The Top Career Tips: Which Ones You Need to Know

With my tips, I help you to create a successful career. When others talk about me, they often cite my talent for breaking down content in a simple, pragmatic and useful way. My tips apply to all areas of professional life. For me, career is not just about advancement, it's "Up is not the only way." Your strengths orientation and professional satisfaction are particularly important to me. Contemporary topics also always find their way in, such as modern leadership and teamwork. So, expect a colourful and interesting mix of career-related topics. Let's get started.

Recognising your own strengths

Today I would like to give you a tip on the topic: What are my or what are your strengths? What are your strong points? This is still a classic question in job applications, but of course it is also important if you want to find out more about yourself and grow in your professional career. Leaders are now often asked to lead in a strengths-oriented way. So the issue comes up everywhere you go. So where do you find your strong points if they don't come to mind immediately? Look for your strengths in the activities that are easy for you, that you like to do and that are fun. Are you a copter who easily flies over different fields and always discovers something new? Do you like to develop projects? Can you think through procedures in a very specific manner? Be mindful not to highlight strengths you take for granted; of course physical scientists are logical, of course commercial people can think in business terms, but what about beyond that? What about you? Also search where you notice differences to others, particularly from your own field and discipline. You can somehow imagine faster, count more, counter-attack more adroitly, have more ideas, think more laterally. Note down what you discover and what the added benefit of this strength is. Also get assessment from others. This will give you more ideas. Have fun with it.

 

Recognise your own weaknesses

When you talk about your strengths in a job interview, for example, you automatically come up with weaknesses, a term I don't particularly like. Weaknesses, like strengths, relate to what you do. You should focus on your strengths and the developers, not on your weaknesses. Unless they are detrimental to your forces. Weaknesses are often exaggerated or fixed strengths. Very flexible and intuitive people are rarely neat and very organised at the same time. It is not a weakness. It is only a weakness if it is exaggerated and does not fit the job. For example, if a very structured person cannot be flexible at all, or if a very flexible person is completely chaotic. However, you should not put it so drastically in the job interview. It is important that a strength fits the work and does not become a weakness. If you are a flexible person with a knack for improvisation, this is rather less relevant for the job of an accountant, except in your free time. So weaknesses need to be authentic to you, but also authentic to the job at hand.

 

Finding the right professional environment

Today I would like to give you some advice on how to find the right professional environment for you. We often underestimate how important it is to find the right environment for us. It's not about profanity. With my work-lifestyle system, I distinguish seven different environments, because companies always have their strengths. Some are particularly family-friendly, some are very performance-oriented, some are security-oriented, some are collaborative or flexible. Often you don't even see that on the website. Often the sectoral orientation also plays a role. Growing sectors have a very different spirit than those struggling to survive. Be aware of what is really important to you. A family environment? Security and structure? A clear performance credo? Cooperation at eye level? Flexibility or commitment to a better world? In the interview, ask what is really important to the company. Also look behind the scenes. If possible, observe how employees enter and leave the company, for example. Ask questions to employees and former employees.

Develop your own career

Today I would like to give you some advice on how to manage your personal career development. Many people do not believe that they can develop themselves. They think that they are the way they are and there is nothing they can do about it. This is not true. You can change at any time, especially if you believe it yourself. Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford, has been studying the subject of state of mind for decades. She has found that there are people with a fixed state of mind and others with a growing state of mind. Those with a fixed, i.e. static, state of mind do not believe in their own development or that of others. Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, do believe in it. They like to learn and see mistakes as an opportunity to develop. The growth mindset is necessary for career development in today's professional world. Leaders absolutely need it too. Think about where you see yourself. If you have a rather static picture of yourself and your intelligence, take a look at the neuroplasticity of the brain. There are lots of videos on LinkedIn and YouTube about this. You will find evidence that you are wrong in your assumption. You can always change fundamentally and learn something new. But you must be willing to experiment and make mistakes. You must also not expect quick miracles. Above all, you must experiment, experiment, experiment. The more different things you see, the more emotions you activate, the more will happen in your brain. So go out into the world.