Remote work is the death of career progression, and you trade your future for being flexible in your comfortable remote work life.

Or at least that’s how many opinions are floating around about remote work when it comes to career progression.

What are the facts, and whether remote work is the death of your career or is there still hope, what are your options and how you can advance in pursuing your career goals.

To find professional fulfillment and success while working remote.

In this article, we’ll share some insights and whether remote work is good for career development and how to climb the ladder to achieve new heights in your career.

Definition Of Career Development:

Career development is an ongoing process of achieving your career goals, which can be learning new skills, building that experience and enhancing your value as an employee to get a specific job position or be at a specific stage of your career.

This helps you attain a certain level of financial, emotional, or professional satisfaction. These goals can vary from short term to long term, based on what a person is interested in.

For companies, having employees with career development aspirations, are a great way to increase their productivity and achieve overall organizational goals.

Relevant Read: Toxic Work Culture Impact on Your Career.

Is Remote Work Good For Your Career Progression?

There are conflicting opinions online about remote work, especially in the context of career growth and development.

But we’ll share some insights on whether remote work is a good choice if you have career development aspirations.

Remote work can have a positive impact on your career development, especially when you manage work-life balance more efficiently.

It all depends on the career or a position you want to advance into.

Some may pose some challenges while others, especially the ones that are a good fit for remote work and can be performed remotely, are a great way to grow your career.

As over 50% of companies are incorporating online methods to train their employees. It’s a great way to develop new skills and set milestones that can help you reach your chosen career path.

But when working in a hybrid organization, it can be challenging, especially when you may not be that visible in comparison to your counterparts.

By developing new skills, like leadership, effective communication and enhancing your skills, which you’ll see below in this article, you can advance in your career to achieve your career goals despite working remotely.

6 Ways To Move A Career Ladder When Working Remotely

1) Set Clear Goals:

Set clear goals and assess what career growth means to you, where you want to be in the next 5 or even 10 years.

Does your goals align with the current position you’re at, or do you have to change. What are some steps you need to take to reach those goals, and how long would it take.

Answer these questions to create a clear picture of career goals, and write down the skills you need to learn.

2) Actively Engage:

When working on site, you get a lot of chances to stay on top of your manager’s mind, as you consistently interact with them regularly.

But in remote work conditions, it’s an entirely different case, and often you might get left out compared to other employees, especially if there are employees who work on-site in your company.

Which is why it’s important to stay engaged, and communicate effectively to stay on top of your manager’s mind as someone who’s consistent and hardworking.

3) Build a Strong Network:

One of the downside of remote work is the little interaction you make in person workspace, which might not be possible in a remote workplace.

At lunchtime, during water break, and sometimes even when collaborating. But you may hardly get any chances when working remotely, which leads to being unnoticed or unrecognized for your hard work.

The best thing you can do in this scenario is to volunteer for open team collaborations and other projects that you can complete.

This will help you build relationships with your coworkers from different departments and will help you in your career development.

Relevant Read: How To Build a Strong Network Despite Being an Introvert.

4) Keep Learning:

Once you get an idea of what your future career aspirations look like, get an overview of the skills you’ll need to get to that point.

Invest time and energy into developing those skills to build that level of experience and skill proficiency that makes it attainable for you to accomplish your career goals.

Join active learning programs your company might have to improve or learn new skills.

Build experience and have that reputation for being someone dedicated and consistent to their role.

5) Talk to your Manager:

Talk to your manager about your career aspirations that align with company goals or reach.

Evaluate and, together with your manager, come up with a plan on how your company can support your growth while you can continue being a valuable employee of the company.

Find out what are the requirements to reach that position in your company. Such as the criteria of metrics that are used to measure your performances.

What other skills are needed to get promoted or moved up to your desired position. According to data, organizations that provide career development opportunities have a 34% higher retention rate.

And the companies who invest in employee’s career development see over a 58% retention rate increase.

6) Stay Visible:

In remote working conditions, it’s difficult to always stay visible when you’re not around, especially when your company also operates on-site with other employees.

This can shadow your efforts and results, that otherwise in person could’ve been recognized.

So, stay active in your work and consistently engage with your manager and other team members over collaboration, daily tasks, and other work.

To show up and stay visible, better make a spreadsheet of your successful projects and end results, which you can share with your manager on progress reports.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, remote work is a great environment to grow your career, especially if your career aligns well with remote work conditions.

By consistently engaging, staying visible and volunteering without asking for new projects.

You can build a positive image and be in your manager’s mind that can help you get promoted or move forward towards your career development goals.

Which ultimately leads to overall job satisfaction and keep you content with your work.