3 Tell Tale Signs of Whether Your Job Offers Career Growth
By Selipha Kihagi
How long have you been working in your current position? Do you know if there are growth opportunities in your current job? Do you sometimes feel that you need a new job in order to grow in your career? Most people stay in their jobs too long they don’t realize their career is stalling. Others make hasty decisions and leave their positions too early, making it harder to establish and nurture their strengths. I don’t know what your career story is, but I can share with you the career growth story.
If your current job is not giving you a reason to stay, it may be time to start looking for a new job. But even before you embark on this journey, you need to evaluate your growth opportunities. Ask yourself; is there any future for you in the company? Does your current role prepare you for your next job? Are the skills you are learning going to help you advance your career?If you feel your answer is leaning towards no, you need a rethink for your career ambitions.
And to help you establish whether your current job offers any growth opportunities, here are a few things to look out for.
1. Ask your boss what’s next for a person in your role
Regardless of how you see your boss and any hatred or reservations you may have, look back at the conversations you previously had. Does your boss ask you about what’s next for your career? Does he or she tell you what could be your next opportunity at the company?
If your boss believes in your talent, wants to retain you as a permanent employee and is constantly concerned about your next move, then you can exploit this. Take in the conversation and ask your boss what growth opportunities are available for you in the future. If he or she mentions roles you would rather not be part of, know it’s time to restructure your next move.
2. Consider the skills you have learned since you started
Most of us go to work because there is a pay check at the end of every month. You don’t think about what your current job is teaching you about your career or even whether you are learning in the process. Some of you already know they are in a routine job where nothing new is learned and yet you don’t feel the need to leave. You do the same thing day after day, week after week, year after year and yet you still choose to stay.
If this is you, know you are doing your career an injustice. For you to grow and progress into better opportunities in the future, you need to keep learning. Your job needs to be challenging in a way that you are always learning something new. Otherwise you will have a hard time finding a new job when you get back to job hunting. Why? Because you will lack the skills required.
3. How often have your responsibilities, tasks and salary changed?
While you may be enjoying the fact that your job is not as demanding as it used to be when you started, something else is going wrong in your career growth. You have no new responsibilities or added tasks, and according to you, your job feels like the easiest one ever. But what you don’t know is, the reason your role is suddenly easy is because there are no new tasks for someone with your skill level.
Do you know what this means? It means that when your employer decides to start laying off workers in efforts to cut on costs or restructure the organization, you will be among the first to leave. And what’s worse, because you never pushed yourself to get involved in new projects, you will not have the skills needed for a new job. You will become just another frustrated job seeker, but for you, it will entirely be your fault.
