This article is provided by Jason Dirkham.
At some point or another, everyone needs to consider a career instead of just a series of jobs. Unless you put some active thought into this, you could go from one job to another without much of a direction. Once you’ve thought about it, though, you’ll want to kickstart your career.
Focusing on an area you’ll actually enjoy and be interested in is a great way to do this, but you’ll need to add a few other strategies into this. If you want to succeed, it’s worth spending the time on them.
Kickstart Your Career: 5 Creative Strategies
1. Develop Contacts
Sometimes, it’s not what you know that matters, but who you know. Develop contacts in the industry you want to kickstart your career in, and things could go much smoother than you could’ve thought. At a minimum, these contacts could put you in touch with someone else, leading to a potential job opportunity.
Networking is a vital component in this, so take the time to go to industry events. The more people you know and better you represent yourself, the easier it’ll be to launch your career. While this takes a bit of time to pay off, it’ll pay off dividends. Keep doing this throughout your career, and you’ll see more and more results and opportunities.
You might be lucky enough to connect with well known people in the business such as Monty Cerf or others who are of a similar standing, and this could do amazing things for your career. The more that you network, the easier it will become, even if you are someone who struggles being social in the beginning.
2. Blog About Your Interests
It’s natural to focus on a field you’re interested in when you’re looking for a career. It’s one thing to be interested in it, but it’s quite another to actually show you’re interested. Go out of your way to show potential employers you have an active interest in the field. It’ll help you stand out compared to other applicants.
Blogging about your interests is a great way to do this. While you don’t need to focus solely on specific topics, make sure anything you blog about is somehow related to your career. It’ll show your interest while also highlighting your expertise in the field. It’ll do more for you than you’d think.
3. Get Qualified
Quite a few careers need some kind of qualification before you can start working in them. That’s especially true when it comes to the likes of law and the medical field. If you’re focusing on these fields, make sure you have all of the related qualifications, as well as any licenses and everything else you need.
Then there are the careers that don’t need them, but you can still get degrees in. Getting a marketing MBA online or a similar degree helps you stand out in the career you want to start, and it’s worth investing in one of these. While they take time and effort to earn, they’ll make you stand out more when you’re looking for a job.
4. Get Help
Trying to kickstart your career is difficult at the best of times, and there’ll be a lot to do. You don’t have to go through this yourself, though. There’s always help available as long as you know where to look for it. If you’re still in college, for example, there should be career support services.
These will be more helpful than you’d think, so spend time figuring out what kind of help you can get. If there are any areas you’re struggling with, focus on getting help with these. You’ll end up in a better position because of it, and you shouldn’t have much to worry about. Get help when you need it.
As well as this, you can look at reviews from previous employees to get a good idea as to what they think about the company that you are thinking of working for. For example, you can look into Primerica reviews and other companies to determine whether or not it’s somewhere decent to work, as this will help to make decisions.
5. Know Your CV Basics
No matter how skilled, experienced, or educated you are, you’ll need to sell yourself properly to kickstart your career. Your CV is part of this, and you’ll have to put a decent bit of time and effort into it. While there might be some trial and error – and some help – focus on nailing the basics to make it perfect.
There are plenty of ways you can get better at creating your CV, and there are even templates you can follow. Researching it online is a great place to start. Focus on CVs and help most relevant to your industry, as they can be more actionable and helpful to you. With some time and effort, you’ll have a CV that gets your foot in the door.
Kickstart Your Career: Wrapping Up
Nobody wants to have a series of jobs with no direction, with a career being a better alternative. You’ll have to put some effort into this, though, especially when you want to kickstart your career. The time and effort pays off dividends, and you’ll end up in a field you’re actually interested in.
