10 Career Tips Your Best Friend Is Not Telling You

If you are looking to enhance your career, you should do more than depend on your best friend’s advice. Here are ten easy ways you can build a professional career that could serve you well for years to come.

Update Your Resume

It’s easy to forget about the resume you used years ago to get your current job until you commence your next job search. Each year, review and update your resume with your new job title and duties as well as achievements and awards. Also check on your original references to be sure they still want to vouch for you if needed and make sure their professional title and contact information is up to date.

Enhance Your Image

Your best friend probably didn’t tell you to clean up your professional image. Take a look at the people who hold the job you want a level or two above your present pay grade. Base your style on how they look so that you naturally seem to fit in. Classy hair, outfits, shoes, and accessories convey a polished look. While you’re at it, weed out the slang from your vocabulary and use proper grammar.

Build a Professional Network

Good coworkers make a job more pleasant, but professional colleagues may eventually help you get the career position you really want. Connect with others in your industry or line of work through the chamber of commerce or other business and civic groups. As you get to know the members, you can develop friendships and professional associations with people for whom you have an affinity.

Learn from a Mentor

Everyone who is serious about advancing in their career field should have at least one mentor. This can be a respected supervisor or a well-established colleague with insight to the position you hold and your future career goals. A mentor can answer questions and offer advice to help you further your professional interests in ways that exceed those of a best friend.

Never Stop Learning

Take advantage of jobsite training and community seminars in areas of interest that can help you to advance. Topics might include effective communication, cultural diversity, problem solving, and managerial strategies. Not only will these new skills help you in your present position but they will also make you a more desirable candidate when you apply for future positions.

Access Inspirational Resources

Read business books or others in your area of work to become well informed about others’ views and success. Watch Ted Talks online and watch interviews as well as presentations on topics that can help to motivate you to advance to the next level of your career.

Get Involved

Participate in civic and business events in the community, as involvement can help you become recognizable publicly. If you give occasional interviews or write opinion pieces, you may become a hometown celebrity. When you later apply for a job that requires hiring approval by a board of directors, those who are aware of your community work may consider that a selling point.

Utilize Social Media

Although many professionals believe that heavy social media use is a time waster, there are advantages to using it for professional purposes. You may want to set up a Linked In profile, which provides networking opportunities and job openings in your area of expertise. Use a Twitter account to send messages about current events and business topics and create an image of being involved and knowledgeable.

Give to Help Others

Every successful person should try to help others along the way. Just as you appreciated and possibly benefited from a helping hand in building your career, you can do the same for others who now are in a similar position. Someday those individuals may be interviewer at the next job you apply for.

Establish Ethical Character

Be honest, fair, and sincere in your business dealings. People will remember how you treated them, and you will leave a legacy to be remembered, either good or bad, in how you conduct yourself professionally.

These ten tips may help to open career doors that your best friend has not envisioned. Give them a try, as you have nothing to lose and only success to be gained.