Confidence—you either have it or you don’t, right? Wrong. Confidence is a skill that all of us can work towards and grow in. And career confidence is necessary if you want to grow your career and get a promotion or raise! Confidence is an essential ingredient for career advancement for women, so let’s look at why it matters and how to get it.
Why Career Confidence Matters
Confidence in yourself is important because it inspires confidence in other people. Just think: if you’re not confident in your ability to accept new responsibilities, why would your boss offer you the promotion? Career confidence matters for two reasons:- It shows your boss that you can handle more responsibility and deserve a promotion. Learning how to use your accomplishments to earn a promotion comes down to the confidence you have in your abilities to do the job.
- It inspires confidence in your team and colleagues—they’ll trust your leadership.
How to Build Career Confidence
Career confidence is not about being perfect or never making a mistake! Instead, confidence is a skill and mindset that each person can learn and develop over time. I have four strategies that I use to promote career advancement for women:- Draw confidence from the past. Take out a notepaper or your phone and start writing down all the amazing things you’ve accomplished in your life. When you need a career confidence boost, look to your past and draw from those experiences—you did hard things before, you can do it again.
- Remember God is with you. I start each day in prayer and spending time with God. I know that He is with me and is for me and will bring wisdom, understanding, and discernment. When we don’t feel confident, we can place our confidence in God who cares for us and is there to help.
- Create an emotional experience. Positive visualization is grounded in research and science, and can help boost your confidence by imagining future scenarios in which you are confidently doing the work you’re meant to do!
- Watch your posture. Research shows that “power posing” can immediately improve your confidence before going into an interview—check out this awesome TED Talk all about it! Maintaining good posture, open body language, and avoiding fidgeting will signal to yourself and others that you are confident.
