Four Easy Steps to Help You “Move Up” or “Move On” in Your Career

At some point in your career there may have been a time when you took a pay cut or downgraded to a less skilled position as a way to "pay the bills" or for resume continuity sake. But eventually you come to a place of frustration or you feel as though you are "stuck" in your position and really want to start looking for a position that is more in line with your professional goals. According to some executive recruitment experts, not all is lost—you have options and there are steps that can be taken to get back on track. When frustration sets in, it is a good time to step back and evaluate your situation. Is there something you can do to work with your current job position? Can you move up in your current company rather than leaving altogether? Ask yourself if there are future opportunities available based on growth. If you decide to stay in a position where you are bored or overqualified, your best bet is to maintain a positive attitude and find ways to make the most of it. Look for ways to learn new things or take on more responsibilities. If you stretch yourself—you may find that you can be happy in your current position. But maybe this is not an option for you and you prefer to move on. If you decide to look for a new position that you feel suits you better, the following are four steps that you can take to help revive your career: Step 1- Extract relevant skills and experience from your interim position and include them when marketing yourself to prospective employers: Even though you may have taken this position until things opened back up for you professionally, you probably learned a skill or two that you can take with you. Figure out what skills can be transferred to your ideal professional role and add them to your resume. Step 2- Emphasize the fact that you worked through the difficult times and persevered: This shows a prospective employer that you stuck it out even when things weren't ideal. Maybe you took a pay-cut or demotion, this shows you can deal with difficult situations and do things that normally you might not necessarily want to do. It also demonstrates a strong work ethic and the fact that you'll do whatever it takes to get through. Step 3- Keep in touch and up to date with colleagues in your field: Keeping in touch with them helps you keep a pulse on what is going on in the industry or area that you used to work in. For example, you'll probably be one of the first to hear when any positions open up in your field. It also means that those that may be able to help you get access to decision makers are within reach. Step 4- Continue to network and meet new people within your industry: When you take the initiative to meet new people, make it clear that your current position is temporary and that you have higher professional goals that you are targeting for the long term. Share your talents, skills, accomplishments, and capabilities with them—make it known that you can bring value to an employer. If you decide to leave your current position, make sure you wrap up any loose ends before you leave if possible. It's always best to leave behind a better situation than the one you found when you first started with the company. It helps out the employer substantially if everything is in order when you do finally leave. Give a reasonable notice period to help give your employer enough time to get things in proper order rather than just abruptly leaving with chaos behind. The thing to keep in mind is the way you leave is probably the way you'll be remembered, so it's always best to do things the right way. If you deliver value up until the last day on the job, you'll have a positive impact on your former employer and be thought of in good terms long after you move to the next step in your career.