Sure, we all think that we’re rather busy – but parents tend to be a bit busier than the rest. It would still be great to climb that career ladder as you’ve always intended to, though, get a bit more responsibility and preferably a raise or two along the way.

Image by: Pexels

We need to be challenged at work and feel like we’re both prospering and mastering our everyday life; without this, it’s going to be quite hard to get that sense of achievement. Finding the time to put in a few extra hours and push towards that promotion is quite tough, however, and especially when you have a couple of kids at home who have barely reached school-age.

Here is a handful of ways to boost your career while you’re still young and climb the ladder of success even if your schedule is already way too busy. It is, after all, possible as long as you put your mind to it.

First: Rely on networking

It doesn’t matter if you’d like to change your workplace or just get a bit more responsibility at your current one; the more people you know, the more power and options you have in terms of your career.

Hopefully, you’ve built up a few contacts already and may be able to seek out a new job with ones you already know – if not, you can always try to squeeze in the time for a few networking events.

If this is impossible, you may want to do your best socialization at the work you’re already in. Try to get to know people outside of your own department, be friendly to everyone from your boss to the cleaning boy, and try to be the person who everybody knows.

It just increases your chances of being noticed slightly and, hopefully, somebody might mention your name when they’re looking for someone to fill that new manager role that just opened up. Have a look at this article if you have time for a networking event or two, though, so that you can brush up on your networking skills first.

Next: Have a chat with your boss

Before you go ahead and ask for a meeting with your boss, it’s a good idea to keep in mind that hard work tends to get noticed. Usually, it doesn’t take much more than going that extra mile compared to your colleagues – and those who are eager to take on responsibility and work hard throughout the day will often be noticed and rewarded.

If this isn’t the case, however, and you’re unfortunate enough to have a boss who doesn’t pay attention to his or her employees, you might want to step up and ask for a quick chat. Let them know that you would love some more challenges at work and what he or she thinks you need to improve on, if there are any courses you should take, and how you’re doing, in general.

An employee with confidence enough to step up and take this initiative will surely be noticed and appreciated. Don’t be afraid to show this level of confidence and remember that is your boss doesn’t appreciate your initiative, there will be a lot of other employers who do.

Tell yourself that you have other options where you’ll be able to climb the ladder a bit faster and where your skills will be appreciated. Your boss depends on you, after all, and it’s going to cost him or her more to train and hire somebody else than it costs you to simply find another job with one of their competitors.

Working from home is also an option, by the way, and you could start your own company where you’ll be able to enjoy your own hours and even spend some more time with your kids. Are you wondering how does working from home work? Just read what others are saying and consider if this is something that could make your weeks of work a bit better.

Take an online course

Finally, but only if you have the time for it, you might want to consider giving yourself that cutting edge by taking an online course. This is something that might arise after a conversation with your boss; if he or she thinks you might do well as a leader as long as you were better at public speaking, you should take a course in this.

Whatever skill you need to improve at work, there will be an online course for it so that you can make it work around your schedule and, eventually, help you to get the promotion you’ve been working towards.