For those with the require skills, talents, dedication and indeed personality traits, a career as a research investment analyst can be one of the most exciting and financially rewarding in the world. Now, this isn’t of course to say that every single person that sets out on such a path is guaranteed all the wealth in the world, but in terms of gaining a privileged foot in the door, there’s really none more valuable you could ask for.
According to the experts at www.researchwatercooler.com, one extremely common pitfall that tends to get the better of so many ambitious newcomers is that even before they take their first real steps into the industry, their immediate expectations are set way too high. Or in other words, they may be fresh from university and not carrying a day’s real-world experience with them, yet they still believe they’ll step right into a million-pound post where the richest rewards in the world come overnight.
Sadly, this seldom happens…in fact it never does.
Instead, it’s a case of knowing and acknowledging the fact that the foot in the door is the first step and from then on it’s a case of working your way toward everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Suffice to say, getting said foot in said door tends to be the most difficult step in the whole process, so here’s a quick overview of a few tips with regard to making it happen:
1 – Clear Vision and Intent
First of all, it’s of crucial importance to make sure you know exactly what it is you want and how you intend to get there, as opposed to just randomly applying for every post that opens up. It’s of course important to spread your bets as wide as realistically possible in order to make sure an opportunity doesn’t just slip you by, but at the same time applying ‘just for the sake of it’ isn’t going to win you any credit with anyone. Applications and efforts should be targeted in accordance with what you can do, what you want to do and what you have already done.
2 – Current Skills and Talents
Speaking of which, there’s of course a level you want to be at in the future and a list of skills and talents you’d ideally like to build. Realistically though, it’s going to take some serious time before you’re able to get there which is why you need to be thinking more about now – what can you do and offer right now, in order to be an asset to an employer? Ambition is all well and good and will work in your favour long term, but in terms of getting your foot in the door in the first place, you need to think about what you can offer them right now…not what you might be able to offer in years to come.
3 – Use the Right Sites and Services
These days, there’s much to be said for making the most of the online resources available to you when it comes to locating the vacancies in the first place. It’s not to say there’s anything wrong with going directly to the brands and businesses you’d like to work for, but more often than not the biggest names out there will advertise their posts first and often exclusively via the better online recruitment portals. To overlook these is to overlook a huge proportion of the job opportunities out there – especially for graduates and first-timers.
4 – Get Your Name Known
You might think you can’t begin making a strong name for yourself until you’ve actually got yourself a job, but in reality it often works the other way. If you can build a name for yourself prior to getting hired, your chances of getting hired climb exponentially. There are so many ways of doing this – anything from blogging to forum participation and just basically getting involved in the industry and making sure your name is one they don’t forget in a hurry.
5 – Make Good Use of Your Time
Last up, you have to be realistic when it comes to realising that it might be quite some time before you get taken on – anything form weeks to months to years. As such, there’s no room or excuse for sitting idly by and letting the time slip away without putting it to good use – there’s always something you could be doing to improve your skills, your education, your reputation and indeed your chance of succeeding.