How to develop a career without changing companies

Want to know how to develop a career without leaving your current workplace? Read on ...  photo by CC user geralt on Flickr

When you’ve been at a company for a number of years it’s easy to get into something of a routine, and not everyone likes the metronomic feel that can have. Some like having variety in their working lives and the opportunity to progress and develop, earning themselves promotions and pay rises along the way.

However, that isn’t always the case and people can be brought in to fill roles above them or there may even be colleagues with less experience who are given the promotions and opportunities. This leaves people thinking that the only way to progress is to change company, applying for a higher or better-paid position within a different firm either directly or through a specialist recruitment agency in their chosen niche, like Lucas Blake for IT sales jobs for example.

Having spent so long at the current company this is always going to be a shame, especially if you’ve made plenty of friends and enjoy the job; but ambitious people need to test themselves. Want to know how to develop a career without having to hand in your notice of you aren’t willing to leave your current company? While you might not be able to guarantee yourself a promotion or pay rise, there are several things that you can be doing to put yourself in the position to earn them should they come along.

One thing you can try is to book yourself onto a training course through the training budget that you may have as a department. Lots of companies set aside a certain sum of money each year to help with the development of their staff, but very few people actually utilise what’s available.

Training courses will benefit you as an ambitious employee, helping you to develop your own skills and understanding of the industry; while also benefitting the company in the long-term by bringing those skills back to use everyday. Going on a training course shows ambition and genuine interest, something the bosses will look favourably upon should any positions become available.

Another way involves some time spent ‘working’ away from the workplace. There are plenty of industry websites, forums and social media profiles which publish news articles, blogs and features which can be used to aid your own development. Rather than going home and sitting on Facebook for hours on end, try reading through some of the latest content from the major influencers so that you fully understand all areas of the industry, not just your own (although that’s a bonus of course).

By doing this you can show that you could be trusted to either do a different job or train someone else on how to do a particular task and this could lead to a potential department head position for example, training up new starters.

These two methods are both particularly helpful in developing your existing skills, adding an extra string to your bow that will help you to both understand your industry better, and contribute more to it. By doing both of these, you show your employers that you’re a valuable asset and they can’t afford to lose you. At the same time, they will also see that you are deserving or a promotion, pay rise or new title which means that you get the chance to further your career within the firm you love.