How to Get a Better Job: 10 Steps to Elevate Your Career

If you're one of the many workers still contemplating the right career path for you, or even someone just looking for a better job opportunity within their own field, you’re not the only one. Take the first leap, with these ten actionable steps to support your job search process and broaden your prospects.

1. Perform an Honest Professional Self-Reflection

Performing self-reflection on your career and professional goals is a great way to gain clarity, stay aligned with your values, and make intentional progress. To perform a professional self-reflection, dedicate some uninterrupted time (30-60 minutes) to consider the following focus areas:

The role itself:

• How do you feel about the work and responsibilities of your current role?
• Do your duties align with what you want to be doing?
• What about your job excites me? What do you find draining or unfulfilling?
• Does your current job have more draining aspects than exciting ones? 

Professional growth and development

• Do you feel like you are being challenged and growing your professional skillset?
• Are you learning new things or are you just doing the same menial tasks every day?
• Does your organization offer upskilling opportunities or encourage you to seek other avenues of professional development?

‍Your manager and team

• Do you get along with your manager and team of coworkers?
• Does your manager and team support you?
• Do you get clear direction, feedback, and guidance from your manager?

Company culture

• Is the company culture one that makes you feel welcome and aligns with your values?
• Do you get excited about seeing and interacting with coworkers or do you prefer to avoid cultural gatherings?
• Does your organization recognize and value your contributions? If so, how?
• Are you expected to work long hours with limited work-life balance?

Values and passions

• Does this job align with your core values and principles as an individual?
• Are you passionate about the industry and work that you are currently doing?
• What type of work or industry would you prefer to be in if you had your choice?

Write down your answers to review after you’ve completed the exercise. If you were honest with yourself, the answers should provide a clear picture of whether or not you are in the right job, or if it is time to seek out a new role.

If you’re leaning toward making a change, this video with career coach Linda Lutz walks you through the key steps to confidently find and land a better role.

2. Know on Your Career Goals

Once you’ve made the decision that it’s time for you to move on from your current role, the first step in your job search is understanding how a new job can help you achieve your professional goals. A "better job" means something different for everyone, but regardless of what that means to you, a new job should be a stepping stone to advancement and growth within your career.

If you don’t have an established set of career goals, now is the time to make some! Consider setting short, medium, and long-term goals for your career that will help guide you in making important professional decisions. 

Be specific with your goals and provide benchmarks or other measurable indicators that will help you track progress over time.

Once you’ve established (or refined) your career goals, you can start to evaluate new job opportunities with this framework in mind. If a job that you are interested in helps you achieve the goals you’ve laid out, it is worth continuing to pursue. If it does not directly help you achieve your goals, it is likely best to move on to other opportunities. 

3. Determine What is Most Important to You in a New Job

Career goals are important at a high-level to help guide you on your professional journey, but you also need to determine what is important to you when selecting a new job or company to work for. Consider creating a rank-list of priorities for new job opportunities. 

Break the list into “Must-Have” and “Nice-to-Have” categories. This will force you to make decisions about what is actually most important to you in a new job versus what would simply be a nice perk. Here is an example of what a potential priority list could look like:

Must-Haves

• Higher salary
• Better benefits
• Unlimited PTO

Nice-to-Haves

• Remote or hybrid work options
• Company outings
• Company-provided laptop 

Once you have your ranked list finalized, you can use this as a tool to evaluate job descriptions more effectively based on your priorities.

4. Upgrade Your Skill Set

Updating your skills can help you build confidence, strengthen your resume, diversify your job responsibilities, and help you develop a flexible mindset. There are various ways to build up your skills, but first, knowing what skills your intended job market is looking for is critical. 

Breakdown Job Descriptions by Hard and Soft Skills

Hard skills are specific abilities that are learned and can acquired over time through training or on-the-job experience. Soft skills are often untaught intangibles like communication and relationship-building that are intuitive or intrinsic to an individual. 

Don’t shy away from a job if your hard skills do not completely align if your soft skills are a strong fit. Many employers will gladly train an employee on the required hard skills if they are a strong soft skill match for the role or company. 

Don’t forget to lean into your soft skills! You may also have skills already that you didn't realize were valuable to employers, like:

• Excellent Communication
• Motivation
• Teamwork
• Resilience
• Patience
• The ability to stay calm under pressure

Is AI Prompting a Relevant Skill? Our Experts Debate

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Invest in Further Education

Further education or certificates might be a great route to bridge those potential skill gaps. Not only can a diploma or certificate make you more marketable, but they also open up the potential for higher-paying job titles. Further education may also help you form connections and build networks along the way. Here are just a few reputable places you leverage to upskill your talents:

• HubSpot
• Udemy
• Google Academy
• Accredited colleges and universities

Keep Up with Industry Trends

With technology constantly expanding, knowing new tools or shifts in your field is becoming increasingly essential. You can track these changes in the following ways:

• Pay attention to the competition: Knowing what changes business competitors are making can give you insights into where the industry is moving, and you can use those insights to stand out while interviewing. 

• Follow industry leaders: Referring to leaders in your field that you admire or have learned from in your interview answers can leave a strong impression and open space for further dialogue.

• Engage with social media: Often, social media platforms will be the first to catch on to new trends. Following relevant pages or dialogues can help you stay ahead. 

Staying current on industry news and advancements can also further your dialogue online or display expertise during interviews. By staying up-to-date on new trends or discoveries in your field, you can also apply those findings to your own work, build up your portfolio or knowledge base, and expand your skill set.

5. Revamp Your Resume

Whether you've recently upgraded your skill set or have years of experience in the relevant field and are looking for a better job offer, assuring that your resume reflects your full capabilities is critical.

Your resume should paint a clear picture of who you are to the hiring manager, but it should also show that you are the ideal candidate for this particular job. Therefore, it's essential to tailor your resume to the job application. Here are a few ways to customize your resume in a meaningful way:

• Update personal statement/summary
• Include important keywords/phrases used in the job description
• Customize your work history to clearly align with tasks/duties of new role
• Be sure to include measurable data and information to show efficacy
• Highlight relevant skills
• Emphasize hands-on experience with tools and platforms used at the company

Through these minor adjustments, you can ensure that your qualifications won’t get overlooked. 

6. Cultivate a Professional Online Presence

A professional online presence is essential in today’s digital-first environment. Social media and other digital records are readily available to any prospective employer looking to learn more about a job candidate. So, it is critical to put your best foot forward with a polished online presence.

Separate Your Private and Personal Accounts

Do not ever use the same social media accounts for personal and professional use.This is a recipe for trouble. Creating and maintaining professional social media accounts is a safe way to separate your personal and business digital lives. You may even want to put your personal accounts in privacy mode for friends and family. That said, as information is quickly circulated online, it wouldn't hurt to comb through your accounts for images or comments that may be controversial or damage trust. 

Optimize Your Professional Accounts

Simply having a professional social media account is not enough. A blank page without any information can also be a red flag for employers researching a candidate. Choose a high-quality profile picture with good lighting that will offer a bright impression and show a bit of your personality. You may also want to research what platforms cater to your professional audience to ensure you’re visible to potential employers in the right places.

For example, Instagram will have the most impact for someone in design, while LinkedIn may be best suited for someone in business or tech fields. A website will also help you easily share your portfolio or accomplishments with prospective employers. 

Be Active Online with Relevant Content

By narrowing in on your own unique niche, you can display expertise and raise your personal value. Take time to build a backlog of content to keep up a consistent dialogue without putting the burden on yourself to produce constantly. 

7. Leverage Your Professional Network

Getting a job is often said to be a matter of who you know, but that is not as limiting as we think. With tools like social media, there are many ways to broaden your professional network as well as leverage the connections that you already have:

• Search online or reach out to others in your field about industry events 
• Join professional or industry-specific groups on LinkedIn
• Share information and participate in conversations on social media threads, groups, or other online forums to generate recognition and credibility among peers  
• Participate in local networking events and social gatherings
• Ask for help! Reach out to members of your network directly to help make an introduction to a hiring manager at their company, share your resume with a recruiter, or just to keep you informed of any future job opportunities within their organization
• Reciprocate favors to those who have offered to help you in your job search to keep the door open for future support

8. Master the Art of the Interview

The interview process is the perfect place to show off your qualifications and that you are the best fit for the company's corporate culture. Here are a few steps to ensure you stand out against other candidates:

Dress to impress

How you present yourself in the interview may reflect to the interviewer how seriously you are taking this opportunity. Even if the company culture is laid back, step up your suit game for the interview—you can discuss the dress code later. On hot summer days, carrying a jacket with you and putting it on before entering the building will show positive effort. 

Practice your interview questions

Knowing common types of questions and how to respond impactfully will make the interview process easier for you and the interviewer. Here are three common question types and how to approach them:

Qualification questions

• Make a claim and provide evidence.
• Keep it short and to the point.

Behavioral questions

• Focus on the situation's specifics and how you handled it.
• Be brief, optimistic, and authentic.

Scenario questions

• Describe your desired outcome and how you would make it happen.
• Don't be afraid to ask for clarity. 

Follow up

How you follow up on your interview can also help you make an impression. Sending a thank you note to your interviewer will show dedication and appreciation that your interviewer will remember. 

Also, if you weren’t told when to expect a response, send an email after five business days thanking them again. Mention when the interview was, the title you’re applying for, and that you are still interested and looking forward to the next steps. 

9. Negotiate Your Worth

Once you have received a job offer, your new prospective employer will present you with a salary and benefits package. If the pay is below your salary range, don't be afraid to negotiate for higher. Although this may feel awkward, having the correct information will make the process easier.

Start by doing your research

Salary may range by geographic location, years of experience, managerial experience, education level, career level, skills, and licenses. Staying current on industry salary trends will help you develop a salary range to present to your employer to arrive at a mutual decision that benefits you both.

Frame your case

To strengthen your approach, take the time to create one or two solid reasons that you believe you deserve higher pay than the offer proposed. Past achievements, years of experience, valuable skills, education, previous pay, or even job-related expenses are all reasons that can support your case.

Additionally, if the salary offer is not too far from your target or if you’re at an impasse with the employer, consider negotiating about benefits, such as leveraging more paid vacation and sick days.

Schedule a meeting

Rather than over email, it's best to have this conversation face-to-face or even over the phone for a more personal conversation. Expressing respect and gratitude toward your employer is an essential step in your negotiations, which can be difficult through writing alone.

10. Consider Hiring a Career Coach

If you’re feeling unsure or overwhelmed by the process, don’t be discouraged. There are plenty of resources and experts available who are trained to help you move forward smoothly and confidently. An experienced career coach can work with you to determine how your unique strengths and skill set can translate into a career.

Once you’ve recognized your ideal path, your coach can also help you create long-term and short-term goals and encourage you to stay on track. Career coaches can also make the process easier by helping you with tasks like building your resume, prepping for interviews, offering advice on your social media presence, and more. Having an expert in your corner can keep you motivated while teaching you helpful skills that will continue to benefit you as you progress in your career.

Bonus Step: Use JobTest.org for Career Insights

While this article offers many insights and actionable steps on how to get a better job, we also understand that following through on each of these steps can be easier said than done. Even for those who are confident in their ability to job search, it's not always easy to recognize your own strengths and preferences or how those unique aspects can translate into a better job.

Our career test can help you discover ideal career paths based on your interests, ambitions, personality, and skills through a data-driven, user-friendly system. After you've completed the test, you will receive a comprehensive personality assessment and personalized feedback that you can use as a guideline in your career journey. Take your aspirations a step further and schedule a session with one of our expert career coaches.

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