How To Advance Your Career In Harlem

Harlem is a big city with a lot of people, but it also holds a lot of opportunity for furthering your career. While the competition is fierce and there’s a lot of noise to cut through, you should have the confidence in yourself to know that you can achieve what you put your mind to at the end of the day.

Advancing your career isn’t necessarily difficult to do but will take a certain amount of time and energy and perseverance on your end. It’s important to always keep trying to move forward and improve your skills and abilities if you want to get ahead in your professional life. You can’t sit around waiting for people and opportunities to find you, or you may get lost in the shuffle and have regrets later on.

Obtain the Right Qualifications

One way to advance your career in Harlem is to obtain the right qualifications and education you need for the job. You want to have these requirements taken care of so you can focus on landing a position that will be more satisfying for you over the long-term. For example, if you’re interested in working in healthcare, then you might consider registering for the DNP leadership program so you can show others you have what it takes to succeed in your role. The best part is that you can take the courses from the comfort of your own home online and pursue your dreams while keeping your day job. It’s important to understand and obtain the knowledge you need to do your job well, and so you can move up into a leadership role at your company.

Develop A Career Timeline

You should also get in the habit of setting and tracking your goals if you want to advance your career. Consider developing a career timeline and writing down exactly what it is you want to achieve, and by when to help you better succeed. Come up with objectives and tasks you need to complete and address and make sure you’re keeping on pace so you can land a more rewarding job at a quicker rate.

This timeline will help you to notice when you’re falling behind in certain areas and will notify you of any holdups or red flags that arise in the process of you pursuing your career goals. Without a plan in place and system for tracking your progress, you risk feeling unmotivated to find change right away and then getting comfortable in your old ways and failing to pursue your dreams. Review this timeline daily as a way to hold yourself accountable for all you set out to do and be sure to celebrate your milestones along the way to help keep you feeling inspired to keep going.

Get Feedback

It’s easy to become blind to what you’re not doing well or what you can be doing better when you get caught up working and trying to hit deadlines. What may help you the most when trying to advance your career is to reach out and get feedback from others regarding your performance and how they think you’re doing. Not only ask coworkers and your boss but also reach out and request input from friends, family members, and past employers. Not only gather responses and viewpoints from others but then take this advice and run with it so you can make real changes that are going to make a difference in your performance. Try your best not to take this advice personally and instead use it to your advantage so that you can turn out even better work outcomes over time.

Brand Yourself

Advancing your career is all about being able to sell your skills and prove to others that you’re the right candidate for the job. It’s a wise idea to spend your time coming up with a personal and brand image that others find appealing. Let your resume do the talking for you and confirm it’s up to date with the latest work experience and skills that you have. Make sure that when you meet others in the field that you’re professional in nature and are dressed for success so that they take you seriously and will remember you. You can more easily advance your career when you’re likable and talented, and others see you as authentic and a team player. You want people to know who you are and what you’re all about whenever they see or hear your name.

Focus on Client Service

The truth is that your customers are the most important part of the puzzle when it comes to progressing in your career. Therefore, advance your career in Harlem by focusing more on customer service and having others do the talking for you. For example, if someone has a truly great experience working with you, then they’re likely to share their positive remarks online or with your boss. This feedback is going to help you get recognized by others, and you’ll begin to see your career take off in the right direction. Sometimes it’s about focusing more on others instead of yourself and allowing the people who you interact with to speak up and out about why you’re great to work with. It’s even possible that a client of yours will want to steal you away and hire you into a role that you’ll find more gratifying.

Assess Your Skills

Advance your career in Harlem by getting in the habit of assessing your skills on a regular basis. Know exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are and how you can improve in certain areas that need your attention. Be mindful about what you’re good at so you can focus on selling yourself to potential employers in these areas to help you land a better job down the road. Use your performance evaluation meetings as a way to gauge how you’re doing and what others think about your work. Take this information and pick it apart and dive deep into it so you can spend your time improving your skills where it’ll count the most. You may even want to consider taking tests related to your job or industry so you can know exactly what needs to be improved upon in the future.

Network & Engage with Others

When you are looking to advance your career in your hometown city of Harlem by putting yourself out there and getting more involved with your company and the public. Focus on building up your network of professional connections so you have people who you can turn to throughout the year for input and advice related to your job and career. Be mindful to engage with others who you work and interact with regularly and let them know what you’re up to and that you’re interested in furthering your career. You never know who you’ll meet or interact with that’s going to be able to put in a good word for you and ultimately clear a path for you to work your way up to the top. The more people you know, the more likely it is that you’ll be the first to know when new and attractive positions open up in your industry that you can go after and actively pursue.

Become an Expert

It’s worth spending a lot of your time increasing your knowledge in your job area and industry. You can advance your career by becoming an expert at what you do. This will help you to build trust with others, and people will begin to see you as the go-to person when they have questions. Learn your job inside and out so that your employer has no choice but to move you up the ladder and offer you a higher-level position with more responsibility and pay.

Becoming the expert will also allow you to build up your own confidence levels and feel more secure in your role. You’ll soon turn into a problem solver and doer instead of always relying on others for input and advice. Take time each morning to read publications and updates regarding what’s going on in your industry and the business world in general. You want to make sure you sound knowledgeable and with it when you have conversations with others inside and outside of work.

Secure A Side Job or Volunteer

In addition, you can advance your career by being more proactive and visible in your neighborhood and area of Harlem. Secure a side job to help you improve your skills and show you’re committed to wanting to further your career. You can also choose to volunteer as a way to get your name out in the community and expand your network. Many employers want to know how you’re spending your free time and like it when they see that you’re volunteering and giving back to others. These sorts of activities are not only healthy for you, but they’ll be positive events to add to your resume and will help you to stand apart from others. You never know what activity you participate in that’s going to help propel your career in a better and more fitting direction for you.

Be an Innovator

Furthermore, you can advance your career by becoming an innovator and builder. Your company will love and appreciate you going the extra mile to come up with solutions that will help move the company in a forward direction instead of always focusing on the problems. Use your skills and abilities to bring your ideas to life and apply them at work so you can get ahead. Speak up and offer up thoughts and insights so that your boss can see just how talented you are and all you have to contribute.

Avoid waiting for people to delegate assignments to you and instead create your own side projects you can show for. Others will appreciate your enthusiasm, knowledge, and positive attitude and will want to work with you and move you up in the company. Think outside the box and come up with new products or services that are going to impress your customers and make your manager’s job easier at the end of the day.

Break out of Your Shell

If you want to truly get ahead in your industry and job, then it’s important to step outside your comfort zone once in a while. Take advantage of this transition period as an opportunity to break out of your shell and use your voice in the workplace. Find ways to let others know you’re there and that you care about your job and getting ahead in your career. Notify your boss of your ambitions and make sure they’re aware of the path you want to be on for advancing in your role and moving up in the company one day. Unfortunately, you’re going to likely be overlooked or passed up for promotions if you’re someone who always has their head down working or is a wallflower. Instead, get involved in work projects outside your department and scope and let it be known that you have an interest in growing with the company.

Continue to Fight for what you want

The reality is that there will be other people who are also in your shoes, trying to land the next best job or career. You can’t let competition or roadblocks discourage you from being able to advance your career in Harlem. Continue to fight for what it is you want and don’t give up on yourself even when you’re feeling defeated.

Securing new and different jobs isn’t an easy feat and will require a lot of your time and energy. Some days will feel like more of a struggle than others, and at times you’ll likely want to rest and take a break from pursuing your dreams. However, if you want to advance your career, then you’re going to have to stay focused and stand up for yourself along the way. Be your own advocate and cheerleader and prepared to speak highly of yourself to important people who are the decision-makers.