Often, we find ourselves feeling unsure of how to move forward in faith. We often doubt whether if our abilities will allow us to grow within our field.
God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans that I have for you, I have plans to prosper you, to give you a bright future and hope."
Through this article, I would like to encourage you to be bold when making your God-driven decisions understanding that God has already lined up the next step for you. All He needs from you is to be courageous and move in faith.
As you're seeking growth in any field, it's important that you consider the following four points below:
1. Development of New Skills
The only way that you will grow in your field is by actively practicing new skills. This area is super important because the more your skills are actively used, the more you will grow, the better we prepare our minds to think outside the box. Time and experience will simply help us create better systems and processes that will help you become more effective in what you're practicing. I've heard, if we practice a new skill at least for one hour a day, in 5 years, we will then become a pro.
2. Opportunity for Advancement
This area is as important as the previous one because this will help you determine whether if you should remain in the organization that you are in or not. I would advise you to ask your direct supervisor if there are any advancement opportunities. If there are, ask what roles are available for you to pursue and what do you need to do to get there. If your direct supervisor doesn’t have an answer for that, you might be hiding a plateau.
I’ve worked in companies where the leadership makes it nice and clear that there are no other advancement opportunities unless if your direct supervisor leaves the organization and those are the details that you must find out to get a clear understanding of your next step.
3. Reasonable Merit Increases
Once we are employed with an organization, we tend to give our best! We are committed, dedicated, focused, understand our responsibilities, and go the extra mile to ensure that our work is being completed. As dedicated as we are to an organization, our organization should also value our work ethic and compensate us accordingly.
Compensation is an important part of your lives; our compensation helps us pay for our everyday expenses. Receiving a reasonable merit increase on an annual basis or for a promotion is an important piece and this will help you determine whether if you should pursue an internal promotion or be open to new opportunities outside of your organization.
I encourage you to ask your direct supervisor questions such as, "How often are pay increases given and how much is the pay increase? Is it based on a percentage or does your organization have a compensation chart they go by?" Some companies provide a .10 cents, .50 cents, $1, or an even $3 increase on an annual basis - yes, I've seen it. I've worked for companies that provide a 1% - 3% annual increase - and these merits are dependent on your work performance. These details must be discussed and they will give you a clear understanding of your next move.
4. Experience over Compensation
According to dictionary.com, the meaning of sacrifice is, “to give up something for something else considered more valuable”. To gain the necessary experience for the next promotion, you must learn to value the experience over the compensation for its due season. There will be instances where you are positioned in roles where you will not receive the appropriate compensation compared to the level of responsibilities. To grow in your career and practice non-entry-level responsibilities, you must learn how to sacrifice merit over experience.
My Story for His Glory
In my mid 20's, I felt stuck - I was finishing my associates degree in business management and felt over-prepared for the current retail role that I was in. I felt how God was pushing me to grow professionally. As I was praying for direction, God gave me the desire to get into the banking world. I then applied to every open banking role available and eventually got hired at a local bank. Oddly enough, I always said to myself that I would never get into banking nor a desk job - yet, God decided to place me in an area that I was always running away from.
About 6 month before I graduated with my bachelor degree in organizational psychology, again, I decided to apply for every entry level HR role available. I was then offered my first HR role. Sadly, I was only given a few extra cents in compared to my banking role. Let me tell you, I was highly discouraged at the compensation I was offered even after the negotiation. I assumed that entering the HR world would pay me more than that. Although I faced the disappointment, I still felt that I had won a million bucks - just like that, I was placed in my first HR role that I fought for months to get into.
During the course of my career, I was intentionally taking responsibilities that didn’t fall under my job description nor matched the pay for the level of responsibilities I had. At the moment, the pay didn't matter to me because the experience that I was gaining was more important than the pay rate. Be assured that your level of responsibilities will eventually align with your compensation so be patient and intentional.
In any field you find yourself in, it's important that you are challenged, that our strengths are utilized, that new skills are actively developing, that there are new opportunities available to pursue, and that your organization is providing you with a reasonable pay increase to look forward to.
I challenge you to ask God every morning for guidance so that He can lead the way, for wisdom so that you can understand how to handle each day, and for understanding so that you can recognize what season you are in and know what He is asking you to do.
In the process of evaluating the points above, make sure that you are honest with yourself. You might find yourself at a great organization, feeling comfortable yet you might not be challenged nor professionally developed. So, you must ask yourself, "Is this an organization where I am growing, or am I just feeling comfortable?" Be brave and ask yourself, "How long is God asking me to be in this role? in this organization? Am I aligned to the plans He has for me?"
Now, go out there and be intentional, develop new skills, and learn to sacrifice for those things that money can't buy. Also, always remember that great things come to those who are purpose driven, intentional, and patient.
I hope that this articles encouraged you to seek those plans that God has already prepared for you!
XoXo,
Elizabeth Menegazzo
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