May 6th, 2024
10 ways to level up your property management career in 2024
Property Management
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Are you feeling a bit stale with your current career progression? Not sure where to go to elevate your current pathway, or how to even work out the pathway? Well, you’re not alone, 76% of employees are currently looking for opportunities to expand their careers. Career development can lead to boosted morale, higher performance and increased satisfaction and engagement in your current role. We’ve put together our favourite ways to level up your career development.
Determine an ideal career plan
So, you’ve started the journey of levelling up your career, we recommend starting with defining what your ideal career plan looks like. Sit down and evaluate your current values. Some questions that are important to ask yourself during this process are what motivates you in the workplace, what are the five most important non-negotiables that you are looking for in a job as well as your current strengths and weaknesses. When these questions are answered, sit down and start to plan your dream career. This can start with what you want to achieve in the next 6, 12 and 18 months. These timeframes are then used as key points to allow you to stay on track. We also recommend writing out what tools and resources you will need to achieve these goals. This can also be reviewed or rewritten at any point, every 3- 6 months, sit down and look at your current progression to see if any priorities have changed, then take this time to double down or change as need be.
Network, network and more networking
Our next tip for improving your career development is connection. Networking with other professionals is not just an excuse to go to nice dinners and expand your social circles. It’s about opening the door to new opportunities, connecting with like-minded career professionals, sharing updates on current industry knowledge and offering support. We recommend getting in touch with different online groups via social media, most groups often organise in-person catch-ups. If you find this is missing in your industry, be the change you want to see and organise one. We also recommend a mentor, mentors are a great way to expand your current professional network. They can guide, advise and support you during career development. Look around associations and networking circles to find the best fit, someone whose career trajectory is similar to what your ideal career is. Reach out and ask if they would be willing to meet with you. This first meeting would be to absorb their expertise and share insights about how they got to where they are. Use this meeting to decide if the fit is right for you and if you want to continue forming that professional relationship.
Invest in your continuous learning
We also suggest evaluating your current skills, this allows you to see where you may shine, or areas in which you can dedicate some learning and development. Reflecting on the current skill sets that you have can look like writing down qualifications and experiences, key strengths, transferable skills and what are the key areas of development. Once you have this list look at current courses, programs or mentorships that will improve your skillsets. Check-in with your supervisor and workplace to see if there is a continuous education and skill development budget that is not being utilised.
Stay curious
The term curiosity killed the cat is one we hate, curiosity ignites learning and improvement, and fosters a collaborative environment to allow for industry change. The world is constantly evolving and without curiosity, there would be so many missed opportunities in business. Our next tip is to stay continuously curious about the industry you are in. This can help you stay engaged and motivated, it also means you are more likely to be invested in the work you are currently doing. We have compiled some easy ways to help foster curiosity. To start, look at learning as much as possible. Whether this be through attending conferences, reading articles or listening to podcasts, all these outlets mean you are constantly learning about changes and opportunities within your industry. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, this is often passed on as there is a fear of “looking dumb” but there’s no such thing as a dumb question. Asking questions can help you gain a deeper understanding of concepts and changes, as well as identify things that may have been overlooked. Also, our final tip on staying curious about your industry is not to be afraid of taking risks and failure, we think this is important, as you gain resilience and you will never know something if you don’t try.
Reach out for support.
Our next tip is to reach out to your manager for support. This conversation should be open communication about where you want to go with your career, goals that you want to achieve and asking for support on how to get there. We recommend sitting down to discuss your current career projection. Sharing goals means your manager can be cognisant of what you are looking to achieve, and they may be able to help with gaining the necessary skills and education. This is also the perfect opportunity to ask for feedback from your manager. Although this is a scary step, feedback is a really important aspect of growth. Feedback lets you understand your current performance, behaviour and impact and can help you identify areas to work on to achieve your long-term goals.
Those are our tips on how to get the ball rolling for career development. If you have any questions or experiences with your career development you want to share, get in contact by emailing [email protected].
