The Best 10 Pieces of Career Advice to Reach Your Goals Need help figuring out your career path for achieving your goals? These 10 pieces of career advice can help you reach those goals quickly.
By Dan Bova
Everyone's career path is different. But every career path also shares some fundamental similarities, including importance of staying focused and networking.
Whether you're a young professional or an experienced worker changing your career or pursuing a new goal, the best career advice can significantly help.
Keep reading for a closer look.
1. Have a general path at all times
First, you should always have at least a general career path in the back of your mind.
Even if you don't know precisely what you want to do or where you want to end up in 10 years, for instance, you should know:
- What field do you wish to work in?
- How much money do you want to be earning in 10 years?
- Where do you want to be in the future?
These basic guidelines might seem overly simplistic. But they can do a lot to help focus your efforts and avoid stagnation in your career field. They'll keep you moving, learning and pursuing better jobs throughout your professional life, helping you achieve greater heights than you might otherwise.
Your current job is just the beginning of your journey — your next role and every job and career decision you pursue after that will all help pave the path to career success.
2. Who you know is just as important as what you know
There's an old saying that is true in every career field and industry: it's not what you know but who you know. Indeed, if you want to reach your goals as quickly as possible, you should network aggressively.
Make friends with your superiors, coworkers and others in your industry or niche.
As you know more people, you'll learn more about:
- What valuable skills (soft skills and technical ones) will allow you to enhance your career prospects?
- Which open job positions might be closer to your ultimate goal?
- Who should you talk to to pursue new objectives?
In many instances, who you know can make or break a job opportunity or offer. Say you are in a close race with another job candidate for your dream position. If you know your future boss, you can meet with them privately and express interest in the position.
If everything else is equal between you and the other candidate, such a connection could help you secure that job offer.
3. Experiment with new ideas and opportunities
You should always experiment with new ideas and opportunities at the beginning of your career, in the middle of your professional development and well into your overall professional journey. Don't allow yourself to fall into professional stagnation.
For instance, if your workplace offers a free networking event where you can socialize with coworkers and learn new skills about programming, you should attend it. Why? Learning a new skill bolsters your resume if you ever need to pursue another job and keeps your brain fresh, agile and flexible.
This can help you adapt your career goals as needed. You never know when your overall goals may change. Therefore, you should always be open to new ideas and opportunities, no matter your industry or niche.
Related: Score Career Advice from an Award-Winning Venture Capitalist
4. Never stop learning
By the same token, never stop learning, no matter what field you are in. Your goals might be relatively simple. For example, you may want to acquire a job that gives you a six-figure salary. But even if you get to that job position, you should continue to learn new skills.
This enables you to pursue even further, better goals. For example, if you keep learning by taking the occasional college class or certificate program, you'll be a desirable hire in your industry, particularly compared to your competitors or similar specialists in the same niche.
Constant learning is even more critical for young professionals pursuing their goals for the first time.
If, for instance, you are at an entry-level job, you'll climb the professional ladder much more quickly if you constantly learn and take every opportunity to add a new skill to your skill set.
5. Be a team player
Being a team player is crucial to reach your goals regardless of your career field. That's because most jobs prioritize those who get along well with others, lead teams and help large projects go off without a hitch.
If you are a solo worker and don't play well with others, you'll find it difficult to network successfully.
Furthermore, people will be less likely to give you promotions and prioritize you over other workers. These roadblocks can make it harder to achieve your long-term goals, whatever they may be.
Related: 7 Bits of Wise Career Advice That Don't Apply to Entrepreneurs
6. Welcome all feedback
To ensure that you constantly evolve in the best way possible, you should welcome all feedback related to your skills or job performance.
If your boss wants you to improve something, focus on it ASAP. If your superiors praise your skills, double down on those positive elements.
In any case, feedback is a crucial tool to make yourself an ever more valuable and attractive company hire. If your goals require you to leapfrog from company to company or position to position, you can use feedback to ensure you continually grow in the right direction.
Job seekers like you can use feedback to pursue career development goals and make informed career changes.
7. Maintain a work-life balance
At the same time, don't let your goals take over your life completely. It's essential to maintain an excellent work-life balance, both for your mental health and for achieving your goals in the long term.
But how can this be? If you don't maintain a good work-life balance, you'll experience burnout and stress. Given enough time, this can make it much harder for you to focus and give your goals the attention they deserve.
A work-life balance is crucial to achieving your career goals to maintain energy and drive over long timeframes.
No one achieved their goals over a matter of weeks. In all likelihood, your goals will be achieved over several years. A solid work-life balance with time for recreation will help you avoid crashing and burning in the middle of your journey.
8. Ask for help and mentorship
Mentors can be invaluable social advantages, so seek them out. Don't be afraid to ask for help from supervisors, coworkers and others in your industry.
Help and mentorship may enable you to avoid pitfalls or hurdles encountered by other professionals in the same field, particularly if they are trying to race up the corporate ladder just like you.
Having a mentor can also put you on a fast track for promotions and new job opportunities with their expert advice. Plus, a mentor like a career coach can assist with a job search or internships.
Before you meet with recruiters, they can help with career planning and cover letter writing: all good things as you seek out your dream job.
Related: The No-BS Career Advice You Wish You Had 5 Years Ago
9. Attend networking events
Networking events are some of the most powerful opportunities for you to make new friends, build meaningful professional relationships and learn the ins and outs of your industry — an especially salient concern if you have switched careers for a new goal.
Networking events can help you achieve career goals by:
- Giving you a chance to learn new, industry-relevant skills, plus insider tips like what interview questions you should expect for new career opportunities.
- Allowing you to partner with others in the same field, including coworkers and supervisors.
Both of these benefits are invaluable. With networking, you'll be alerted to new job positions more quickly, plus keep abreast of industry developments.
That information can allow you to pursue the right certificate programs or skills to make yourself the go-to choice for open positions you wish to acquire.
10. Allow your goals to change
Perhaps most importantly, don't forget to allow your goals to change. Your career goals might start one way but evolve or shift over time. Don't feel bad if your career goals change as you age, start a family or take your life on a different journey.
Your goals can and will change in all likelihood. Lean into those changes and don't fall for the sunk cost fallacy (e.g., not pursuing a new degree or career because you didn't a few years ago).
Often, the new opportunity and job title are well worth the effort.
Related: Here's Some Good Advice. Don't Listen to Any More Career Advice
Excel in your career
Ultimately, the above 10 pieces of career advice should help you reach your goal no matter what it happens to be.
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