Regardless of whether you have already set out on your career path, or whether you are still at the twiddling your thumbs stage and wondering what on earth to do with your life, you are going to have to put some effort into moving your career from one stage to the next, rather than thinking that your boss is just going to offer you your dream job without you putting yourself forward or having the first clue on how to go about it.
#1 Know What You Want from Your Career
It is important to know what you want from your career from the outset. This means that you can build yourself a strong grounding in the knowledge that you will require to hit the correct targets and achieve your personal career goals.
Where possible, set out a structured path that you can follow from school right the way through university and far beyond, giving yourself benchmarks of either salary or job titles, so that you can see your progression.
#2 Obtain Qualifications
By knowing your career progression, you will undoubtedly have worked out what qualifications it is that you will need to get at university to get your career off to a flying start. However, to get to university, you are going to have to hit certain grade criteria at your school or college. This means that you are going to have to work hard and knowing what the requirements are can help a great deal. Indeed, universities will mostly have their entry criteria for certain programs explained online, such as Notre Dame GPA requirements at CampusReel.org. This will help you get an idea of what is expected of you during any tuition that you will receive at one of these facilities.
#3 Gain Experience
Once you are qualified, you are going to have to seek as much experience as you possibly can within your desired field of expertise. You may very well be lucky and land a job where you are mentored and then periodically promoted through the ranks. However, in most scenarios, this will not happen. You may find that to obtain as much experience as you possibly can that you may have to opt for agency work initially or be prepared to job change and move employers to get the promotions that you are after and gain the relevant experience to elevate your career to the levels that you set out to achieve.
To Wrap It All Up
It is a good idea to draw out a career plan so that you can see what you are aiming for in the future. This will make every career move a strategic task for you to hit your target. Including any qualifications along the way that will be highly beneficial to your progression, will mean that you do not waste time and money wondering what to do next or studying for a qualification that is not going to help you one iota.
You are then going to have to go where the experience is. Qualifications will not get you to the levels you are wanting to ascend to alone and experience is essential in every high-level career the world over.