While building a family, many young parents find it challenging to develop their careers at the same time.
Many parents forget that significant career changes take time — you do not need to reinvent yourself overnight.
Make incremental changes to help you find the time and opportunity to advance your career while raising a family.
Negotiate A Flexible Schedule With Your Employer
One way to find some time to develop your career while raising your family is to negotiate a flexible schedule with your employer.
A more flexible schedule will allow you to do things like take online classes or work on your transferable skills, all while spending time with your family at the end of the day.
While it may not be financially feasible, you can also consider part-time work to give yourself more freedom in your schedule.
A part-time job can help you make ends meet while you are developing your career while also allowing you to play an active role in your kids’ lives.
Take Advantage Of Prep Courses To Gain Professional Certifications
Possibly the best way to advance your career while raising a family is to consider earning professional certifications in your field.
Professional certifications can help you bolster your resumé with education without the need to spend thousands of dollars and multiple years of graduate school.
Professional certifications exist in just about any niche you can imagine — no matter your career goals, you should be able to find a certificate program to help you reach them.
To earn a high score or pass exams for professional certifications and licenses, many parents choose to enroll in prep classes.
Prep courses can help you quickly and cheaply earn a high score on any certification exam by providing guided study material, practice test questions, and more.
For example, if you are an accounting professional looking to earn your Certified Public Accountant license, you can enroll in a Becker CPA review course to help you pass on your first try.
Review courses like Becker guide you through the necessary study material from start to finish to help save you time and the hassle of having to re-take any portion of the CPA exam that you do not pass.
Think About The Big Picture
Many parents get discouraged while working on advancing their careers because it can take a lot of hard work and time.
While you are taking steps to improve your career, you need to think about the big picture instead of worrying about every small decision along the way.
For example, consider the idea of working a part-time job while taking online classes or working toward a professional certification.
While the part-time work you find may not exactly align with your overall career goals, you can develop transferable skills that can help you while searching for high-level opportunities in the future.
Think Quality Not Quantity
Although you may want to rush ahead and make significant changes to your career overnight, you need to focus on the quality of what you are doing rather than the quantity.
Overworking and trying to prove yourself to your superiors with the volume of work you complete will ultimately just lead to burnout, or worse, a neglected family life.
Instead, focus on completing high-quality work. In the end, this is what really matters and what your superiors will truly value.
Incorporate What You’ve Learned As A Parent In The Workplace
Even though it might not be so obvious, the skills you develop as a parent can help you in the workplace.
As a parent, you need to be budget-conscious, organized, have good problem-solving skills, and the ability to plan, learn, and prioritize.
You can highlight these transferable skills on your resumé or application to any job to boost your career prospects.
You can also apply the skills you learn as a parent to the job you have now to look for advancement opportunities.
Use your new parenting skills to impress your employer with your high level of organization, creativity, and adaptability.
Be Open With Your Children
Part of advancing your career while raising a family is being open with your children.
Unfortunately, as a working parent there are going to be games, events, and concerts that just do not fit into your schedule.
The best thing to do if you cannot make it to an event is, to be honest with your children that you are working on advancing your career.
Alternatively, if you are fortunate enough to have a flexible work environment, you can speak with your boss or employer about setting your schedule around the events your child participates in.
Many other people in the workplace are parents themselves and understand that you may need the opportunity to leave work to be there for your kids.