Looking for advice on a professional career that will make you succeed on every level?

A professional career is not just any job that pays a small wage and changes every few months with no prospects for the future.

A professional career is an occupation that requires certain training, skills or qualifications. It is a long term pursuit where passion or a sense of fulfillment is often the main driver. Therefore it is important to approach it from a different perspective.

Starting a new career can be very exciting and comes with many hopes and expectations.

But depending on the size of the company you are working in, you might just find that work culture and politics is a very particular one and must be wary of a few things before you start.

Also as you go along your professional career it’s important to carry on keeping the same standards of work as at the beginning.

The same applies to professionals that are on a lookout for a new job or already have found one and are about to leave.

Therefore, I have broken down the points to different stages of professional career experience from the very first day of work to the very last one.

Here are 33 invaluable advice on a professional career that will make you succeed on every level

This post contains some affiliate links. Please see my disclaimer for more information.

At the start of your professional career:

 

1. Stay humble and respectful- No matter what position you are staring as and how many people you will be managing, always stay modest. You will gain more trust and respect than being loud and arrogant. Remember you were starting at the lower positions and worse jobs before (unless this is your very first job). Treat people with equal respect, just as you would like to be treated.

2. Be polite-Good manners are always appreciated so make use of them.

3. Leave your private life at home- don’t discuss your family affairs in the office. Likewise, leave your work issues at work. Try to separate those two worlds to stay sane and focused and not let one area affect the other. Sometimes we get overwhelmed at work and bring this home and take it out on our kids or partners which is unfair. So when you’re asked “How are things at work/home?” just say “OK” or “busy” and don’t get into too many details.

4. Keep up to date with relevant political events. Currently, Brexit is one that affects a lot of us in the UK and we must stay on top of the political affairs just to be aware of how this could affect our jobs, our marker and if there are any indications of things going bad for us.

5. Use professional language. This means do not swear or use slang. You are building your career and it will not impress your subordinates, colleagues and your boss if you talk like a high school bad boy.

6. Ask for help when needed. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. Its better you ask for help than doing something yourself and make many bad mistakes. Of course, before you ask, Google it or try to find the solution yourself, but if it gets too technical, use your judgment and asses if you could be better off asking for help.

7. Don’t compliant about private life, about your workload, and most of all- about your boss (no matter how bad they are). The minute you do this it brings negativity and affects everyone around you. We all have worse days but try to not let it affect you as it will have a knock-on effect on everyone else around you. Stay positive instead and smile whenever you can.

8. Admit when you have made a mistake. I am not talking about a small error that you can rectify without a greater impact on your work. I am talking about one that will have some consequences. Admitting to such error early enough might save the situation as your manager/ boss might have a solution to it and fix it before it gets worse. We are just humans and make mistakes, it is normal, but how we go about fixing it is what makes a difference between an honest and trustworthy employee and the one that hides the issue under the carpet until it’s too late to fix it.

9. Respond to emails/calls/messages. This is my personal topic that I am very sensitive about. I absolutely hate being ignored and expect people to respond/reply when I call, email or message them. This applies not only to work but in private life. If I took the time to send someone the message, how much time can one take to respond and even if they can not do it right away at least a little later? Don’t just ignore people that took time to contact you. I am not talking about called callers or advertising agencies etc. You would respond to your boss straight away, right? Treat everyone as you wish to be treated (look point 1 above).

10. Proof-read your emails/letters. Nothing shouts unprofessionalism more than an email with many grammatical, punctuation or spelling mistakes. There are so many tools available that this should be no longer an issue.

Use auto delay to undo sending of the email in 10 seconds – I sometimes catch tiny typos this way. Use Grammarly (it’s free!) which is my favorite for catching grammatical errors. Also, do change the spelling if its underlined red. It will have suggestions or a correct spelling too so no excuses here.

 

Once you are a few months into your professional career:

 

11.Consistency. The case of consistency is also my favorite topic and I absolutely loved the article written by Ken at the Humble Penny where he explains how the Lack of consistency is keeping you poor. Consistency is the only self- controllable way of achieving success. Being consistent will develop a trust that you have with everyone around you and will lead you to great success in every aspect of your life.

12. Keep your knowledge up to date. Whenever possible sign up to courses available to update your knowledge. Read the news to keep up on top of business affairs. Read books on:

• self-development,
• mindset,
• self-discipline,
• leadership,
• emotional Intelligence (very current topic).

Only by consistently developing yourself you will be able to utilize your knowledge and gain awareness of many things that will help you on the way to becoming successful in your life. I have written an article about What it takes to be a successful woman where I explored the matter of success further.

13. Don’t trust anyone. People’s nature is to gossip and as soon as you tell them something a little exciting, they will tell others. Unless you have been working with somebody for a long time and really trust them, don’t just go telling people you hate your boss as someone “very kind” will go telling them what you’ve said.

14. Don’t gossip. Leading on from the previous point, don’t gossip yourself. The previous one was gossip about yourself, this one is about the others. Don’t talk about others behind their back. Just remember people like to spread rumors and the author gets a reputation of a gossip teller. This, in turn, breaks the trust and people won’t be telling you things and confine in you anymore.

15. Don’t get late to work (especially when there is an important meeting happening). In the beginning, we all arrive on time but after a while, we might get into a habit of snoozing the alarm only to later rush to work and get late nearly every single day. It looks very unprofessional and your boss can use it against you on your next appraisal.

16. Keep track of your achievements and targets. Whenever you reach your goal or exceed it, or do something outside your normal duty that got acknowledged by your boss or colleague- write it down in your notebook or somewhere on your phone. Keeping track of your achievements will help you in many ways. First of all, you will have things to discuss in your next appraisal. Secondly, you will add this to your CV. Also, it will make you feel great about yourself and help you understand what are your strong points.

17. Never say- “I can’t do it!” Or “I don’t think I’m ready!”. You can do anything! Researching, asking for help, and preparing are the ways to approach it, even if you really think you can’t do it. Instead, say “I’ll try my best”. A “Can Do Attitude” is highly appreciated in the professional world.

18.Dress smart- no matter how long you’ve been working in one place, don’t let your appearance disappoint and always look professional. If you used to put a bit of makeup on and had your hair done nicely, don’t just stop doing it as you’ve gotten too comfortable with your colleagues and can’t be bothered to look neat anymore. You never know when the opportunity arises and looking well-dressed will always make a good first impression on whoever steps into your workplace.

 

Once you are well established at your career

19. Try to look for an opportunity to grow. If you have been doing your job for a while and you are really good at it, perhaps you can see if within your company there is an opportunity to grow or to move to a higher role. If not, perhaps you can take on new responsibilities so that you get a bit more on your plate and learn new things. Always lookout for new opportunities’ and don’t be afraid to come out of your comfort zone.

20. Keep your CV up to date. You never know when it will come handy so it’s probably best to update it once every half a year with the new experiences/ achievements (as per point 13 above).

21. Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date and once in a while post something relevant to your work, or send a #kudos to your colleague or subordinate. Being active on LinkedIn will make you look professional which is very important in developing your career.

22. Network. Building connections with many people is a way to establish strong roots in your professional career. The more people you know the better so utilize LinkedIn, attend professional events and even social events and be open to meet new people. You never know when you might come across someone whom you can form a strategic collaboration or just befriend and learn new things from. It might also help you in your future career.

23. Delegate. When you have subordinates or colleagues that can do some smaller tasks that you just haven’t got time to do, ask them to help you complete them. Delegating tasks is very important to ensure you can stay focused on the more technical and specialized things that your job requires. So prioritize your most important task and delegate those that can be done by somebody else. But do not forget to appreciate the efforts and thank your colleagues for the work done so in the future you can go back asking for more help.

24. Under promise and over deliver- if you are working on some projects it’s best to leave a little buffer when agreeing on the deadline. It allows for some unexpected events and more time to work on it in case things don’t quite go to plan. And if you manage to complete it before the time you can impress your boss with an earlier completion date.

25. Lookout and listen out for problems and come up with solutions for it. If you see there are procedures in place that just don’t work and have a better idea of how things can be done, work out the improved procedure, discuss with your boss if you must get approval first, and implement it. Another achievement to add to your CV! And to impress your boss!

26. Find a mentor to learn from. This could be your boss, or other department leader or even your colleague that you believe has some knowledge that would be beneficial to your career.

27. Mentor others. Likewise, you can be a mentor to others. You can add this to your CV too!

28. Use appraisals to your advantage to get a pay rise- don’t be afraid to ask for more money! Remember the achievements you were keeping record off? This is the time to pull it out. Alongside the research you would have done prior to your appraisal, knowing your role’s market pay you can use it to your advantage. I have seen this fantastic video I recommend you watch here on how to get a pay rise the smart way and potentially make 6 figure income.

29. Remember work is to make money and not to make friends so if you struggle to get along with everyone, do not worry. You cannot please everyone and if someone is a bit more difficult to get along with, just keep your distance.

 

After a long time in the same job or at the point you’re ready to leave:

30. Quit- When you can’t grow/ get a raise or don’t enjoy it anymore – Leave- We spend around 8 hours a day at work. That’s half of our day spent at work and it’s important that not only it pays well but you are having fun doing it. Yes, there will be bits you might enjoy less but if everything you do makes you feel bored and does not challenge you in any way, it’s about time you quit.

Websites you can find a job on and you should keep your profile regularly updated on (at least on first two of the below):

• Reed
• Total Jobs
• Google
• Indeed
• CV-Library

31. Don’t burn bridges. The minute you are about to leave your work it’s not the time to fall out with your boss and tell them what you’ve been thinking of them. No matter how bad they have treated you, they might have a network of people that later as you develop your career will cross your path and the bad reputation is very easy to gain. You are leaving anyway so just let go of the negativity and don’t say anything rather than telling people what you have been thinking of them all this time.

32. Pass your duties diligently – this applies to a handover- Once you have managed to find a replacement ensure you pass on all of the details of what your duty involves so that the new person will be able to take over and ensure they can do the job as well as you did. Don’t think that if you won’t tell them everything, your boss will think you are irreplaceable as the new person is useless and can’t do everything you used to. This can backfire and leave a bad taste in your bosses’ mouth. This in turns can lead to the networking and reputation discussed above.

33. Keep in touch. Not only with your ex-colleagues but also with your boss (unless your boss was really horrible). In a professional environment, it’s ok to send a LinkedIn message once in a while to see how people are keeping. It’s always nice to know how people are doing and it’s not a sign of being nosey, more like keeping u to date with your professional relationships. You never know when the tables will turn.

 

You might also want to read my other article relating to the topic of advice on a professional career:

How to make a good first impression on the interview as a professional and land a dream job?

 

That is it, although I am pretty sure we all have advice on a professional career. I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

And please don’t forget to share