Keep up to date
Keeping up to date with current affairs, market and industry news and developments regularly can easily be forgotten or overlooked. However, it is an essential part of career development.
The type of updates that you will need to keep on top of will depend on your job and the industry or sector you work in. If you are aiming for a promotion, expand your knowledge with updates that you would expect your boss to be reading.
Whatever your job, whatever your role – keeping up to date can be both interesting and beneficial.
Here are some suggestions on keeping up to date:
- Find a way to incorporate keeping up to date with current affairs into your daily routine and make it a habit. Watch the news at breakfast. Listen to the radio during your commute. Use a news app on your phone or read a newspaper or website during your lunch break.
- Subscribe to Key Industry Publications. Sometimes your company will do this for you – so don’t be afraid to ask. If your boss already subscribes to a publication and is unwilling to shell out for another one – ask if you can read theirs when they are finished with it.
- Sign up for e-newsletters or email updates.
- Keep subscriptions to relevant websites or blogs. Have a section for work-related ones in your RSS reader of choice.
- Think outside the box and subscribe to other websites or blogs of interest that might reveal some relevant hidden gems. I also like to read technology updates to see if there is anything I can utilise.
- Find your update niche. Find a particular sub-topic that you are interested in and become the “go to” person for that topic. That little bit extra can go the long way particularly if no one else in your team has the same interest.