Five Strategies You Must Follow to Start a Successful Career

If you try to think of a few successful IT professionals, you'll probably name Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and a few other big names in the industry. They made it to the very top.

What does it mean to have a successful career? It depends on what you want. In general, it means achieving great results at doing what you want to do.
How do you get there?

When you compare the careers of successful people, you'll realize they all did it their own way. However, we can recognize a pattern if we take a closer look. These are the five strategies you must follow if you want to start a successful career:

1. Gain the Skills

Constant learning - that's the first and most important commitment you have to make. Zuckerberg and Gates may have dropped out of college, but they never stopped learning. Deep expertise is a requirement and you have to start developing it as soon as possible.

You already have a degree? Why don't you upgrade your skills through online learning? The employers in all industries are faced with an overwhelming choice of candidates. You need a sharp edge over your competitors. More courses, more internships, and better skills will give you that edge.

2. Set Up Clear Goals

When you think of a successful person, you see determination. You can't achieve stardom by accident. You need well-established goals, and you need to identify with them.

What exactly do you want to achieve throughout your career? Are you committed to starting your own brand? Maybe you want to be the CEO of a big company? How do you start? What's the path that will take you there? Make a clear career plan and start pursuing it.

3. Define Your Values

Values are such an abstract concept, aren't they? It's sometimes difficult to understand their relation to a career. That's mainly because we relate our careers to money-making. However, our values affect every single aspect of our lives. Our marriage, education, beliefs, friendships, and the way we work, as well.

Take Bill Gates as an example. In an interview from 2013, he said: "My wife and I had a long dialogue about how we were going to take the wealth that we're lucky enough to have, and give it back in a way that's most impactful to the world.”

As Gates said, he had no use for money. Giving back gives a purpose to his entire career.

Why are you going on this career path? Define your values, and think how this journey will help you stay true to them. Money is not a purpose. It's just a tool that can help you achieve a higher purpose.

4. Develop a Productivity Routine

Did you know Barack Obama exercised every single morning? Steve Jobs used to give himself a motivational speech every morning. Howard Schultz, former CEO and current executive chairman of Starbucks, wakes up at 4:30 every morning to walk his dogs.

You won't notice the same technique in all examples of successful people. However, you'll notice a pattern: they have a routine. They do their job, but they also find the time to do something for themselves. Even if it means getting up early in the morning, they will do it in order to stay productive.

Productivity is more than doing work effectively. It's all about living effectively. Find your own routine, and stay true to it.

5. Improve Your Application Game

Will you start looking for a new job to move up the career ladder? Will you start searching for investments for your big idea? Whatever the case, you'll need a great resume, accompanied with an impressive cover letter, and a detailed LinkedIn profile.

Great application documents boost your chances to start a successful career. They land you opportunities for interviews. The best way to get them perfect is to hire professional writers who are aware of the standards in your industry.

Don't forget to go through some professional resume writing service reviews. In order to avoid being scammed, you need to identify the best website to order resumes from.

Great skills, clear career goals, precise values, a productivity routine, and a perfect resume - that's the combination of steps that will push you forward. This will be a long journey, so you better make the first steps as soon as possible.

Stephanie Proper is a career advisor and avid blogger. She spends her free time writing articles on how to go through an application process with success, and land a dream job. She also has a blog ProperResumes.com where job seekers may read useful tips regarding writing a resume that stands out.

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.