Reviewed by Jessica Roper, MBA, director of Career Services at University of Phoenix
Reviewed by Jessica Roper, MBA, director of Career Services at University of Phoenix
When we think of career growth, we often picture a direct climb up the corporate ladder. Career advancement, however, is not just about promotions. Growing your career can include exploring nontraditional opportunities like making lateral moves, refining transferable skills and seeking personal development.
If you’re feeling stagnant in your current job with no apparent path forward, here are six ways to put your career — and its potential — back in your hands.
If there’s no room above you, there may be some room beside you. In fact, lateral moves — when you shift to a different role on the same level — can be a smart way to grow your career. This change lets you see your workplace from a new angle, pick up different skills and work (and network!) with new people.
Browse opportunities on your company's career page to see if lateral moves are available. If you don’t see anything there, try talking to colleagues on teams adjacent to yours. Some of the best learning opportunities start from a conversation! Assess and understand how your current skills can apply to different positions; then, when the time is right, apply for that role. Better yet, build a relationship with the hiring manager to improve your visibility for new roles.
If you want to gain experience and build your skills without leaving your current role, volunteer to assist another team with an exciting new project that’s beyond your usual scope. This cross-functional collaboration becomes an opportunity to refine a wide range of your skills and learn from others.
Volunteering outside your workday is another excellent way to achieve these same results. How about spending time at a local nonprofit organization, for example? Depending on which organization you choose, you might meet new people and learn new skills — and this might lead to job opportunities that depend on the new knowledge and abilities you gain from this experience.
A lot of times, people imagine volunteering opportunities as being very hands-on, such as building houses or cleaning animal cages. However, plenty of nonprofits need volunteers to help out around the office, to organize events or to manage projects. Find a cause that’s important to you. Then, see how you can get involved: Ask questions and work with leaders there to upskill while making a difference.
Transferable skills are those you take to any job in any industry. These skills, such as effective communication, adaptability, time management and problem-solving, help you fit into roles much easier because they are helpful everywhere.
According to the National Soft Skills Association, 85% of career success comes from good people skills and soft skills; only 15% stems from technical skills and knowledge (hard skills).
To help you increase your skill set when it comes to these transferable skills, figure out what your top skills are. What do you do best? Where do you struggle?
To honestly assess this, review the feedback you’ve received throughout the year, or request feedback from colleagues you trust. This will help you increase your self-awareness and identify where you need to stretch yourself in service of soft-skill development.
Once you know where to grow, create a plan. You can build soft skills through:
Let’s say you’re working on a team project. Write down the specific soft skills you used to complete it. For example: “Collaborated with Judy in Finance to complete the fiscal report. To do this, I shared responsibilities and improved communication and teamwork between departments.” These are valuable skills to put on your resumé and mention in job interviews. What you learn from enhancing your soft skills is valuable in advancing your emotional intelligence — and your career.
Beyond communication and problem-solving lies a host of desirable soft skills, like:
Is it time to expand your career horizons by strategically developing relevant skills? Professional development courses can allow you to build on your work experience with new knowledge that rounds out your skill set.
While you will gain skills and possibly a digital badge or certificate of completion from a professional development course, enrolling in a certificate program is slightly different. At University of Phoenix, for example, they are often credit-bearing and can be applied to a degree program now or later.
Both options provide pathways to learning new and valuable career-relevant skills and are worth exploring for those who want to quickly enhance their knowledge.
If you work in a specific industry, you may look into earning a dedicated certification. In my career, for example, I earned my Senior Professional in Human Resources certification to enhance my skill set and professional credibility.
Finally, joining a professional association is always a good idea. It gives you access to ongoing dialogue about your industry or interest. It may also offer the opportunity to network or even lead at some point.
A great way to enhance your career is through mentorship or coaching. Ideally, your mentor is in (or has been in) a position you would like to be in someday and is invested in seeing you grow in your role, company or career.
You can find a mentor in your organization or industry but be aware that they have to be willing to give up their time to meet with you on a semi-regular basis. Consider setting up a recurring meeting (weekly coffee dates or biweekly lunches) over an established time frame, such as six months or a year. The goal is for your mentor to share lessons learned, strategize how to work through obstacles and give career mapping advice.
Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone intentionally learns from them. One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself as a student, employee and human being is to learn adaptability.
Adaptability is the ability to pivot in response to changing circumstances and embrace new ideas. It is all about growing from what you have been through and showing how it has prepared you for new challenges.
Over my career, I have coached hundreds of professionals and reviewed thousands of resumés. I have observed that resiliency is a common trait among people who have significantly grown their careers. One way to learn resiliency is to reshape your mindset around the experiences you are having. Look at every experience with a “win or learn” mentality. Meaning, when you succeed, you win; when you don’t, you have the opportunity to learn something. (See how “failure” isn’t part of the equation?) This is the key to a resilient growth mindset.
Each challenge you have faced and overcome, every new skill learned, contributes to your personal and professional success. To build resilience, find the value in your experiences, even the “losses.”
Career growth is about more than just getting promoted up the corporate ladder. It is about diversifying experiences, developing new skills and growing as a person. Every choice you make in your career is a unique opportunity to improve your life.
Career growth doesn’t happen alone. University of Phoenix equips its students and graduates with the following resources to help them along the way.
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Kara Dennison is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Executive Career & Leadership Coach, and Forbes Contributor. She’s the CEO of Optimized Career Solutions and has helped over 2,000 high-achieving professionals and leaders land their dream jobs, helping to negotiate over $12M in salary increases. Her dream job is helping high achievers and leaders live authentic lives, starting with their careers. When she’s not writing for University of Phoenix or coaching high achievers and leaders, you can find her hanging out with her husband and two black cats or swinging in the hammock out back in her small, remote town in Tennessee.
Jessica Roper, University of Phoenix director of Career Services, is a seasoned leader with over 15 years of experience in leadership within higher education. She has honed her expertise in student services and career development and is passionate about helping others discover and refine their skills.
This article has been vetted by University of Phoenix's editorial advisory committee.
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