9 Tips for Career Confidence - SFE YP Coffee Morning Blog
Credit to Caitlin for these virtual post-it notes
At the beginning of March, we had the pleasure of hosting the first SFE Young Professionals coffee morning of 2022. The coffee morning was themed around our skills and inclusion aim, and more particularly, on career confidence. We’re delighted to share our tips with you now!
Ask for feedback
Feedback is a gift and an opportunity to learn and develop throughout your career. Different people will have different perspectives so try to take the time to reflect after any big projects. Don’t be daunted; everyone recognises that feedback is vital part of your development and people will recognise that you care about their opinion and your own performance.
Put yourself forward
Asking to lead a piece of work like a call or a new project is a great way to show that you want to take more responsibility and is a fantastic learning opportunity. Remember you can still seek advice from more senior team members even where you are taking the lead.
Build your network
A professional network will give you people to depend on and help with challenges, create opportunities for you firm and may even help you identify new personal opportunities. Keep connecting with others throughout your career in both formal and informal settings. Think about how you can strengthen relationships with managers and peers, stay in touch with former colleagues and build new relationships through shared interested groups (like SFE YP!) Coffee (or your beverage of choice) is a great way to do this in an informal setting so join any organised events at your firm or take the lead and start your own!
No such thing as a stupid question
You need to understand the business context to be able to add value so don’t be afraid to ask the questions that you feel need to be asked. As well as improving your own knowledge and understanding you might bring a fresh pair of eyes and identify something that hasn’t been considered before.
Take time for positive reflection
If someone sends you an email with positive feedback remember to file it in your inbox. It’ll be really helpful for pulling together examples when it comes to year-end reviews or a pick-me-up if you need a boost on a tough day. Also, don’t just dive into your next project without taking time to recognise what you’ve achieved on your current project.
Take control of your destiny
New opportunities won’t always find you and variety will give a more a well-rounded experience throughout your career by helping you develop new skills. This means you need to know when it’s time to move on. A new team or job might seem scary to begin with, but it takes confidence to act on what you want from your career and achieve your goals.
Supporting and developing others
Training others on a topic will boost your confidence in your own knowledge so whether that is through formal supervision, a team training session or just looking out for others on your team, letting others know that you’re there to support them will benefit both you and your colleagues.
Work life balance
Having a successful and fulfilling career means ensuring that you can work effectively in a way that achieves good outcomes for both you and your firm. It won’t always be possible but try to set a work schedule and stick to it. Don’t fall into the trap of presenteeism – if you don’t need to be in the office late, don’t be there and don’t feel the need to respond to every email that comes in after 10pm!
Set realistic expectations
Don’t panic – if your workload is too high, ask yourself whether the work really needs to be done today or whether you’re setting unreasonable expectations of yourself. Even if work is urgent, you should speak up and let your team know when you’re struggling. Rome wasn’t built in a day and the world won’t end if you need to juggle your priorities.
Wellbeing in the workplace is important regardless of what stage you’re at and looking after your own wellbeing is a great way to make sure you’re setting yourself up for success in your career. At the end of the day, whilst it is great to have a fulfilling job that you enjoy, it’s not the only thing you’ll do with your life. It’s important to take time for ourselves and ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’.
The SFE YP coffee morning was a fantastic opportunity to discuss our career confidence tips which show the value we get from sharing our stories and experience. We’ll be running more coffee mornings with different themes throughout the year, so keep an eye on the emails to sign up for the next one!