Few ways to advance your career in 2024

We are a few days into the New Year. Like last time, you may have made some career resolutions or goals that you intend to achieve this year, or fulfil the ones you missed in the year just ended. Perhaps, advancement in your present career is part of the New Year resolutions. Despite the challenges and disruptions that are currently being witnessed in the country, you can still achieve your goals and make yourself more relevant in the job market. Here are few ways. 

Have career purpose
Career advisors say it is essential to have a purpose in your career. Purpose is what will give you focus and direction, and help you meet your career objectives. To know whether you're moving in the right direction, ask yourself questions like: What would I like to achieve in a few months – a promotion or a pay raise? When you have an answer, find out what it takes to get that promotion or pay raise. For the latter, you may ask for a work appraisal if the organisation doesn't ordinarily do periodical reviews on individual employees but bases everything on teamwork. And if you're struggling in your career, it pays to plan, prepare, and position yourself for a career changing opportunity.

Networking matters
A good network of persons sharing similar work ideals as yours will boost your career. Networking is good as your network sources can recommend you to an employer as a competent person with requisite skills for a job placement if an opportunity arises. The reason you're stuck in the same job position is because of the monotony. There are less chances to advance to another level, and you've accepted that position and little pay increments that are meant to cushion you against inflation but make little sense when the government raids almost half of it for taxes. Remember that your contacts can share with you how they handled similar problems at your workplace, and could lead to that promotion.

Be positively focused
Make good out of every bad situation. Your career may not be rewarding and the work environment may be demotivating. You can still sail through by cultivating a mental image of success. It is the same mental picture you would approach work with in an enabling environment. Remember you may be mentoring others and they may adopt your positive attitudes to work. If the environment is poor, those under you are likely to be less productive.

Be keen on self-development
You may have planned to take new courses, but the clash of schedules or other personal commitments hindered you. You can still find time to advance your career by taking that course. Invest in evening classes or online and correspondence studies. Ensure there are no conflicting interests to your schedules. Academic and professional advancements can greatly boost your prospects of career and personal growth.

Be quick to embrace technology
That job you've coveted could be less glamorous before the end of this decade as technology continues to disrupt various industries and markets especially with the rise of artificial intelligence. All is not lost, though, as knowing which direction the wind of technology is blowing and aligning yourself to that direction will help you stay marketable.

Know which courses you can invest in so that when disruptions occur, you can seamlessly adapt and be retained by your employer. Take the example where industries are investing in robots as a cost cutting measure. How about taking a course in robotics? What about another in data programming or in cyber security? Robots will still need human operators to work effectively. Hackers will still be there to compromise operations or steal sensitive organisation data or compromise operations through malware. Also, robots will need to be reprogrammed for specific functions as needs arises.

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