Career Tips: How To Get the Job and Develop Your Career

Career Tips: How To Get the Job and Develop Your Career

Regardless of where you’re at in your career, it’s imperative that you continually find ways to grow. By learning some of the top career tips, you can ensure that you’re getting the most out of your career. In this article, we provide more tips to help you in your career, including tips for increasing productivity, communicating clearly, and developing professional relationships.

General professional advice

Here’s some advice that could prove helpful, regardless of whether you’re just starting in your profession or you have a successful career:

1. Avoid relying solely on professional success and a great career to give your life meaning.
2. Regardless of appearances, becoming successful usually takes a long time. Be patient and put in the work.
3. Building a loyal group of supportive colleagues is usually the first step in getting ahead at work.
4. Remember to pay attention to the details while also maintaining a larger perspective.
5. Properly channeled and expressed emotions, even anger, can be useful in a professional setting.
6. It’s important that you learn how to manage your work-related stress in a healthy way, like through yoga or exercise.
7. It’s okay to question the knowledge and expertise of those in leadership positions, as long as you remain professional and respectful.
8. Regardless of the time or setting, you are always acting as a representative of your company when you are around colleagues and clients.
9. If you want to become more charismatic, you should first focus on becoming more optimistic and energetic. People tend to feel naturally drawn to individuals with a positive attitude.
10. First impressions are often made in the first few seconds of meeting someone. Be aware of your body language and appearance when you first meet someone.

Searching for work

As you look for a job, keep these things in mind:

1. By mastering the tumultuous process of searching for, applying for and getting a job, you can build important skills that will help you overcome challenges in the future.
2. Utilize every resource at your disposal when looking for openings.
3. After you’ve been laid off, mourn briefly before moving on to the next opportunity.
4. Hiring managers care less about where you went to college than what you studies and/or accomplished while there.
5. Recruiters are a professional resource, so keep the relationship as professional as possible.
6. Look for startup companies that have recently made an impressive profit because they will likely be hiring soon.
7. Wait to read company reviews until you get an interview.
8. It can be beneficial to send your resume to employers at the beginning of the week.
9. Even if you love your current job, remain aware of the available opportunities.
10. If you want to get hired before graduating from college, you should focus your attention on polishing your resume and cover letter.

Crafting a resume

As you develop your resume, keep these tips in mind:

1. Instead of mentioning quirky facts or hobbies, focus on relevant strengths.
2. When listing your accomplishments, try to be as specific as possible by including facts and figures.
3. It can be helpful to create a specific email folder where you can save your positive feedback. Then refer back to the messages you’ve received as you write your resume.
4. Your resume is meant to provide a brief overview of your professional highlights. Instead of relying on just the resume to communicate exactly who you are, remember that you also have your cover letter and your interview.
5. When reading through your first resume draft, ignore grammatical errors and typos and instead focus on the overarching message that your resume is sending.
6. Utilize impactful verbs when describing your past work experience.
7. You have limited space on your resume, so choose your words critically.
8. Remember that your resume’s ability to highlight your eligibility for the role is more important than its length.
9. Most companies use some sort of resume tracking system, so familiarizing yourself with how they work can ensure you create an effective resume.
10. Know your audience. Certain job positions could look favorably on a creative or interactive resume.

Related: How To Make a Resume (With Examples)

Creating a cover letter

You can craft a great cover letter by following these tips:

1. Make sure that your cover letter details your strengths as well as how you would apply them to contribute to the company and role.
2. When writing your cover letter, it can sometimes be helpful to pretend that the hiring manager already likes and respects you.
3. Get to know the personality of a company and its culture like you would a person.
4. Imagining that you’re just writing an email to the hiring manager instead of crafting a cover letter can help alleviate some of the pressure.
5. Allow the cover letter to complement or expound upon the details in your resume.
6. Avoid cliches meant to entice the hiring manager.
7. Find out the hiring manager’s name and use it.
8. Let your qualifications speak to your eligibility.
9. Highlight how the company’s values and mission align with your own.
10. Stay positive and focus on your strengths instead of your lack of experience.

Related: How To Write a Cover Letter

Effective interviewing

If you want to ace your interview, keep these things in mind:

1. When researching a company before an interview, focus on its competitive advantage in its industry.
2. Always bring a notepad and pen, samples of your work and at least three copies of your resume to an interview.
3. Study the job description to ensure that you are familiar with every aspect of the role you’re interviewing for.
4. If asked about your greatest weakness, choose something that is authentic and creative.
5. During a phone interview, you can boost your confidence and resonate positivity by smiling throughout the interaction.
6. If you have a video interview, choose your location and outfit to fit the format.
7. Maintain eye contact to communicate your interest in the position.
8. Research the employer and hiring manager, but still keep the interaction professional rather than personal.
9. Send a thank you email as well as a handwritten card within 24 hours of the interview.
10. When following up after an interview, make sure you are humble and polite.

Related: 21 Job Interview Tips: How To Make a Great Impression

Professional relationships

In order to be successful in your career, you must foster meaningful professional relationships.

1. Be kind to everyone you come into contact with, regardless of their position.
2. Remember that actively listening to others is the most important aspect of effective communication.
3. Every connection you make, both personally and professionally, could lead to a new and exciting opportunity, so be a positive representative of yourself and your brand at all times.
4. Individuals in support roles could be invaluable networking contacts.
5. Practice empathy with everyone, including your boss. Try to view the cost-benefit analysis from their perspective before pitching a new idea.
6. Though developing technical skills can sometimes take precedence in the workplace, soft skills are a necessity for your professional success and development.
7. Save your apologies for when you’re taking responsibility for something you’ve done wrong.
8. If you want management to see you as a leader, you should showcase your ability to adapt to changing environments.
9. Mentors can be a great source of insight and their input is valuable, but you should make your own decisions.
10. Regularly ask for feedback from your coworkers and managers.

Leadership

Here are some tips if you are in a management position:

1. Prioritize thinking about and fostering your workplace culture.
2. Keep meetings to a minimum and when you do have them, ensure they stay focused and productive.
3. Evaluate how you’re treating new hires and whether they feel valued and challenged.
4. When interviewing a candidate, pause after they answer a question. This gives them a chance to think through their response and clarify or add to their answer.
5. Understand a task completely before delegating it to another person.
6. To build trust, only make promises to the staff that you know you can keep.
7. Personal check-ins that aren’t related to work are a great way to foster loyalty and communication.
8. If you and your staff work remotely, making sure that everyone has the same technology can streamline processes and make things more efficient.
9. Remain open to employee feedback and calm as you receive it.
10. Be fair, honest and open with your employees.

Productivity

You can become more effective and efficient in your role by following these tips:

1. Effectively managing your energy as well as your time can have a huge impact on your productivity.
2. Create a plan for the day but remain flexible.
3. Deleting distracting apps can dramatically boost your productivity.
4. Instead of relying on self-imposed deadlines, set due dates with your supervisor.
5. Sync all of your tasks into one master to-do list.
6. Find websites and tools that make your workday more efficient.
7. Customize your environment to promote productivity.
8. Utilize shortcuts and auto-responses to save time.
9. Choose wall colors and designs that foster creativity and productivity.
10. Prioritize proper sleep and wake routines to ensure you’re getting real rest.

Clear communication

Communication is an important skill in every role and industry. Here are some tips for communicating clearly at work:

1. Strategically placed pauses are an important aspect of communication, especially when delivering a presentation.
2. Create, utilize and customize templates for messages you send frequently.
3. The words you choose could be telling your professional contacts a lot about you, how you work and your overall satisfaction.
4. Using someone’s name is a great way to make a connection and diffuse an issue.
5. When interacting with someone new, search for your commonalities.
6. Rehearsing and preparing before a big presentation or meeting is a great way to calm your nerves and ensure you communicate effectively.
7. Instead of relying on email, remember that sometimes in-person communication is the most effective and productive use of time.
8. Before a conference call, make sure that everyone is aware of the format and procedures.
9. To overcome your fear of public speaking, you need to practice.
10. Recognize when you don’t understand or know something and ask for clarification.

Blogging and social media

Social media has become increasingly more prevalent, which is why it’s important that you understand it and use it to your advantage.

1. Regardless of the industry you work in, social media sites can be an incredible source of inspiration.
2. Building a personal website is a great way to get noticed by hiring managers.
3. Spend time crafting an effective professional bio.
4. When following up on social media after a networking event, make sure the message’s subject line is specific.
5. Post to your professional social media feed at least once a week.
6. Following companies on social media is a great way to stay up-to-date on job openings.
7. Posting on social media about looking for a job could allow you to utilize your network.
8. Social media is a great way to learn about happenings in your industry.
9. Actively getting professional reviews or recommendations online can be invaluable when you look for a new job.
10. Find and join community groups relevant to your career or field to grow your network.