9 Fantastic Ways to Boost your Career
“Look at your career like a Rubik’s Cube. It’s going to keep turning. It’s going to keep changing. As it does, we’ve got to make sure that no matter what colour comes in front of us, we’re able to make the most of it. We adjust to it to make a playing field we can work best in.”
Vikram Cardozo – Senior HR Director for GE ASEAN
Be Curious
Curiosity is something we have in abundance as children, yet it’s all too easy to lose it as we grow. Don’t. Curiosity is how we challenge ideas and find the answers that help us grow.
Ask a lot of questions. In any good company like GE, there’s always going to be someone willing to help you answer them. Asking for help goes a long way to understanding problems, and ultimately to solving them.
Be Flexible
Be flexible in any type of job, because things change. You need to be ready to adapt. Whenever you get a problem that seems to big, take it on, break it into little pieces, and solve it.
We need to start thinking the unexpected. That is how the company can change. We need to start thinking about how people will live longer, will switch jobs more often, and want more challenge as people are smarter in terms of information. We need to be ready for that. We need to be flexible.
Keep an Open Mind
You need to keep an open mind, and listen more. When you move from one role to another, you can’t have a set objective or way of doing things in mind. You need to move into that position with an open mind, that’s how you ensure you’re ready to listen and adapt. That’s how you can start to contribute.
Manage your Own Expectations
Just like keeping an open mind, managing your own expectations is important to keep your career on track. Be aware of your own expectations and don’t let them confuse the way forward. Sometimes you need to understand yourself in order to manage the situation.
Be Excited!
Any time you change something, it’s always difficult. You have to learn new industries, new geography, getting to know new people and understand the work that’s been done. That excitement should be what drives you to achieve. The only way to be successful is by being excited in what you do.
Challenge Yourself
Career goals aren’t about attaining a particular job title, they’re about setting challenges. If you see challenges as something you really want, that’s the way you should go.
Maybe after a few years you want to try something new to challenge yourself. This is how you develop, especially in a company like GE, with a horizontal structure and industries and sectors working closely together. It’s not always easy, but taking on challenges is how you progress.
Disrupt or Die
You need to be disruptive. It’s either you disrupt yourself, or someone else will disrupt you. It’s far better if you’re doing the disrupting.
The job that is relevant today might not be relevant tomorrow. For example from a HR standpoint, we need to start thinking, how does digital change the workforce? How can we be upfront in disrupting ourselves to prepare for when it comes? You need to think about that.
Never Stop Learning
We’re always going to have to learn new things, especially at a company like GE. You have to learn new businesses, new sectors. This continuous education is very important, whether it’s self-motivated or official, push forward with that.
Curiosity starts with a question. Answering that question is how we learn. Most organisations will have a wealth of resources for you to use. It can be online, with books or through a company education scheme. Be curious, then learn the answers.
Believe in Yourself
Most important of all, you need to believe in yourself. You need to start off with the belief that nothing is impossible. You can deliver a result.
Start with self-confidence. That’s the biggest step to everything else. Have the confidence to be curious, to adapt, to disrupt, to offer new ideas and deliver new solutions. Believe in yourself. That’s how you meet any challenge.