You know at Glam Observer, we advocate increasing your knowledge to feel confident at work. Reading books, watching tutorials and taking courses are many methods to get where you want to be in your career. However, there are times your dream job can become dull and you’ll start thinking of quitting.
Though fashion has many downsides because it is a fast-paced industry, it does have one advantage: its constant evolution. Take social media for example, if at the beginning it was a matter of posting some pictures, now with live videos and insta stories, the role of a social maven has evolved. Widen your views of the sector, and you will realise many jobs in fashion offer room for professional growth, it is up to you to seize the opportunity.
One manager told me one day it was up to me to shape my role. Andthat is what this post is about, empowering you to turn your current job into what you want it to be.
Look for growth in the same role
‘I am learning so much.’ It is a sentence a lot of newcomers say during their first six months on a job. But as time goes by and they get comfortable with their tasks, their position becomes monotonous. To avoid arriving at this stage and feeling bored, I invite to look what you could do to change it. For some roles, weekly meetings with your manager can help you figure out what to do to expand your knowledge. These meetings shouldn’t be like an appraisal where you discuss your achievements and growing pains, instead if your role is performance-driven look at your analytics or ROI. Then analyse how for a next project you could make a difference and discuss the options with your manager.
For roles where it is more difficult to track back performances, I’d say you’ll have to be more ingenious. Say you’re a coordinator, maybe you could ask your manager to work out on better communication methods between the different teams you’re involved with. If you’re on the writing side, maybe you could ask to work on a style guide and be the one in charge of it in the team. To sump up, find what is lacking in your team/position and propose yourself as a problem-solver. Doing so will show you’re pro-active and always want to improve.
Don’t be afraid to ask
When I arrived at Topshop, I mainly trans-created and did community management for the French market. When I left, on top of what I did at my arrival, I collaborated with the marketing, PR and trading departments on many projects, pitch them ideas, created a couple of localised email campaigns and wrote for Topshop blog. All this happened because I asked for it. If I saw my market was missing something, I’d go and tell my manager I’d love to find a solution to make a change. And most of the time, I didn’t know a thing it but still, I asked.
If it is true that managers are busy, it is also true they are here to help you grow. Their role is to lead a team as well as growing each individual part of it. In a fast-paced industry like fashion, managers are often in meetings, interviewing new candidates and working on projects, telling it bluntly they don’t have time for you. That’s when the weekly meeting comes in handy. After going through everything you needed to, you can tell them you want to talk about something. For example, you could start like this:
‘I’ve noticed [explain the issue], I’ve made some research, maybe we could do [explain your idea]. I wouldn’t mind doing it, what do you think of the idea?’
If you don’t have weekly meetings, send an email explaining what you want to do.
Don’t let the idea a manager is busy prevents you from asking to grow professionally. They are here for that reason.
Don’t wait for appraisals
I love appraisals for they enable you to realise where you started and where you’re now. Nonetheless, they happen every six months. Checking your professional growth shouldn’t be a thing you do twice a year instead, it should be a process that you keep your eye on. You could give yourself deadlines and check your growth every three months; use the opportunity to lead few projects to see your progress etc. There are many ways to monitor your professional growth, and you it shouldn’t be dictated by your company.
The time of school reports is finished. Appraisals are excellent but they aren’t enough. Taking your time to check on yourself will tell you where you want your role to go. In fashion, growing in the same role last a short period. An employee stays on average 2-3 years in the same company, hence why you should use this amount of time to get the most out of it for your next professional adventure.
What do you do to check on your professional growth? Tell us in the comments below.
