Next Career Step - How to and Why?

TRANSITION - This word sounds like something coming out from a science-fiction ? movie. But we want to help you get straight to the point. If you are a beginner, expert, or anyone in between coming from an entry-level job, the meaning of this word is more than important for your career advancement. 

Simply put, transition means a change from one state to another. Whether you like it or not, this is a very crucial step at the start of your working life. Straight outta college ? or straight outta Compton ?, your workspace begins with an entry-level job.

An entry-level job is an excellent learning experience to improve and build your basic skills. You gain expertise about prospects that will ultimately help you develop a foundation for your dream designation and job role. 

As you progress through the stages of a generalist to a specialist (or vice versa), there might be an instance where you feel that your entry-level talents and skills can do more. Maybe a need to transition into a better role? Or Switch from your current profile to a senior position.

Well, congratulations and ✨ celebrations. This is one of the best things you can do for yourself. In fact, we want you to ?feed, grow, provoke and cultivate this thought as much as you like. 

Ask yourself this - why do you want to be stable in a single position when you have the potential to move up the corporate, start-up, or pretty much every A to Zs organization's ladder?

How to go about getting this done? Here are 5 tips & tricks to help you get started in rechristening your modern working life and environment. 

Select Clarity Before Continuity ?

Often, entry-level workers jump to undecisive conclusions about a senior position that is not right or a good fit. Therefore, getting a sense of clarity before continuing to an advanced role is of utmost importance. To get you going, here is a three-point to-do checklist to begin with. 

• Start by thinking about how exactly you want to advance your position.
• Make a list of your current tasks and add the responsibilities you would like to explore or take.
• Instead of directly jumping to a senior designation, look for a mid-managerial role. This will give you factual information about the KPIs and OKRs expected further. Also, you will have a fair idea of what it takes to become senior personnel. 

In short, clarity is the best technique to make meaningful decisions about how you want your career to progress. 

Ask Your Manager ?‍?

See, it's simple; flying cars are not happening anytime soon. But a boost in your career can. The basic idea here is that - there is no harm in walking up to your boss and asking about what you can do to get an early promotion. Do not be surprised to read this; many seniors welcome such opportunities. 

Before HR comes into play, your supervisor has the authority to promote you in the first place. Therefore, have the conversation but don't be demanding. Talk about the skill set and qualities required to make the jump from an entry-level job. 

Go Across Verticals Horizontally ?

This is what Doctor Strange ?‍♂️ does when he creates a portal to converse with superheroes across the Marvel Universe. The best part is that every hero and villain knows Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange has an excellent NETWORK across ? the Multiverse of Madness. 

A more compelling way to understand this is to network within and outside the company. Getting in touch with professionals across departments inside your organisation is equally important as making connections with people outside your career landscape.

When you create a relevant network, you open portals to potential opportunities. The more comprehensive the network, the more the probability. As a bonus, your network will be of reasonable assistance when exploring new employers. 

One method is to utilize LinkedIn to its highest capacity. Identify people and send them an InMail or message. Ask them about their career transformation and how they got there. Participating ? in podcasts, Twitter spaces, and webinars is another way to get through. 

Simply put, we would like to close this paragraph with an old-school cliche, 'Net Worth = Network'.

Go Beyond Bare Minimum

If you work within the limitedness of an entry-stage designation, you are least likely to climb the corporate ladder. It would be great if you did more than what is expected. How to exceed expectations? - Consistently aim to deliver good work and get ✍️ creative if you have to. 

• Try closing 10 deals instead of 7.
• Help your team in achieving OKRs outside your personal KPIs.
• Assist other departments such as HR by referring a new candidate. 
• Come up with ideas to improve the social media presence of the office. This will bring about brand recognition. 
• Plan an offsite trip or a team lunch. Some people love to go to new places.
• Become a champion user of MS Office. Mastering Excel can help you and your team automate many manual tasks, thus saving time, effort, and money.
• Start contributing to the company's official blog, if you like.
• You are young, create a workshop for interns. There is not a better person than you to understand their challenges.
• Do some stand-up comedy act or, even better, convince another person in the office to do the same.
• Conduct a food ? eating contest. Who doesn't love to eat ? free and unlimited meals?

You can do much more than sitting at the workplace and stare at your desk. 

Mind you, courtesy of these ? historical acts will not only make your peers and seniors appreciative of your effort, but it will also pave the way to move past an entry-level job.

Always Be Happy, We Mean It

Irrespective of the latitude and longitude of your ? workplace, having the right attitude is the critical component of advancing your career. By default, people like to work with happy people. A positive attitude will result in a productive work environment. Your colleagues will see you as being more approachable. It will make you look prepared for a future role.

From a value creation standpoint, happiness will take care of those mundane and annoying days when you do not feel like working.

So go ahead, utilize these tips and tricks and tell us about your achievements. Go the extra mile, talk about employee healthcare at your workplace.

Say hi to Plum.