TheCareerGrid

OK time to answer a reader’s question.

They’ve asked:

If you could go back 10 years, what career advice would you give yourself?

Honestly, love this question.

There are a few career lessons that I feel I learned the hard way. Mostly from missed opportunities that really could have elevated and accelerated my career in my 20s and I am determined to make sure you all don’t do the same thing!

This question takes me back to moments where I realised I had misunderstood how career growth actually works.

If you’re navigating your 30s or 40s and reflecting on your career these might resonate.

OK let’s get into it.

Here are five career lessons I wish I knew 10 years ago.

1. Job hopping is a career strategy

For years, I believed staying put proved loyalty. This is likely something I learned from my parent’s generation. Immigrants wanting the best for their kids telling them study, do well, get a good job and work your way up.

Sometimes it does work out really well. I know someone who went from admin to General Manager but it’s an exception.

Usually, growth requires movement.

If your learning curve has flattened, your exposure has capped out, or the organisation can’t offer what you need next, staying isn’t strategy.

Job hopping is not a red flag. Strategically moving is not a sign of instability, its actually expanding your horizons and a thoughtful job hopping strategy can accelerate career growth when used intentionally.

2. Your role is not your identity

This one took me way longer than it should have.

You are NOT your job title. I know you all know someone (or are the someone) who walks around with their job title on their forehead and makes it their whole personality. You are not your job title.

If your confidence is tied to your role, you will feel so lost when it changes. Especially if this changes very suddenly. This has happened to many of my clients and they feel lost and stuck.

In today’s market, roles change fast, your titles are temporary and your skills, judgement and professional reputation are what create long term career security.

3. Strive for great performance – but don’t rely on it – use the extra energy on networking

Hard work matters. Competence matters. But performance alone does not guarantee progression or protection.

High performers are made redundant constantly, or constantly overlooked. If you want your career to be resilient, you need more than performance.

You need visibility, positioning, a clear personal brand and a strong network.

Rather than spending all your energy on being loyal and performing to the point of burnout that no one will empathise with, build connections. Spend those extra hours going to events, connecting online, drumming up an audience.

Performance is powerful, that’s undeniable but career positioning is protection, its insurance.

4. Loyalty is usually one sided

You can give your best years to one employer, and still be left high and dry. I’m sorry, it’s the truth. It’s happened to me more than once.

Not because businesses are evil, but they are commercial. They are loyal to themselves.

Restructures happen, budgets tighten, strategy shifts, change in inevitable.

Be loyal to your growth. Long term career growth requires market awareness, skill evolution and external visibility, not blind loyalty.

5. If you can, seek international exposure.

Working across different countries, markets or cultures forces you to stretch in ways a single system never will. You learn different leadership styles, different expectations and ways of solving things.

It builds adaptability, commercial awareness and cultural intelligence which are all things that matter more and more in a global job market.

International exposure doesn’t always mean moving overseas permanently, it could be internships, seasonal work or projects, or if you can’t get there physically, even supporting global stakeholders.

If this opportunity comes up and it is possible for you, I would say take it every single time.

There is no doubt global perspective accelerates career growth in ways local experience sometimes just can’t.

Bonus lesson: You already have a personal brand

Whether intentional or not, it’s being built. It’s how you show up, what you post, what you tolerate.

In my opinion, personal branding is not optional in today’s job market. It’s happening with or without you.

So build it on purpose.

If I understood these career development lessons earlier, I would have played my career differently. More strategically. With less blind faith in systems and more ownership of my own positioning.

The good news?

You don’t need 10 years to learn them the hard way.

You can start now.

Have a workplace or talent related question for the team at TheCareerGrid? We would LOVE to hear from you! Contact us at info@thecareergrid.com

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