Looking for quick career advancement? Ask questions. As a junior staffer, a standard working day usually involves balancing the asking of questions and taking the initiative.
The Most Underrated Career Advancement Tip
Women are more highly represented in undergraduate studies than men, so why do they make up fewer PhD candidates?
Statistics point to one gender’s confidence in question-asking. And, according to at least one study, some of that may point to structural biases. Women ask fewer questions than men after seminars.
Everyone can benefit from asking questions at work. It shows engagement, confidence, and a willingness to learn. So how do you do it effectively?
Setting Career Goals
Questions don’t just help you advance from one raise to the next. They can also help you set realistic career goals.
According to the team at The Grad Cafe, the process looks like this:
- Find mentors.
- Ask about their career path.
- Devise your ideal career plan based on their response.
- Ask for help as you progress in your career.
- Learn new skills to set yourself apart.
Unlike writing a letter of intent, your career path may differ wildly from those around you. A mentor can help you arrive at your goal more quickly because you can learn from their experience.
Not sure where to find a mentor? Start with your school’s alumni!
Check the Grad Cafe’s Job Board
New Skills for New Employees
Mentorship also allows you to ask questions to learn new skills.
While your coworkers may be happy to complete the job after a ramp-up period. You can set yourself apart by constantly seeking to learn new skills.
Professionals who hone their work earn new opportunities for career growth.
Find Training Opportunities
If you’ve already pursued higher education, you’ll understand the importance of ongoing training.
As you’d find with a mentor, you can quickly rise in the corporate ladder as you earn new certifications from training.
Related: We discussed the highest-paying master’s degrees.
Career Advancement by Asking Questions
It can be a tricky line to walk, especially if your manager is really busy or doesn’t generally encourage open lines of communication. But asking questions is not only important for your own personal development; your lines of inquiry can really matter at a business level too.
Newbies at any level are in a unique position to question how things have always been done, but recent graduates are also still in an education mindset and can apply new learnings intuitively, especially when it comes to technology.
However, it’s not a free-for-all. Here are some dos and don’ts for asking questions at work.
Do Google it first
It may be quicker to ask your boss, but take the time to research a topic before blankly asking questions. This is particularly true when it comes to technical questions – there is almost always a YouTube tutorial available.
You might have follow-on questions that are pertinent to your particular business or industry, and these will show real initiative and interest.
Related: Here’s our list of the top fully-funded PhD programs.
Do respect your boss’s time
It takes, on average, 23 minutes to regain focus after being interrupted so keep this in mind every time you think of a fresh query.
It’s important not to rattle off every question that comes to mind on the spot, so unless it’s urgent, keep a notebook list of questions or a document on your desktop, and either ask for a short meeting, or bring them up at your weekly or monthly 1-1.
Remember, clarity matters.
Do look at the big picture
While it’s good to ask for performance feedback and to welcome constructive criticism, ask questions outside your own role too. What are the challenges and opportunities in your industry this quarter or year?
Show how invested you are in the company’s success, and as well as asking questions, offer ideas for the adoption of new technologies and processes. It’s one thing to question how things are done, it’s another to proactively improve ways of working.
Don’t say it’s urgent unless it really is
A big deal in your working day may not be for your boss. If an issue arises in your work but it’s not time-sensitive, don’t flag it as urgent causing unnecessary interruptions and stress.
To establish an urgency baseline, discuss what counts as urgent with your manager. Your baseline might be an angry email from a client, whereas your boss’s baseline might be a negative story about the company reaching regional or national news.
Don’t disregard established communication channels
Always follow proper protocols and established channels of communication. This can be a tricky field to navigate in a workplace with seemingly endless Slack channels.
If in doubt, ask a trusted, informed colleague about the best place to reach out with questions.
The last thing you want to do is come across as insubordinate, and you definitely don’t want to use text or WhatsApp unless it’s a genuine emergency. Personal social media channels are generally a complete no-no too.
Don’t ask narrow questions
Ask questions that open up conversations, rather than seek a single definitive answer.
Use the language of “we”, such as: How can we integrate GenAI into our workflow to create efficiencies? How often should we meet on this? How can we improve on these results? Think as a team and start conversations where you can both contribute meaningfully to the right solution.
Whether you’re newly entering the workforce or you’re unhappy with your boss or the company you work for, it could be time to look for something new.
Increased Salaries with Career Advancement Opportunities
Of course, the top reason for career advancement is always earning more money. That means considering top-paying PhD degrees, skills with the highest average salaries, and industries with the greatest need.
To understand your best options, ask questions.
Mentors, coworkers, and friends can help you find new challenges to get you ahead.
Department-Specific Questions
Remember, the HR department might be the team that helped you land a job, but they’re not paid to protect employees. The human resources department protects the company.
And, unless you work in HR yourself, they’re also usually less specialized in your specific field.
That means you’ll need to bring your questions to a higher position in your own department. That’s where you’ll find real growth opportunities (and earn more money).
Consider Your Field and Degree Program
What you study makes a huge impact on your future earnings. We regularly discuss top-paying degree programs. But the field where you work also makes a major impact on pay.
Here’s our guide to the top-paying MBA jobs right now.
Those in finance pay much more than those in the non-profit world. If you’re considering a career switch, ask someone who works in your target field for advice.
This is often a helpful way to get an interview!
Asking questions can also help you uncover fields with significant workforce shortages. Those are the industries where you’ll have less competition for jobs.
Current Career Opportunities
The GradCafe Job Board has hundreds of new roles updated daily, take a look around or consider these. Note that we don’t usually highlight opportunities for those seeking a senior leadership role.
Our recommendations focus on opportunities that come with additional training (especially for new grads with high career aspirations). You’ll need a high school diploma and a college degree for these.
Entry Level Engineer, AECOM, Waterloo, IA
Multinational infrastructure consulting firm AECOM is hiring an Entry Level Engineer based in Waterloo in Iowa, but with hybrid working available. This is a chance to join a global team of 47,000 experts including planners, designers, engineers, scientists, consultants, program and construction managers, where the opportunities are endless. This entails transportation design, knowledge or ability to learn Civil3D and MicroStation ORD modeling, creating designs, calculations, sketches and drawings for review of an experienced engineer, collecting and analyzing data, and assisting with surveys in the field. An ability to learn various software programs is required. Candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering or related discipline. Apply here.
Producer Intern, Electronic Arts, Redwood City/hybrid/remote
In the summer of 2024, Electronic Arts will bring its Next-Gen Program interns together on-site for orientation week and to prepare students for the future ways of work by offering remote and hybrid opportunities, depending on your location. Successful applicants to this Producer Intern opportunity will work with a team of producers, designers, artists and engineers to bring new features to life, and will use proprietary tools to tag new objects, write and edit text, and fix bugs. You’ll also review and demo game features and share progress, as well as gather player feedback on new or existing features. A passion for gaming is a must, and candidates must be available for full-time, paid internships in the summer of 2024. Apply here.
College Graduate – Computer Engineering, Intel, Santa Clara
If you’ve a Ph.D degree in computer engineering with six or more months of educational or industry experience, take a look at this opportunity for engineers with Intel, a world-leader in R&D that’s committed to bringing smart, connected devices to every person on earth. To help achieve this mission, it is seeking world-class engineers across hardware, debug, logic design, AI, software, HPC system validation and product dev, who will be well-compensated to solve complex problems. Specifics vary from role-to-role, but commonly shared duties include interfacing with engineers and managers, prioritizing tasks independently, and contributing well in a multi-site setting. See more here.
References
- Davis MM. How to ask questions (in 10 easy steps). Curr Biol. 2000 Nov 2;10(21):R771. doi: 10.1016/s0960-9822(00)00782-x. PMID: 11084345.
- Ceci, S. J., Ginther, D. K., Kahn, S., & Williams, W. M. (2014). Women in Academic Science: A Changing Landscape. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 15(3), 75-141. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100614541236
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Carter AJ, Croft A, Lukas D, Sandstrom GM. Women’s visibility in academic seminars: Women ask fewer questions than men. PLoS One. 2018 Sep 27;13(9):e0202743. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202743. Erratum in: PLoS One. 2019 Feb 6;14(2):e0212146. PMID: 30260980; PMCID: PMC6159863.
Amanda Kavanagh is a Dublin-based journalist and content writer with over a
decade of experience writing and editing across digital, print and social.
