There is great satisfaction in reaching a point in your job that you have mastered the work specifications and become competent and efficient in your task lists. When you reach that point, or just before, you may find yourself starting to think of where to next as it is good to both improve your abilities as well as improve your paycheque. When you get to this place in life, it is time to consider your options.
Look for the next promotion
Getting a promotion will not only give you more responsibility and expectations in performance but it will help you have a happy bank balance as your income should also increase as your job spec increases. You might find that you have stagnated and no matter how hard you try, you don’t seem to be going anywhere. Speak to your supervisors, career coach or mentors and find out what you need to have or improve on in order to move to the next level. It may be that you need to have a study further. There are different options that you can consider, but probably the least disruptive would be internet-based courses. For example, if you are looking to move up the ladder in a construction-related job look at enrolling in building and construction courses online.
Consider moving companies
If you’ve looked at your current company and have found that you still aren’t able to increase your salary nor move into a higher position that challenges you, you will need to start going deeper to find out how to go about making a move. It could be that you will have to look at other companies. If a company really appreciated, you as an individual and values your input into their company you should be able to have a frank one on one conversation with them explaining where you are in your career path. They will either create a position that will challenge you and find ways to pay you more, or they will say they understand if you need to move to another company to grow and realise more of your potential. If this is the case, you have their blessing to openly seek job opportunities at other companies and they may even be able to give you a reference and introduce you to bigger companies that play in the same space.
Go the side hustle route
Sometimes you will find that the job you are in, and one that you are happy with, can only pay you so much and you have reached the ceiling of your earning potential. If this is the case, try to think of ways that you can make money on the side that doesn’t require traditional office hours. This may be doing some freelance online work that isn’t bound to time, such as SEO writing, transcribing audio, doing advertising and influencer campaigns and so on. Maybe you can offer a service to your own company as an entrepreneur, that they need doing but that they outsource to a third party . If you can become this third party, then you have an anchor client that you know is reliable and can provide you a consistent and ongoing contract for work.
