The new year is upon us and with it often comes the time to re-evaluate your life goals, including your professional career. For instance, you might be feeling that you’re not progressing as much as you would have liked. Maybe you’ve been missing out on promotions and all-important pay rises. Worse even, you might be feeling bored and uninspired looking at the prospect of having to spend yet another year stuck in your position.
Thankfully, there are ways to get out of a professional dead end. Here are some effective options in three of the most common sectors.
The medical sector
If you work in a medical role that requires you to be registered in order to be allowed to practice, you will have to check with your regulatory body to see what they will be able to offer you in terms of personal development and career progression.
GP practitioners will have to go through regular doctor’s appraisal and revalidation to demonstrate they are still fit to practise. During the appraisal process, employers can commission further personal development and training.
Civil service
It can be tricky to progress within the civil service, career-wise. In 2012, the UK government introduced a civil service reform plan to try and allow for more flexibility in HR. The initial goal was to make it easier to move between the public and private sector for all civil servants.
It is now encouraged for civil servants to seek experience in the private sector in order to inject more corporate and liberal culture in the public service. However, many schemes within the main Civil Service High Potential Stream are still available to progress internally:
- the Future Leaders Stream (FSL) for potential managers
- the Senior Leaders Scheme (SLS) with a salary pay band 1 (between £62,000 and £117,000), for those interested in a director’s position
- the High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) to progress to the position of director general and with a salary going up to £162,500
Service sector
Feeling like you’re not progressing within your company? Oftentimes, it’s just a case of making yourself noticed a bit more by your superiors.
Beyond the set of skills you need to accomplish your job well, you have to acquire good interpersonal skills and know how to impress the right manager when the occasion arises.
Excel at the field you are in by taking courses such as a BBA program online and apply it at work. Carrying the lessons learned from school and using it in the real professional world will make your employers notice your potential in no time.
Following the progress and tips of a more experienced colleague to eventually take on some of his extra work is a good way to be given more responsibilities and progress within the company. Thanks to the knowledge you acquire, it will be easier to shine your light during the yearly appraisal and get that promotion you deserve.
If you feel like you’ve tried it all and still can’t seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel, maybe it’s simply time for you to try and look somewhere else, and perhaps even start your own business plan.