Jeremy Kaplan
Management is a career and a skill in itself and you will find that if you are serious about taking on a managerial career then it’s a lot more than just putting in your time and expecting a promotion, you have to proactively go out and promote yourself and above all else have a plan and a strategy of how you are going to get where you want to be going. Here we will look at 5 ways you can increase your chances of being hired in a management role.
Experience
Even early on in your career it’s important, if you’re interested in getting on in management to make your own experience and get in the right roles. Look for roles with management training schemes and in any role you are ever in look for opportunities to take on responsibilities and assume leadership roles where possible. Be aware of the organisational skills, people skills and more you’ll need in a management role.
Know Your Industry
Knowledge is everything as they say. The more you know about the industry in general the better. Use your time to get as much knowledge as you can, make contacts and be able to understand the whole work-flow and what is being achieved at every stage. You don’t have to know everyone’s roles in depth but if you know the basics of what an operative, technician or sales operative is trying to achieve then managing them will be much easier and they will give you a higher level of respect.
Promote Yourself To Large Companies
Make you own opportunities, promote and market yourself, you will know roughly who the bug players are in your industry and if you are keen to work for them you don’t always need to wait for a job to be advertised. Take the initiative and be the one to introduce yourself. As a quick case study let’s say you work in the food supply and distribution business, you should take a company, say EU Poultry and look at getting in touch, let them know you are aware they are one of the larger players in this industry, that they operate in Eastern and Central Europe and they are keen to expand, research their public accounts, their clients etc and point out your experience, your connections and your qualities and you will stick in their minds when they are looking for new management blood.
Have A Strategy Orientated CV
When you put together a CV the common thinking is to include the usual education, work experience and references. But when looking for a management position why not consider a strategy based CV where you are setting out how you would deal with the job, what your methods and management strategies are. This will make a stand out application amongst all the others.
Consider Higher Education
Why not look into doing an MBA as these are specifically designed to give you the skills for entering into a higher level business management career. Getting into a good school is not easy and the course fees are not insubstantial but the career and salary opportunities are well worth these expenses.
