Early Career Development: Three Priorities for Professional Growth

The first decade of a career creates a foundation for what comes next. Early-career professionals build experience during this stage, but they are also establishing a reputation, developing communication habits and forming relationships that can shape future opportunities.

Flexibility, compensation and culture are important considerations when evaluating a role. But the strongest early career decisions also account for learning, visibility and advancement.

As we work with young professionals and the leaders who develop them, we see three priorities that consistently strengthen early career development: creating a career runway, building personal brand awareness and developing relationships with managers and professional champions.

It’s that time of year for budget reviews and planning as a new year begins to take shape. And as companies consider priorities and corporate strategies, it’s a good time to also align individual’s growth and priorities.

Early Career Development Priorities is part 3 of our 3-part series focusing on trends, priorities, and insights to help align personal growth with business priorities for the year ahead.
Read Part 1 – Peak Career Development Priorities here.
Read Part 2 – Mid-Career Development Priorities here.

Today’s young professionals are setting a new way of working and shifting the thinking from work as a place we go, to work as a thing we do. This group of employees entered the workforce with savvy technical skills and solid educational backgrounds that seem destined for success. And the current labor shortage has given them more opportunities to choose from.

As the newest players in the workforce, they’re negotiating flexibility as well as compensation. They’re outspoken about where they want to work and how they want to work. And that’s exciting when you’re young and feel like you can set your own lifestyle and balance work alongside other interests. But there is another view of that flexibility that most early career employees don’t see.

They’ve traded off visibility for flexibility. And that may be a short-sighted advantage with long-term consequences. We’re seeing some early signs of that. Many companies saw phenomenal growth coming out of the pandemic, but it was not sustainable growth. And they’re resetting to a more modified growth track. That meant some workforce reduction that will continue as we head into 2023.

Reduction is never easy across teams, but it’s easier when we don’t really feel connected to an employee. If you joined a company and have worked virtually for the duration of employment, there’s not the same loyalty to you as others on the team. You haven’t had the visibility to leaders and therefore you don’t have the same support team when the tough decisions have to be made.

And if you allow flexibility to be the only motivation of your early career decisions, you may find that you’re stepping from one company to another without really moving up from one role to the next. The first decade is an important time to set a career path and make smart choices in order to leverage opportunities for more than a flexible schedule.

As we’ve worked with early career professionals and managers, we’ve focused on three priorities to strengthen their visibility and impact.

Career Runway

Jobs feel a little like window shopping right now. It’s fun to see so many choices, and the window dressing makes every opportunity look exciting. But buyer beware! Shop for more than the package wrapped up for you. Look at the company, the culture and the advancement opportunities. Are you considering the long-term as well as the short-term as you evaluate a role? Did you meet the co-workers and the hiring manager? Is this a good fit or just a good paycheck?

In addition to finding a role that meets the way you want to work, consider the role that will help you get to the next one. Resumes are shaped in the first decade of work. Hiring managers like to see that someone took an interest in you and helped you gain skills and additional responsibility. When the career path doesn’t show that, it’s a red flag.

We can help. Many data points prove out that early career employees will change jobs much more frequently than others which means framing up your experience more often. Our book, Disrupted! How to Reset Your Brand & Your Career focuses on how to position yourself and your experience. It also links to your personal brand and impressions. We developed a course to support it and can help you prepare for an interview or an internal, introductory meeting to help others get to know you and your interests. It makes all the difference in finding the next opportunity and positioning yourself for it.

Brand Awareness

Your personal brand is how people think about you and talk about you when you’re not around. It’s a reflection of someone’s impressions of you that take shape over time.

The savvy professional takes note of impressions and makes choices about how to come across as confident and credible. Impressions of confidence are why certain people get heard when they speak up. Confidence isn’t just a skill for leaders; it’s a differentiator that strengthens any employee’s personal brand and impact in an organization.

But it’s rarely an instinctive skill. It’s more about awareness of how people see you and hear you and focus on what it takes to really connect with a group. And it’s harder if you aren’t in an office often to be seen and heard. Early career professionals need to think about impact and add intention to visibility moments and their opportunity to be visible and involved in key initiatives.

We can help. Our workshop, Strengthening Personal Brand & Impressions, is offered internally for working teams or quarterly as an open-enrollment workshop. The program raises awareness of brand impressions and guides the discovery of professional presence and a confident communication style.

Manager Exposure

Everybody needs a champion. And in today’s shifting work environment, most people are going to need more than one. A champion is someone who knows your work and is willing to speak up on your behalf. It may be your manager, but it could also be your manager’s peers or others that you’ve worked with on projects. Champions start the process of a network within a company, and they are critical to bigger opportunities and advancement.

We used to build relationships as we met people in the corporate gym or cafeteria. It was easier to evolve relationships over time because we saw people often and had informal interaction and a chance to get to know each other. That’s a consequence of hybrid and virtual work models. It isn’t happening by happenstance. It takes an intentional plan to meet with someone and plan for those interactions, and early career professionals are going to have to work harder to get these connections.

Companies are trying to help with development programs and opportunities to connect with managers. Take advantage of all of these opportunities. When your company hosts a lunch, be there. When they set up a volunteer opportunity, be there. It’s going to take intention to start a network, and managers notice who’s taking an interest in it and who’s not.

We can help. Both programs described above include an element of building champions. We can also help you think through your own plan in 1:1 coaching and map out a conversation to gain insights and input from a potential champion in your organization.

Flexibility is a wonderful addition to career paths, and it’s an advantage that seems to have taken hold. But don’t make it the only factor in your early career decisions. Leverage the current role you have to build your brand and find the managers who will champion your skills. While it may take a little more in-office time, it will be the difference in your career advancement in the long run.

Why Early Career Development Matters

Early career development is the process of building the skills, experiences, relationships and self-awareness that support long-term professional growth.

This stage often involves exploration. Young professionals may be learning which roles fit their strengths, which environments help them succeed and what type of work they find meaningful. They are also beginning to understand how organizations make decisions and how their contributions are perceived.

No one needs to have an entire career mapped out during the first few years of work. But early choices do create momentum.

A thoughtful approach helps professionals move from one role to the next with a clearer understanding of what they have learned, what they can contribute and what they want to develop next.

Priority One: Build a Career Runway

A career runway is the foundation of experience that prepares someone for future opportunities.

Every job does not need to result in an immediate promotion. A role can still create value by providing exposure to a new industry, responsibility for a complex project or experience working with more senior audiences.

The important question is whether the role adds something meaningful to the professional’s larger story.

Evaluate More Than the Immediate Offer

Compensation, flexibility and benefits matter. But an attractive employment package does not always indicate that a role will support long-term growth.

Early-career professionals should also consider:

What skills will I develop?
Who will manage and coach me?
Will I receive useful feedback?
What responsibilities could I earn?
Will I interact with people outside my immediate function?
What advancement paths exist?
How does the organization develop its employees?
Will this experience prepare me for the next role?

A position that provides strong development and broader exposure may create more long-term value than one selected only for its immediate advantages.

Turn Each Role into Relevant Experience

Hiring managers want to understand more than where someone has worked. They want to see how that person has grown.

Early-career professionals should be able to explain:

What they were hired to do
What responsibilities they gained
What problems they helped solve
How their work supported a larger objective
What they learned
How the experience prepared them for what comes next

This requires more than updating a résumé when a job search begins. Professionals should track accomplishments, feedback and measurable outcomes throughout the year.

That information makes career conversations more specific and helps professionals recognize their own progress.

Priority Two: Strengthen Your Personal Brand

A personal brand is the collection of impressions people form through their experiences with someone. It reflects how colleagues describe that person’s strengths, working style, reliability and communication.

Early-career professionals are building these impressions whether they manage them intentionally or not.

A professional brand may be shaped by:

The quality and consistency of someone’s work
How they prepare for meetings
Whether they follow through on commitments
How they respond to feedback
The clarity of their communication
How they treat colleagues
Their willingness to contribute
How they behave when pressure increases

A strong personal brand is not about self-promotion. It is about helping other people understand the value someone consistently provides.

Understand How Others Experience You

Self-awareness is an important part of early career development. Professionals should seek feedback about both their work and the way they communicate.

Useful questions include:

What do you see as my strongest contribution?
Where could I take greater ownership?
Is my communication clear and concise?
How do I respond when priorities change?
What would help me become more effective?
Which skill should I develop for the next level?

Specific questions often produce more useful insights than asking, “How am I doing?”

Create Visibility with Intention

Visibility does not require speaking in every meeting or constantly drawing attention to individual accomplishments.

Meaningful visibility comes from contributing in ways that help the work move forward. That may include asking a thoughtful question, volunteering for an important assignment or sharing a concise update that helps decision-makers understand progress.

Early-career professionals can create visibility by:

Preparing before meetings
Contributing relevant ideas
Providing clear project updates
Asking for opportunities to observe senior discussions
Volunteering for cross-functional work
Sharing credit with colleagues
Communicating accomplishments in context
Following up on agreed actions

Visibility should reveal capability, judgment and engagement.

Priority Three: Build Relationships with Managers and Champions

Professional relationships expand access to information, feedback and opportunity.

Managers are an important part of this network, but early-career professionals should not rely on one person alone. Relationships with colleagues, cross-functional leaders, former managers and project sponsors create a broader view of the organization.

The Difference Between a Manager, Mentor and Champion

These relationships can play different roles:

A manager directs work, establishes expectations and evaluates performance.

A mentor offers advice and perspective based on experience.

A champion or sponsor knows the professional’s work and is willing to advocate for that person when opportunities arise.

One individual may play more than one role, but early-career professionals benefit from understanding the distinction.

Champions cannot speak credibly on someone’s behalf without direct knowledge of that person’s work. That is why strong performance and meaningful professional interaction must come before advocacy.

Build Relationships in Hybrid Work

Hybrid and virtual work have reduced some of the informal interactions that once occurred naturally in offices. But strong relationships can still develop when professionals approach them intentionally.

That might mean:

Scheduling periodic conversations with a manager
Requesting feedback after a project
Participating in employee-development opportunities
Attending relevant in-person events
Volunteering for cross-functional assignments
Asking a colleague to explain another part of the business
Following up after a useful introduction
Sharing an article or resource relevant to someone’s work

The objective is not to fill a calendar with networking meetings. It is to build genuine professional relationships through curiosity, contribution and consistent follow-through.

Communication Skills for Early-Career Professionals

Technical ability may help someone earn an opportunity. Communication affects how effectively that person contributes once the opportunity is available.

Several communication skills are particularly important early in a career:

Organizing Ideas

Young professionals need to explain their thinking without taking the audience through every step of their analysis. Beginning with the conclusion or recommendation often makes a message easier to follow.

Asking Effective Questions

Thoughtful questions demonstrate preparation and curiosity. They also help professionals understand context that may not be included in an assignment.

Providing Concise Updates

Managers need to know what is progressing, what has changed and where support is needed. A useful update highlights the outcome, current status and next step.

Receiving Feedback

Early-career professionals build trust when they listen carefully, ask clarifying questions and demonstrate that they can apply feedback.

Adapting to the Audience

A peer, manager, customer and executive may need different levels of information. Strong communicators adjust the message while keeping the central idea consistent.

Participating with Confidence

Confidence does not mean knowing everything. It means contributing clearly, acknowledging what is not known and following up when additional information is required.

How Managers Can Support Early-Career Development

Early career development is not solely the employee’s responsibility. Managers and organizations influence whether young professionals receive the feedback, exposure and experience needed to grow.

Managers can help by:

Explaining how individual work connects to business priorities
Setting clear expectations
Providing timely, specific feedback
Offering assignments that expand responsibility
Creating opportunities for cross-functional exposure
Introducing employees to relevant colleagues
Discussing career interests before a job search begins
Recognizing progress as well as results
Coaching employees through mistakes
Supporting participation in professional-development programs

A manager does not need to promise a promotion to support someone’s growth. Honest guidance about readiness, development needs and potential opportunities can be equally valuable.

Create an Early Career Development Plan

A useful development plan should be specific enough to guide action without attempting to predict an entire career.

Start with five questions:

What capabilities do I want to strengthen?
Which experiences would help me build those capabilities?
Who can provide feedback or perspective?
Where do I need greater professional visibility?
What action will I take during the next 90 days?

The plan might include leading part of a project, improving communication with senior audiences or building a stronger relationship with a manager.

Development becomes more effective when it moves from a general ambition to a series of intentional actions.

As always, we’re here when you need us.

Want a free 15-minute consultation with us to see how we can help you or your leaders? Book a call now!