comes to how to progress in your career.
At Churchill, we aim to empower every team member with confidence in their ability. We do this by recognising and rewarding achievements. We take a human approach, and ensure that working with us is inclusive, welcoming and supportive.
Develop your career with Churchill
We have a vast number of career development options within Churchill, across our various career routes.
If you’re interested in taking the next step in your career, please view our vacancies or contact us to find out more.