7 Steps to Grow your Dream Career

This blog post offers seven essential tips for advancing your career, from defining your dream role and building a personal brand to networking, gaining new knowledge, honing soft skills, and finding a mentor, with insights on how social media and the evolving job market impact professional growth.

Makena Marshall

October 23rd, 2024

Group of people networking with drinks.

Developing your career is challenging, whether you’re a new graduate looking for your first job or a seasoned professional looking to advance their career. The job market is changing, and thus, how one should navigate it is also changing. You’ll also have noticed that social media is changing many aspects of our lives, including the job search. Understanding how to advance your professional growth allows you to build the knowledge and skills needed to become a distinctive and indispensable employee. Furthermore, developing your personal skills might even lead to opportunities for entrepreneurship and being your own boss. This article discusses 7 vital tips that will help you grow your career.

  1. Decide your path
  2. Establishing your Personal Brand 
  3. Creating a Digital Presence 
  4. Grow your Network 
  5. Gain New Knowledge
  6. Hone your Soft Skills
  7. Find a Mentor

1. Decide Your Path

This one may seem obvious, but have you ever stopped and asked yourself what your dream role is? Not the role you think you should get or the role you think other people expect from you. What do you want to do? 

 

As a young professional, this may be a very challenging question to answer, and your answer may just be that you’re exploring your options. But sit down with yourself and brainstorm a few roles and companies you’re interested in. Do you know any professionals with roles or a career that you seriously admire? There’s a whole world of opportunity and unique jobs, so don’t limit yourself to the ones you currently know. Go research!

2. Establishing your Personal Brand

You might think you don’t want to be an entrepreneur, so what’s the point of establishing your personal brand? Well, as Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is quoted as saying, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” In other words, your personal brand is what makes you valuable, and learning how to express that value to others is the key to success. If you’re meeting someone new, you want to introduce all the best parts of yourself, and it’s the same idea in a professional setting. 

 

Define you personal brand with these steps:

  • Reflect on how you present yourself around others. What qualities do you naturally show in a professional setting? How do you want others to see you? 
  • Define your credentials, including your education, professional and personal experiences, and achievements. 
  • Write down a few adjectives that reflect the real you. 
  • Next, turn these adjectives into descriptive phrases, such as “detail-oriented product designer” or “data analyst with a statistical background.” These will also be helpful in the next step.

3. Creating a digital presence

Here’s where social media plays a part. In 2024, you can’t grow your career without a digital presence. LinkedIn is the biggest professional networking site, but you’ll also want to create a profile on Indeed and refine your personal social media profiles. Use the descriptive sentence you created above as your LinkedIn headline; that way, whenever someone sees your profile, your value is clearly presented.

 

Now, it’s time to get people to view your profile. If you want to stand out or get noticed on LinkedIn, start posting valuable content. It may be daunting to think about posting on LinkedIn, but begin with two posts a week for a few months. You don’t have to re-imagine the wheel with these posts; discuss topics you’ve learned in school or in your roles that are relevant to the industry you’re in. If you’re attending networking events, let people know you were there and a few key takeaways from the event. The goal is to gain social capital, and if someone is curious about your profile, they’ll get a sense of your value from your posts. Once you’ve created a strong digital presence, it’s time to put it to work. The next step in growing your career is expanding your network. 

4. Grow Your Network

There’s a well-known quote by Gale Porter that states, “Your network is your net worth,” and in this current job market, it’s more about who you know than what you know. Attending networking events and talking to other professionals gets your name out into the professional world and allows you to build connections that can bring luck at any moment. If you’re looking for your first role or networking to gain clients, there’s no shame in putting yourself out into the world and letting everyone know what you’re seeking. Attend coffee socials, social hours, workshops, panels, and any event your city is entertaining. Go out there and network! And make sure you connect with fellow networkers on LinkedIn! If you’re interested in learning how Common can help you make connecting with others easier, learn more here. 

5. Gain New Knowledge

No matter if you’re fresh out of school or looking to upscale your career, there’s always the opportunity to learn new skills and give yourself an advantage over others. As a new job seeker with limited experience, volunteering for charities, non-profits, or brand new start-ups within your area of expertise is a great way to gain new skills and have valuable experience to write in your resume. If you want to grow your career into a managerial position, think about the leadership skills required to become that person and seek out opportunities or courses that will enable you to showcase yourself as a leader. 

6. Sharpen Your Soft Skills

Networking is truly valuable when your soft skills foster genuine connections and showcase your worth as an employee. How do you communicate ideas with others? Clear, effective verbal and written communication is essential for collaboration, expressing ideas, and resolving conflicts.

Other key soft skills for success include: 

  • Teamwork
  • Problem-solving
  • Adaptability
  • Creativity
  • Time management. 

Taking action on these 6 steps will lead you to success, but the final step will help you shine. 

7. Find a Mentor

This one is optional, but if you can find a mentor, they’ll provide immense value. A mentor doesn’t need to check in with you every week, but they should be someone you can turn to for guidance and advice. After attending a few networking events, have you met someone with a similar career path to the one you envisioned? Is there someone you met who exudes qualities you admire? Reach out to them, most people are happy to help others. 


Although the current job market is challenging, especially for young professionals, these steps will help you advance your career. Everything worthwhile takes time, including finding the right role and developing a meaningful career. Give yourself the grace to fail before you reach success. Your career journey begins now!