Holding down a job is hard enough, but it can be even more of a challenge for women. While it’s more widely accepted now to be a working woman, there are still many stereotypes and obstacles to overcome to move up the career ladder. That’s why this career advice for women is so needed.
You should be proud of yourself for how far you’ve come and all of your accomplishments thus far. Be willing to continue to grow, and learn and listen to pieces of advice that can help you advance your career, such as taking personal responsibility for your career. Eventually, your efforts and hard work will pay off, and you’ll likely find yourself prospering and finding success.
Challenge yourself daily
Continue to challenge yourself if you want to advance your skills and make a name for yourself in the workplace. Not just once in a while – daily! Go after those difficult promotions that seem out of reach or like they’re reserved for a male counterpart. Prove to everyone you have what it takes to fill the role.
Seek out companies and positions that force you to use your brain and problem solve regularly. Be proactive and come up with new ways to approach the same old issues. Don’t be afraid to stretch yourself.
Career advice for women: Speak up
Keeping your ideas to yourself because you’re afraid of what other people will think is no way to live. Speak up with your viewpoints and thoughts, ladies. Especially when it means saving your company time or money.
For example, if you work for a vape company, then show them how they can learn more about securing the right products at a fair price. They may not be aware of other distributors that you know about or have researched certain marketing plans.
Speaking up is probably the best piece of advice for more recognition at your workplace.
Read: Let your voice be heard in meetings
Take personal responsibility for your career
What you don’t want to do is continue to point the finger and blame others for your downfalls or mistakes. Take personal responsibility for your career.
Accept that the power to change your path is in your hands.
For instance, if you don’t like your current job or boss, then it’s in your power to change the situation. Find a better position or company for you than the current employer.
Focus on what you can do to improve your personal development and perfect your skill set. Making excuses for why you can’t do it or who’s holding you back will only cause personal frustration and delay your career path.
Build your professional network
Another piece of advice for women in the workplace who want to move up the career ladder is building their professional network. You never know who might help you out or put in a good word for you down the road.
So, be kind and professional in all interactions.
Expand your contacts to people outside your company too. That way you always have options if your current job doesn’t pan out how you expect it to do.
Network in your free time. This strategy aligns with the last piece of advice to take personal responsibility for your career.
And continue to develop relationships with those around you. These tips can help be one of the women in the workplace who has more success.
Know your strengths
To help boost your confidence, be in tune with and know your strengths in the workplace. You can’t let others dictate your future by saying what you will and won’t achieve going forward.
Get a grasp on what you know you bring to the table. And then deliver the results others are looking for from you.
Again, you are taking personal responsibility for your career. You see a theme here, right?!
Knowing what you’re good at will also help you perform better in interviews. This self-awareness will also keep you from getting too down on yourself when you make mistakes.
Write down your top abilities and review the list daily. Why?
It’ll help you see for yourself all you have to offer. You’re part of an amazing group of women in the workplace – Stand tall in that knowledge!
For women, great career advice is to stop apologizing
Unfortunately, women tend to say sorry and apologize a lot even when they’re not at fault. Avoid apologizing in the workplace and always take responsibility for what goes wrong.
Stand up for yourself, admit to your mistakes, and show others that you’re an authentic and honest person. All of this will help build trust and credibility.
Pay attention to your verbal and body language too. For example, choose what words you use carefully, so you aren’t constantly putting yourself down and being negative at work.
Although you’re a woman, it doesn’t mean you have to take care of your co-workers and make sure that everyone’s happy all the time.
Don’t give up on your career
Perhaps most importantly, stay strong as one of many talented women in the workplace. Don’t give up on yourself.
Understand and accept that there will be obstacles and roadblocks that try to get in your way. It’s all part of the process of gaining experience and growing as a leader though.
The reality is that not everyone’s going to like you and you may not get along with everyone. But it’s okay not to be perfect.
There will be jobs and bosses you may dislike, but instead of feeling bad about the situation use it as a learning experience to help you better understand what direction you want to head next. You have to be your own cheerleader at times and believe in yourself when it seems as though no one else does so.
Concluding words on career advice for women
The job environment isn’t always the kindest one. And there are probably days when you feel apprehensive about your future.
However, know this is all normal and that you should continue to stay strong and demonstrate your talents in the workplace.
Use these pieces of advice for women in the workplace to help you through tough times and focus on what matters the most. You deserve to continue to progress in your career.
Remember to put yourself out there and take personal responsibility for your career. So much is within your control!
But also go easy on yourself when you take a wrong turn or mess up. Finally, don’t forget to have a little fun along the way and pat yourself on the back once in a while too.
Top photo by Unsplash
Great points as always :)
I’m always aware of being a woman in a workplace, and sadly, I most often feel a bit uncomfortable. I remember at my last job, I refused to ever do the dishes because I didn’t want the men there getting used to it. When you’re a woman, I feel like you always get expected to do double-duty as a secretary or assistant of some sort if you’re surrounded by men. Whether it’s intentional or not, or whether the men even notice what’s going on since they’re so used to this social structure. Plus I never used the dishes. So I let them pile up. Sadly, I remember another girl started doing it and, of course, and she started to feel obligated to do it because once she started, it felt weird to stop, and of course they just let her keep on doing it.
You have to set your boundaries from the get-go. Don’t let them get used to anything, expect anything beyond your official duties from you, and take advantage of you.
Thanks for sharing your story! I feel like it’s a changing time but there are still those who take the traditional position on the woman role being in the kitchen. So it’s like there’s forward thinkers and also that other bunch who are set in their ways. I’m glad you’re not stepping into stereotypical notions of women and instead are helping push us forward!