When people consider what they must possess in order to achieve career success, they often think of degrees from prestigious universities or a mastery of professional skills. But those alone aren’t enough to ensure long-term success in today’s competitive job market. These days, working professionals need to build and leverage “career capital” – a concept that has gained lots of attention in recent years.
What is Career Capital?
In the context of the workplace, career capital refers to the skills, knowledge, and experiences that make a worker valuable in the job market. In other words, career capital refers to the mix of assets and professional currency that you bring to the table.
What are Examples of Career Capital?
There are several different categories of career capital. The following are some of the more common categories you should be familiar with in taking inventory of your own capital.
- Historical Experience – This particular category focuses on your work history and the projects you’ve been involved in. The more diverse and complicated your work experiences, the higher your career capital.
- Work Skills – Work skills pertain to the hard and soft skills you have developed through your education and career, like coding or project management. A deeper depth and wider breadth of skills equates to high career capital.
- Professional Network – You may not realize it, but the relationships and professional connections you build in your industry contribute heavily to your career capital. A good professional network will help you open doors to new positions and collaborations.
- Specialized Training – College degrees, professional certifications, and on-the-job training all add to your career capital. All specialized training enhances your credibility within the industry.
How to Leverage Your Career Capital
Once you have built up your career capital, the next step is to leverage it to enhance your career goals and improve overall career success — which often comes in the form of higher pay, better roles, and improved work-life balance.
To leverage your career capital, consider the following:
- Choose your opportunities wisely – Anyone who’s spent any time working in corporate America knows that not all job opportunities are created equal. Once you’ve amassed enough career capital, make sure to use it selectively and choose only those roles and assignments that will further your career.
- Know your Worth – Accumulating a wealth of career capital in the form of skills, experience, and network does little good if you don’t understand the value of that capital. As you apply for positions and new roles, be sure to highlight the most relevant capital to ensure you’re always putting your best foot forward.
- Prioritize Autonomy and Control – As you move higher on the career ladder, your aim should be to gain greater control over your work and an improved work-life balance. This might come in the form of negotiating more flexible work hours or getting priority to select the projects you’re passion about.
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