Career progression should start with a plan. You have to recognize the position you desire in your working life. You might be able to accomplish this within your current company, or you may have to change companies to achieve that higher position. 

Networking is an effective way to progress your career. Networking can start within your own company, sharing your skills and knowledge with others. Also, attend conferences, training events and networking events to network with people outside your company. 

Use your appraisals to help keep track of your progress. Praise and criticism help us to develop. Criticism helps you to improve your work performance, while praise gives you the motivation to push on and take on more challenging tasks. It’s that motivation to that final goal that will keep you moving as you step the ladder a rung at a time. 

There is currently a lot of news surrounding the demand for employees across all sectors. It could be the opportunity to begin your search for the job you have always wanted or go after that promotion.

When job hunting, consider your skill set and how much you would like to earn and the type of work or organisation you would like to be involved in. You will spend a lot of time there, so doing something that you are interested in should always be a priority.

If you are already with a company you enjoy working for, it is always good to keep an eye on opportunities for promotion and progression. Taking an interest in any courses or training offered can draw attention to your desire to progress and give you a solid backing when interviewing for internal positions.

For those who are seeking employment or new employment opportunities, there is some good news! As the UK eases out of the current lockdown, businesses are finding that they are experiencing a shortage in employees. The economy and job market has been showing positive signs of recovery with unemployment dropping slightly. In the three months, leading to March, the unemployment rate was at 4.9 per cent and has recently dropped to 4.8 per cent.

Many are hoping that this is a good sign that unemployment will continue to decrease as many businesses need more staff to compensate for more customers. Another positive and significant sign, is that UK job postings have increased to pre-pandemic levels. The vaccination roll-out and COVID numbers will still likely have an affect on restrictions in the UK but hope is on the horizon for many who have struggled, employment-wise, during the pandemic. Thankfully, more businesses are hiring again.

An ever-growing demand, in business leadership, are for candidates with emotional intelligence. Whilst job skills and knowledge are important, emotional intelligence, or EQ is being realised as a critical success factor in leadership and team management. EQ is the ability to identify, understand and manage human emotion in a positive way to help relieve stress, improve effective communication, empathise with others, defuse conflict and overcome challenges.

Whilst EQ is predominately an attribute that comes with personal growth and experience, this journey can be helped along with a bit of study and education into how you can tap into and improve your own emotional intelligence. The four key attributes that make up EQ are Self Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management.

Daniel Goleman is one of the leading experts in this subject and has written several books and learning aids to help managers and leaders develop their EQ. Improving your EQ will help you and those around you be more successful and work together more harmoniously.

If you are looking to move in to a sales position then there are some points to consider to ensure that the career path is right for you.

• Time – Often sales jobs can be a little anti-social. It may be that you are expected to work later in the evenings or weekends when sales to the public mostly take place.
• Travel – Some sales jobs involve a lot of travel. This may be travelling locally to see clients or suppliers or you may even have to venture abroad for a number of weeks / months to oversee a new project or receive training to help you with your sales role.
• Pay – Some sales jobs come with quite a low base salary. This is because the majority of your money is earned through the sales you make. So if you do not sell anything, you will not make a lot of money. Some of the best sales people more than triple their basic salary with commission and / or bonuses.

For many people, they simply cannot walk in to the job role they want. Everyone has to start somewhere and often that involves working for a lower salary, long hours or having to travel a far distance to work.

Employers like to find staff that are conscientious and hard working. If you can show them that you are willing to muck in and put pride and effort in to any role you are given you are likely to progress up the career ladder quickly.

I, myself, started working as a cleaning at a car dealership and because they were so impressed with the pride I took in the job, very quickly offered me a job on the reception desk. This then led to a further promotion in to the Sales Administration role which was the job role I had wanted to work in.

It just shows that a little hard work really does go a long way.

Unfortunately one of the main reasons people tend to leave self-employment is due to lack of organisation. This may be that they are not very good at managing their time, forget to write down appointments for get too easily distracted and are not disciplined enough to use their “work time” productively.

Organisation is the key to ensure that your self-employment has the best chance of working. You will have to keep detailed records of all your accounts and make sure that you have receipts at the ready should you need to show them for a tax investigation.

Not only do you need to organise your accounts but you need to ensure that you have fully understood a project that you need to undertake and have taken down clear and concise notes from the client. If you do not do this, you will find yourself wasting time and possibly having to go back to the client to ask them again.

Many people get nervous when it comes to attending an interview for a job position but they may not realise that many employers actually get really nervous too. Finding the right employee can be a hard task at times, it may be that you are inundated with CV’s to go through and do not want to miss someone that may be perfect or maybe that you have only a handful none of which stand out as being suitable.

When interviewing a candidate, make sure you have a set questions that you wish to ask already written down and take detailed notes on the interviewee’s responses so you can compare at a later date. If there are any anomalies within their CV such as a crossover of employment or a gap in their work history then do not be afraid to ask.

If you are still not decided after the first interview then why not invite someone back for a second time or even ask them in for a trial session.

Going self employed can seem a daunting prospect. There’s funding to get the business off the ground, accounting and record keeping and insurance to consider. Add to that no more annual leave, sick pay or other benefits you may have enjoyed as an employee. All this before you’ve even got to work!

That’s all the negativity out of the way lets consider the positives. You’re your own boss and can organise your own time. This makes a particularly attractive prospect if you have children but don’t forget, you need to keep your customers happy. You need to be self motivated and committed to the business or it won’t do well.

It can be tough starting out but the potential to grow your business if you work hard can pay off well in the end. You’ll get great job satisfaction as you are the benefactor of your hard work.

These days, jobs education is in high demand as there is a lot of accent on offering comprehensive and quality education right from the ground up. Generally, the need for getting more people into schools has, over the years, become more acute in providing them with a better and secures future as well as a gainful employment. More federal opportunities and funding are underway to establish programs, which can benefit many people and also offer ample jobs in education. There are several jobs available in the education sector, which do not need traditional teaching in a classroom. The following is a list of some careers you can pursue if you are aspiring to work in the education sector.

Technology Specialist

The majority of people don’t even think that a school system might need someone with a technology experience or background. However, people who have the necessary qualification and skills in various areas of technology are capable of finding jobs in education sector and in other industries more easily. In some schools, a technology specialist can be called a school computer technician or specialist. These people have the responsibility of teaching other staff and even students on latest educational software. There is a predicted substantial growth under this career in the next few years to come.

Education Administrator

This yet another great job in the education sector that is more sensitive. If you are interested in making sure, the institution runs properly, then becoming an education administrator is ideal for you. In this position, you are responsible for ensuring that the budget is always followed and the curriculum requirements or standards are all met. To become an education administrator, at least you need to obtain a masters’ degree.

Librarian

If you have a great passion for books, then a career as a school librarian can be good for you. Librarians are usually hired in school systems, federal, and private sectors, but a higher number are employed in schools and universities. In many countries, to start a career as a librarian you need to pass a certification exam. However, in others you need to obtain a degree and pass the certification test in library science.

Special Education Teacher

According to the career experts, special education teaching career is the most sought one after teachers. In order to excel in this position, you must have a lot of patience and being capable of calming your students and teach them at the same time. Because of an increased demand, most people who already have this experience can freely want to work anywhere since getting a job is much easier. To get you started in this career, you need to have a teaching license and a bachelor’s degree. This area is also expected to have high growth.

Lastly, the greatest benefit in these jobs is that there is always something for everyone and opportunities for jobs in education sector are available provided that you have the necessary documents under the position you want to apply. Also remember that education work and teachers job listings varies in requirements and salary based on the state you work in, but there so many opportunities for these jobs everywhere nowadays.