5 Tips You Must Know to Advance Your Career in 2019

It’s a candidate’s market, with low unemployment and a growing economy – making it the perfect time to advance your career in 2019. You may be looking to grow within your current company or maybe expand your horizons in a new opportunity.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person stays in a job for about 4.2 years; and for millennials, that number has gone down to an average of 2.8 years. If this trend continues, job seekers can benefit from a better understanding of how to advance their careers within or beyond their current company.

5 Tips To Advance Your Career In 2019

1. Identify Your Ideal Job

Take some time to think about what your ideal job looks like, and the more detailed you can be, the better. Here are a few questions to consider:

• Do you want to stay at your current company, or would you prefer to work in a different industry or role?

• Does a large, big-name, structured organization meet your needs or would a small, energetic startup appeal more?

• Do you prefer working in a collaborative atmosphere or driving results on your own?

Then, consider the actual day-to-day activities required by your ideal job. Is there any aspect of your current job that you love so much you’d do it for free? Are there some responsibilities you’d be happy to never think about again? Be creative and brainstorm openly, until you have a very clear picture of your dream job.

2. Improve Or Expand Your Skill Set

Once you have identified your ideal situation, assess your existing skills and research what you need in terms of top resume skills to make you an ideal candidate. Then, you can take on additional projects at your current job, take classes, or work with a volunteer organization to improve your skill set and close the gaps.

3. Curate Social Media

A recent CareerBuilder survey found that 70 percent of employers review a candidate’s social media accounts for job research, and over half of those have discovered content on social media that negatively affected the candidate’s job prospects.

Prior to beginning a job search, review all public social media accounts with the eye of a potential employer, and do what you can to remove the content you’d prefer to keep private. Ensure that all job-related information is updated, particularly on LinkedIn.

Once your online presence is fresh and professional, use social media platforms as the basis for social networking. Be active, expand your networks, join in relevant professional discussions and speak to your online connections about job and career concerns and potential opportunities.

4. Networking

Finding your dream job may mean putting some effort into networking, to expand your opportunities and reach the right people for the right position. One study, from LinkedIn, found that 85% of all jobs are filled by networking.

Social media is a powerful tool for networking, as your connections may have connections to your ideal career, company, or industry. A bit of effort can drive excellent results in expanding your network and targeting the specific people that can help you advance your career.

Attending networking events, however, is just as important. A LinkedIn survey found that 80% of all professionals said that networking is important to career success, and 68% of junior-level professionals value face-to-face over online interactions.

5. Partner With A Recruiter

There are many advantages to partnering with a recruiting firm to advance your career. Job recruiters have access to career advancement opportunities that never reach the general public. By putting yourself forward as part of an agency talent pool, candidates gain visibility in front of companies that align with their career advancement goals.

Additionally, communicating with recruiters can help you advance your career by evaluating your current skills and abilities to identify gaps so that you can be prepared when your dream job is available. Recruiting firms also provide leads on alternate types of employment – part-time, temporary, or contract employees that can allow you to test out what working at a company will actually be like prior to accepting a permanent offer of employment.

Sparks Group is a national staffing and recruiting firm that helps place jobs seekers into fulfilling careers by strategically matching them to companies aligned with their career advancement goals. Our recruiters work closely with candidates to prepare them in their efforts to find a job and advance their careers.

Make 2019 the year to advance your career and find your dream job. Visit our job board to browse hundreds of new opportunities or contact our recruiting team for more information.

Sources:

1. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm
2. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.t04.htm
3. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-than-half-of-employers-have-found-content-on-social-media-that-caused-them-not-to-hire-a-candidate-according-to-recent-careerbuilder-survey-300694437.html
4. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-survey-reveals-85-all-jobs-filled-via-networking-lou-adler/
5. https://news.linkedin.com/2017/6/eighty-percent-of-professionals-consider-networking-important-to-career-success