Career advice to get ahead!

Are you just existing in your career? Is it stalled? Do you want more than you’re getting out of your job? Is it JUST a job and not a career? I can help!

Know What You Want!

Before you can articulate to anyone about wanting more, to move up, to get ahead, you have to know precisely what you want. If you don’t know or are not specific enough, you can’t expect anyone else to know what you want. So give this some thought, if you haven’t already.

Tell Someone!

You can’t just sit back and expect opportunities to come your way. Sure, some might, and may even be good opportunities. But if you don’t tell someone what you’re looking for in a career the right opportunities for you probably aren’t going to just happen. Don’t be passive. Sitting back and hoping someone of authority sees something in you isn’t going to cut it! Believe me, I learned this the hard way. Some small opportunities happened, but it wasn’t until I actually told someone what I wanted that things started actually happening.

Real Life Example

I asked a coworker who had recently been promoted how he did it and he said “I told them that I wanted to move up, I wanted to be a store manager”. My head exploded!

I was a 20-year old, divorced, high school dropout with a 1-year old and living with my parents. I managed to get a job where my Mom worked answering phones and filing papers. It was my first office job after working as a cashier at a grocery store, at a fast food restaurant, a hostess, a waitress, a hotel front desk clerk and mini golf facilities. I thought I’d hit the jackpot! I quickly moved up to a sales position and even worked on the counter at this highly specialized HVAC wholesale distributor. I learned about motors and air conditioning systems, but I hated it!
Eventually I started making flyers for the company’s promotions and thought maybe I should have a career in computers. So I asked our computer programmer about how he got into programming, did he go to school for it? Did he know that’s what he wanted to do? Well, he needed help, saw that I was interested, and got me moved to the IT department to help him out. I excelled! I was integral in converting the company from green screen terminals to PC’s, getting everyone email addresses, installing RF scanner equipment and eventually started helping my boss with supporting other stores in the CoOp for their programming needs. I wasn’t programming, but I would troubleshoot, gather information, test and create documentation. There were parts of this job I liked, but at the end of the day I decided I like computers when they work. I wasn’t happy being the one people called because they had a problem. Somewhere in-between these two positions I completed a technical certificate program for medical transcription, because my boyfriend at the time said I needed to have a plan. But that didn’t go anywhere. Other opportunities came my way at my current job and that was safe so I stayed. I worked in IT for 8-years. I learned a LOT. But I was sexually harassed by my boss and disliked what I was doing.
At this point I decided to follow my childhood dreams. I always wanted to be a meteorologist! I was in my early 30’s, re-married (to that boyfriend who said I needed a plan) and went to college for the first time. I had gotten my GED at 26 years old. I quickly discovered that meteorology wasn’t going to work for me. But rather than giving up on the dream of an actual career, I just switched my major to marketing after researching that and graphic design. I chose marketing because I could do classes for that online and I had a young child at home so that worked best for me. I started college, taking 2 classes at a time, in 2005. In 2007-2008 the company I was doing software support for changed software and my boss was leaving the company. I had no idea what was going to happen to my job. Thankfully, the company saw enough value in me to keep me around, supporting the new software, but I was working with very little knowledge being new to the software. Luckily, I had participated heavily in converting the data from the old system to the new, which forced me to learn more about the new software than most of the people in the company. So even though it was new and I didn’t know much, I knew more than most.
One day, while traveling to another one of our locations with a co-worker who had recently been promoted to a manager position, I asked him how he got promoted. He had been working in the warehouse prior to that. He said to me “I told them that I wanted to move up, I wanted to be a store manager”. My head exploded! Wait.. you mean all you have to do is TELL them what you want??? How had I not thought about this before? The next opportunity I got, I went to the new VP of Sales and VP of Vendor Management & Marketing and told them I was currently in school for Marketing, I knew that was a big area we were getting into and that I would love an opportunity if something came available. I also made sure they knew that I was already handling the website and was particularly interested in Digital Marketing. Within 2-months I was working in the brand-new marketing department. Within a year I was promoted to Digital Marketing Manager – I remember that day clearly. After my boss left my office, I shut my door and jumped up and down with excitement! I had not even completed college yet. It would take 8 more years for that to happen!

Get Inspired

Yes! I was a dedicated, responsible, smart, hard-worker and that DID get me opportunities, but it wasn’t until I spoke up and told someone what I wanted that my dreams came true. So start thinking about what you want and GO TELL SOMEONE! Good Luck!