Forget fad diets and fitness programmes (you look great the way you are!) – the New Year is the perfect time to focus on enhancing your career prospects. Whether you’re looking for a new role or just want to progress in your current one, there’s no time like the present to take action. This brief guide offers some simple but useful pointers on how to steer your career in the direction you want to go.
Enhance your skills
Picking up new skills is an essential part of fulfilling your potential. One way to do this is to sign up to a full or part-time course in a subject that’s relevant to your chosen career path. Another option is to find a role that allows you to develop your knowledge and abilities while you work.
For example, if you become a self-employed field representative for a marketing company within the Appco network, you’ll have access to support, mentoring and product training that will help you to develop your skills in direct sales, public speaking and communication.
What you learn will not only help you to become a highly capable and experienced face-to-face sales or fundraising specialist, but will also give you a strong foundation for any other career path you choose. Across the globe, we ensure that field representatives contracted through Appco’s network of marketing companies have access to suitable mentoring and training opportunities.
Take a look at this video, in which field reps in the UK highlight how they have benefitted personally and professionally from the role.
Improve your CV
It’s worth putting some extra time and effort into creating the perfect CV. This may be the first thing that companies see when they are assessing you as a candidate, so it’s vital that it creates the best impression possible.
As well as detailing your qualifications, skills and experience, this document must be tailored to each position you apply for. Make sure your résumé is fully up to date and check it thoroughly for any mistakes. It helps to get at least one other person to look over the document in case you miss any spelling or grammar errors, or other inaccuracies.
Pay attention to your online profile
Your online profile can also have a major impact on the success of your job search. Companies can now search social media and networking sites to get an impression of candidates, so a good online presence can work to your advantage.
Be aware that if you tend to share a lot of photographs of you partying, or inappropriate content on your profiles, it may not create the ideal professional impression of you. With this in mind, it’s crucial that you use suitable privacy settings on social media sites. It’s also worth ensuring that you have up-to-date profiles on more business-oriented sites like LinkedIn.
Start networking
On a related point, it pays to network. Rather than waiting for opportunities to present themselves to you, spread the word that you are looking for work.
If you know people who work in the field you’d like to move into, ask them for information and advice. You could also attend networking groups and reach out to individuals and organisations through social media. This proactive approach could speed up your job search and help you find the best roles for you.
To find out more about what it takes to become a self-employed field representative for one of the marketing companies within our network, take a look around our website or get in touch with our team who’d be happy to point you in the right direction.