5 tips for your career development

“Where do you see yourself in five years?” Everyone has been asked that question in an interview at one point or another in their careers. Well, asking this question is more about getting insight into your hopes, aspirations, and goals for the next few years. But the real question is, how can you reach your goals? Career development, at its core, is about setting goals and acquiring the skills to achieve those goals. Here are some ways to start doing that:

1.???Set short-term goal: Forget about where you see yourself in 5 years now. Write down your short-term goals and create a timeline to finish them. For example: Taking an online course can help expand your knowledge.

2.???Work on your communication skills: Open your “sent mail” folder and read through work-related communications. Are you clear and straightforward? Do your colleagues respond well to your emails? Is there anything you can improve on??If you’d like to improve on spoken interactions as well, ask coworkers about your strengths and weaknesses, and use that feedback to improve.

3.???Challenge yourself: Developing your career requires time, motivation, and commitment. Challenge yourself often by setting goals.

4.???Get feedback: While self-assessment is important, it is also important to get feedback all the time. Be open to criticism and advice. Getting feedback?and finding common threads and unique viewpoints can help you improve your performance.

5.???Develop a long-term goal: A five-year plan can give you the feeling that your goals are pretty far off. Set regular milestones along the way and reward yourself when you meet them. Evaluate your five-year plan regularly to see what’s working and what isn’t.?Don’t let a change in trajectory throw you completely off-course. Instead, reconfigure and set yourself on a new path to achieving your goals.

Choosing the best approach for your career is an essential component of your lifelong career development. The important thing to remember is that your approach is your own. If you find that multiple approaches like those mentioned above appeal to you, find a way to combine those to take the right approach for you.