5 Rules to Grow Professionally

Choose the Person

All the professional change decisions I took during my career had one element in common. The
most important factor is who you are going to be working with, especially your boss. Not the
company, not the package. Do you share same values? Can she/he bring you important learnings?
That simple element above all others allowed me to work with great people at a professional and
personal level who supported my career for many years.

Lower Paycheck, Higher Work

If you expect to be recognized and promoted first and commit after, think again. This is not how it
works. When you are at the bottom of the organization and probably have the lowest salary, that’s
when you need to work harder than ever and take more self-ownership than you will ever take. This
is an investment you make in your future-self. Just make sure you do it for and with the right people.
The rewards will come after, not the other way around.

3. It’s not about you

Of course it’s about you, but in reality it’s not. Do not focus on your own
individual benefits as the final goal. Be part of something bigger and focus all your
effort and energy into contributing to make it even better. Your success will come
as a consequence, not as a primary focus. People’s “ego” is their worse enemy
in life and work.

4. There is no Balance

Do you really want to succeed? Then, at some extent and at specific periods of
your career, you will need to sacrifice some life balance. It’s a matter of you being
willing to accept what it takes or not. If you want to grow and achieve great
professional success, you will need to work when everyone else rests. One
day after another. It’s that simple. Sometimes it will hurt, sometimes it will be
hard, but with time, you will develop a very strong discipline that will pay out.

5. Run away from Comfort Zones

I believe it’s a natural condition for human beings to seek comfort zones where
things progress smoothly. Well, I’m sorry to say this is exactly what you need to run
away from if you want to hyper-accelerate your growth. Comfort zones block
learning, failure (and learning as a consequence), and the capacity to develop self-
endurance. It’s exhausting, but moving away from your areas of comfort
obsessively will bring progress to your life.

Increase your Employability
Absolutely everyone has been there before or will be there at some point in their
career- figuring out what to do to change to a new job. Either because you want to
grow, you want to reinvent yourself or because you don’t actually have a job today.

I’ve changed my job around 8 times for the last 18 years and I kind of developed
a playbook of key steps to follow and prepare which I believe are basic ones to
increase your employability.

This lesson aims to give you some tips about my learnings which, depending in
your industry and position, will be more or less relevant and I hope they can help
you today or at any point in the future.

1. Develop your skills by turning time in your favour.

Most people get nervous when time passes since it somehow feels that time
reduces our chances of finding a good opportunity. But, in reality, there is another
angle to consider.

The more time it takes for you, the more room you have to improve your skills,
which will increase your employability. Use your time well. Take online courses
about topics that matter. There are a lot of short-term courses for free to develop
concrete skills. Each of them will get you closer to your goals. Also, use the time to
continue improving your English level.

Everything counts and, if you make an effort, the amount of skills you can build up
and learn in a matter of 3 to 6 months is very substantial. 

2. Train and prepare for the interviews to come.

Interviews are exams. They are evaluations. Did you know that 80% of the
questions you will be asked are exactly the same in all jobs and interview
processes? Therefore, you should properly research it, preparing your answers for
the questions you know you will be asked. Write them, read them, test them with
friends and improve them. The more time you pratice, the more prepared you will
be. 

Do role plays with friends who can give you honest feedback about your skills. 

3. Put yourself on the market

 From Social Media profiles and pictures, to your resume and CV, as well as your
profile page on job seeking websites- they all matter. Update your Linkedin profile
by ensuring you check best practices for how to do so. Make a proper introduction
of yourself making sure that everything is sharp, short and shiny. The majority of
companies search for profiles looking at keywords that they care about. For
example, if you are an online marketer, there are terms your profile should include
such as “CPC (cost per click), “Inbound” and other likely terms to be searched that
you want to be correlated with.

Finally, be original, approach potential employers in a proper manner by email,

letter or at social events. Get their attention. Offer yourself without hesitation and
think how you can be very creative to generate interest.

4. Your colleagues and contacts will bring your next job.

Use and maximize your network. The people you know well from past experiences
are the ones who are most likely to think about you and give an endorsement to
help you find a new job. 

 Get written referrals from them and put them on your online profiles and CV.
 Make sure key people you know are aware that you are actively looking to
change, Otherwise, they will not know when an opportunity comes to them.
 Make sure you proactively do the same. If you want your network to send you new
opportunities, you should have done that when you could as much as you could with them.
Call it “Karma”.
 

5. Your CV should rock!

It’s very simple and basic, but 50% of job opportunities get lost because of poor
CVs. You really need to spend some time perfecting yours:
 1 single page. Not even a Managing director of a major company with 30
years experience needs more than that. Learn to be short. 
 You should learn to adapt your CV to each job application enhancing the
elements from your profile that are most relevant for that position. Normally you
should have around 5 different CVs to use on multiple situations.
 No need for complicated colourful designs. Order, structure and plain text
easy to read. 
 Focus on what the main idea is for you so that the person reading it will get
that message. They will only catch it from two to three concepts. Everything else
won’t be seen.

According to science and multiple studies, you can make a first great impression
within the first 7 seconds. That’s it! Then, you still have from 5 to 10 more minutes
to consolidate that impression. After that, what a person thinks about you is set and
could take hundreds of hours of interaction to be changed.

. Body Language: Smile & Make Eye Contact

Your facial expression is very important when it comes to making a good

first impression. It can easily determine your personal brand. Confidence,
positivity, and humility will all be understood based on that. There is nothing more
powerful than a good honest and secure smile while making eye contact with the
other person. 70% of the population believes someone’s smile is their
most memorable feature when meeting someone.

On top of that, smiling will reduce your stress and increase your own positivity,
which will for sure help you with whatever is about to come next. How could you
not pay attention to it?

Finally, be aware of the rest of your body. Do not hide your hands, do not look at
the floor. In general terms, try to avoid unnatural movements and be just yourself. If
you do that, nothing can go wrong.

 dreaded limp fish.: pescado flacido

self-endurance- Autorestencia

Sharp – claramente definido

seek . Buscar

aims – objetivo

hesitation: Vacilación

naive:Ingenio

Hello my name is daniela. I’m originally from Valencia Venezuela, but I’m living in Barranquilla –
Colombia . I’ve been developing my SAP consultant career internationally working for several
company of the last 5 years. I’m highly motivated and very proactive person I have participated in
three projects at the same time and all finished well. Im consider myself as a empathic person I
always try to the people understand me the much as possible. Also I love the challenges , I think
that frustration is not a word for me , I always search and try it until I get it. II think I am passionate
with my work I love what I do so I think that am I a very lucky person.