4 strategies to build a successful career in today's world

Everyone knows how to make a career. You start in a low position, do a good job, prove your worth, your boss notices your efforts and promotes you. At the new position, the process starts again. And so on until retirement. This model has only one problem: it is long outdated.

Modern success stories are not at all like those of our parents. In the 21st century, with its new technologies, economic upheavals and geopolitical crises, reality is changing at an unprecedented rate. Now we have to make quick and difficult decisions, and sometimes even give up our initial ambitions.

Here are some strategies to help build a successful career in today's world.

1. Turn the career ladder into a "grid"

One of the reasons why the career ladder metaphor has become so common is its simplicity. All the steps are in front of us, and it remains only to climb them as long as there is strength. We understand what the end result awaits us and what needs to be done to get it.

Career in the modern world requires more from us, and the trajectory of its development has become more complicated. So a new metaphor has emerged - the career grid. She has her advantages. We can navigate it in many different directions. For example, move up the ranks in your current job, make a diagonal transition to another department, take a horizontal path and take the same position, but in another company. Or even go down a level to drop everything and drastically

change scope of activity.

In order to choose the right direction of movement along the career grid, it is important to monitor changes in the economy and correlate them with your goals. To do this, you need to regularly conduct professional self-examination, monitor trends and understand how your business works. industry at home and abroad, analyze what factors influence it and how you can use this information in your benefit.

2. Be a team player

Digital technologies have changed the model of distribution of roles in the workplace. The teams, where each had its own clear functions, were replaced by teams with a flexible structure. It is often difficult to define the specific role of each employee in them, and tasks are distributed quite freely. But there are benefits to this as well. For example, mutual support. Team members balance each other's strengths and weaknesses. Unlike teams, where responsibilities are strictly distributed and responsibility for success or failure lies with one specific person.

No matter how talented one person is, the team will always show the best results. A group of people simply has more knowledge, experience, time and different points of view to draw on in their work. This means that the ability to play in a team will help not only to get closer to others, but also to develop professionally.

3. Constantly improve

The transition to new technologies has also changed business priorities in many ways. Now, in order to succeed, it is not enough to do what the boss says. Employers looking for customer-focused proactive employees who are digitally confident and have a wide range of skills.

Therefore, it is important to become just such an employee, and the key word is “become”. It is not necessary to be one from the very beginning, but it is possible and necessary to improve your skills throughout your career. Even if you work in the same field for 20 years, in 10 years it will look completely different. Need to study all the time and learn new skills to adapt to change.

Fortunately, now there are a huge number of opportunities to do this: from advanced training programs in specialized universities to online courses in a variety of directions.

4. Define your formula for success

The career ladder offers only one direction of movement - up. The career grid creates more options. Today we have the opportunity to independently determine the ultimate goal and freely choose any path that will lead to self-realization.

Define what success means to you. Is it a bank account with an impressive amount? A high position in a large company? A job filled with exciting new challenges? Or a job that is easier to combine with a busy family life? When you understand what you need, your career decisions will become more informed.

The bottom line is to think about what your real purpose and driving force is, and make sure that the career you choose and the skills you learn are in line with them. For example, if you want to work from home in order to spend as much time with your family as possible, you will need to learn the programs needed to remote work.

We now have more options to choose from than at any time in our history. And we can not accept the conditions of success from the outside, but create them from within. This is the most rewarding and perhaps the most intimidating aspect of a career in today's world.