Ways to improve your professional development include:
- Develop a timeline with career milestones. If appropriate, take your timeline to your boss or manager during your one-on-one meetings or annual reviews and ask them to help you manage your career to reach your milestones.
- Take advantage of any and every training program and professional development opportunity your company offers and you think would be helpful to your career.
- Find a mentor you look up to and whose career growth you would like to imitate. A mentor is a great way to learn about new opportunities, and learning from someone else’s experience can give you an edge over other professionals.
- Consider a lateral move within your industry to broaden your experience. Having an understanding of and being able to perform multiple related jobs can be very helpful as you progress in your career.
Most importantly, have a career plan. A career plan should include your timeline and milestones mentioned above along with your career goals and how you plan to achieve them. The most successful people in any industry who are satisfied in their careers proactively planned what they wanted from their career. As your career progresses and you gain a better understanding of your industry and what you want from a career, be sure to update your career plan.