Just like a balanced financial portfolio, you should have both stocks and bonds to ensure growth and stability in regards to your career portfolio. In other words, you should look both internally and externally when evaluating your career.
The correlation is as follows:
BONDS—Talk with a recruiter within your current company and ask about career advancement opportunities.
STOCKS—This is a more aggressive approach, which entails looking outside the company for advancement opportunities.
So, once you’ve ascertained that you’re being underpaid, your top priority should be to prevent your wages from stagnating even further. This is the prime time for building and developing your career, and you’ll want to cast as wide a net as possible.
The logical place to start is within your existing network (bonds), but you’ll also want to explore external options (stocks). Below are six strategies for accomplishing both:
- Identify colleagues and key players at your current employer and let them know that you want to be on the radar for openings.
- Have an informal chat with an internal recruiter and express your desire to climb up the company ladder.
- Don’t turn away outside entries.
- Look at what you’ve contributed to the company (i.e., your internal accomplishments), and then review that when it comes time to ask for a raise.
- Have a talk with your immediate supervisor and find out how they see your career progressing. Ask, “What should I do to make the most of my career with this company?” Listen intently, evaluate your options, and leverage information. You’ve either been told how to get more value from your present situation . . . or you’ve been told that it’s time to go.
- Line up your references, your online identity, and a recruiter. Then have a long talk with your family about the direction of your career.
Daniel C. Simmons is a Certified Personnel Consultant who has been recruiting since 1991. Dan has won over twenty awards in the last decade with the Top Echelon Network, America’s leading placement network including Placer of the Year in 2009 & 2010.
Frequently Dan also is a recruiter trainer and has been featured at various Top Echelon Conventions and online as a speaker for various webinars. He has also been published in The Fordyce Letter the recruiting industry’s #1 magazine.
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