Working Up the Employment Ladder

Deciding to do an apprenticeship is just the start of your career and gives you a firm foundation for moving on and working your way up the employment ladder. Although your career progression may not be the first thing on your mind when you are busy training and studying, it is something that you need to think about.

Everybody takes different paths in life and you need to open to change but it is worth having a plan and thinking practically about the moves you can make to reach you goal.

Building a Strong CV

Even if you don’t know exactly what you want to do or which employment ladder you want to climb, you need to build up a strong CV. By working hard, gaining skills and experience and making sure that you gain your qualifications, you building a foundation for your future. As your career progresses you can build this up further with different jobs, promotions and further training to prove to employers that you have the skills they need.

Getting a Promotion

There se two main ways that you can work your way up the career ladder. Either you find a new job in a different company or you get a promotion in your current work. Some companies offer more promotions more frequently than others so you will have to prove yourself.

As well as working hard, you need to make sure that you managers are aware of it. While you don’t want to boast, tell them about your achievements and make sure you take credit for any initiative that were your idea.

Planning Your Career

To reach your goal it is a good idea to be clear about what it is and how you are going to get there. Allow yourself to think ahead five or ten years and think about what you would like to be doing then. Once you are clear bout what you want you can then set yourself realistic goals about what you want to be doing at certain stages and how you are going to climb the employment ladder. Talk to a career advisor for advice and guidance about your chosen field.

Remain Flexible

While it is a great idea to se yourself goals and have a career plan, you also need to remain flexible. Life doesn’t always go the way you expect it to as you may have to reassess your plan. You may lose out on a promotion, your priorities may change or you may decide your goal has changed.

Whatever it is, if you can be flexible and adapt to your new situation then you have a much better chance of being successful at whatever you want to do.

Working up the employment ladder is probably not your first priority when you start an apprenticeship but it is something that you will eventually have to think about.

Consider what you would like to be doing in ten years time and then set yourself realistic goals that will set you on the road to achieving it. Make sure you remain flexible though as life doesn’t always go to plan and you may need to readjust your plan.