You Don’t Have to Start at the Bottom of the Career Ladder

 

Pursuing your dream career is hard work, but everyone has to start somewhere. If you spend all of your time simply thinking about the job you want, you’re never going to land it. You have to get out there and go get it! Now, many people assume that in order to hit the big time, you have to start at the absolute bottom and work your way up. Yes, this is an option and is an approach that works brilliantly for some people. But it can mean that you have to take on some undesirable and poorly paid positions before you make your way up. The good news is that you can actually jump straight into a role that better suits you and is a little further up the ladder. But how can you skip to this more pleasing stage of proceedings?

Education is a good foundation for going up the career ladder

The first way to skip up a few rungs of the career ladder is to pursue higher education. If you don’t mind starting from the bottom, it’s absolutely fine to leave compulsory education and head straight into an internship, an assistant role, or a junior role. You’re young and have years ahead of you to gain experience, make a name for yourself, and progress upwards through a company.

This is also fine if you are starting at a later date and don’t mind taking your time and exerting patience. However, pursuing higher education can see you immerse yourself in an intensive situation where you study a particular subject full time for three or four years. You pick up a deep understanding of your interest area and a qualification along the way. Employers will be more certain of your skill set and ready to endow you with more responsibility from the outset. If you take a course that lays a particular focus on management, such as a business management distance learning programme, you could even step straight into a managerial position where you are in charge of others. So, this is definitely worth considering as an option!

I’m sure you’ve seen really young people in managerial roles ‘bossing it’ over much older people. Chances are, they’ve really looked at their options well.

 

Networking your way to success on the career ladder

 

Networking is another means of starting higher up in a company. As the old saying goes, it’s not what you know, but who you know that can land you a job. While you will generally need to prove yourself to be competent within a role, someone you already have a good professional relationship with is more likely to give you a chance at a role that is higher end than someone who doesn’t know you at all. After all, they’ll have more faith in you.

LinkedIn is a good way to network too. Go ahead, create a profile and start communicating with others. There’s absolutely no reason to sit stuck in a dead end job if you don’t want to be there. A few years ago, I left my stressful job to jump right into my own business and be the boss of me!

 

Building a Strong CV for your place on the career ladder

 

Remember that your CV can have a profound impact on how employers see you. In order to land a high-end position, you need to sell yourself well. You could be perfectly fitted to a role, but be missed off the employer’s list of potential candidates if you can’t help them to see this. So, make sure that your CV is powerful and that it stands out from the crowd!

Think about what employers want to see, and make sure its there (big and bold) on your CV. You may only have one chance at it.

As you can see, you do have options when it comes to which rung of the career ladder you start on. If you’re interested in starting out part way up, bear the above information and advice in mind! And don’t forget, you can also build yourself up and be the boss of you too!