Career Advancement Opportunities For Busy Professionals
Sometimes getting a better job position is not as simple as doing your tasks well and hoping to get noticed for a promotion. Career advancement strategies suggest trying to take bigger leaps from time to time to make yourself indispensable to employees. Regular advice like going back to school or transitioning to a more demanding field is not easy to follow when you already have a busy career going and little spare time. If you don’t want to stay where you are in your career, read our overview of the best career advancement opportunities for busy professionals like you.
Get an Online Degree
Going back to school to earn a traditional degree is highly unfeasible for someone who is already immersed in the business world. For many professionals, the idea of running from class to class and writing homework seems daunting. Yet most of them agree that furthering their education increases their marketability significantly. In the context of continuing education, online degrees provide all the flexibility that traditional programs lack, with the same long-term returns on investment.
An advanced online degree from an accredited program is a chance to gain in-depth knowledge of various branches of the business world which you don’t feel confident yet to pursue. This makes the degree well worth the trouble, not even considering the networking possibilities it presents and leadership skills you will acquire. Whether you hope to move up with your role or transition to a different department of your company, an online degree can open many doors.
Join A Professional Association
Regardless of your profession, there are relevant associations and organizations that bring professionals together for meetings, conferences and training opportunities. Joining an association gives members access to a vast network of resources. Besides adding credibility to your resume, a professional organization is a perfect environment to hone your leadership, communication and organization skills if you decide to take on a more active role in your free time.
One of the greatest benefits of a professional association is that it provides unlimited opportunities for networking with fellow experts and leaders of your industry. Gradually, this can lead to new collaborations or job offers that vastly surpass your current position. Even if you decide to remain loyal to your company, adhering to a professional association gives you a leg up by allowing you to gain industry insights from multiple sources.
Learn a New Language
As simple as this advice might seem, learning another language can give you an edge over monolingual candidates for important job positions. As more and more companies go global, there’s an increasing demand in all professions for employees who are bilingual or multilingual. Knowing two or more languages also gives you access to more resources, conferences and job markets. This includes a chance for a higher salary and other perks like paid travel.
Fluency in a foreign language makes you a viable candidate for a better job abroad or for a promotion in your international company. It also comes with an increased awareness of cultural differences and thus expands networking opportunities. Global companies want employees that can integrate into several cultures without communication gaps.