HR career: How do I find the next career opportunity in the company?

Question: How can I take the next career step if internal development opportunities are lost due to virtual work?

HR professionals know this situation: daily work works well, goals are achieved and collaboration is largely digital. Nevertheless, at some point you start to feel like you’re stalling professionally. While conversations in the hallway, spontaneous encounters or lunches together often provided important information about new opportunities, these informal development paths have become significantly rarer in everyday virtual work life.

The result: You work successfully in your own area of ​​responsibility, but increasingly lose track of what internal development opportunities still exist. So how can you actively prepare for the next career step when orientation within the company has become more difficult?

Careers need orientation – not just performance

Many people assume that good work will automatically lead to new opportunities sooner or later. In practice, however, this is rarely the case. Achievement is the basis for development, but it does not replace the visibility of one’s own ambitions.

Especially when working from home, many opportunities are lost where managers or colleagues can take advantage of development potential. Those who only deliver reliably are often perceived as valuable performers – but not necessarily as a candidate for new tasks or greater responsibility.

That’s why you should regularly ask yourself: Do the relevant people in the company even know how I want to develop further?

First, sharpen your own goal

Before you look for new opportunities, you should gain clarity about your own direction. Many HR professionals know they want to change, but can’t pinpoint exactly where.

There are very different development paths:

• take on more strategic responsibility
• specialize as an expert in an HR field
• move into a broader HR generalist role
• Take on leadership responsibility
• get more involved in transformation or HR tech topics

The clearer your own goal is, the easier it will be to recognize opportunities and have the right conversations.

Actively explore internal opportunities

In the past, people often found out about new projects, open roles or strategic initiatives in passing. Today you have to search for this information much more actively. This includes, for example:

• to hold regular development discussions with managers,
• to inquire about cross-departmental projects,
• actively address new areas of responsibility,
• Show interest in strategic topics.

Anyone who waits for the next opportunity runs the risk of missing it. However, those who specifically inquire often find out about opportunities that have not yet been officially advertised.

Use your own manager as a career partner

HR professionals support the development of other employees, conduct talent interviews or advise managers on career issues. Your own career development is often given secondary priority.

However, especially in a virtual working environment, you should not assume that the manager will automatically recognize your own ambitions. If you want to develop further, you should actively seek out conversations and ask specific questions: What prospects do you see for me? What experiences should I gain? Which projects would prepare me for the next step in my career?

Such conversations often provide more clarity than expected. Even if there is currently no specific position available, you will receive valuable information about which skills should be developed and what opportunities could arise in the future.

Take heart: Perhaps the most obvious career advisor is often overlooked

An interesting observation from many companies: HR professionals, of all people, often use the expertise of their own HR department for their personal career development less intensively than other employees.

The reasons are understandable. Some fear that career considerations could become too transparent. Others don’t want to give the impression that they are actively looking for new roles. Still others see the HR department primarily as a contact person for the development of other employees and less for their own.

This is where valuable guidance can lie. The HR function is often particularly knowledgeable about internal talent programs, succession planning, future organizational changes and skills requirements. A confidential conversation can help to assess development opportunities more realistically and to discover new perspectives.

Sometimes the best career advice is closer than you think.

Consciously design visibility

In the virtual environment, visibility becomes a crucial career factor. It’s not about marketing yourself at any cost, but rather about making it clear what contribution you can make beyond your current role.

For HR professionals, this can mean, for example:

• to participate in strategic discussions,
• to take on projects with high company relevance,
• to contribute your own ideas on topics such as AI, talent management or organizational development,
• Communicate results and successes transparently.

A career rarely arises from others guessing about one’s own potential. Most of the time it comes about because these potentials are made visible.

Networks are becoming increasingly important in virtual work

What used to often arise automatically must now be cultivated more consciously.

Anyone planning the next career step should specifically establish and maintain contacts with relevant people in the company. This includes managers, project managers, internal stakeholders and colleagues from other areas.
Conversations outside of the immediate day-to-day business are particularly valuable. They help you gain new perspectives, identify developments at an early stage and strengthen your own network.

HR professionals in particular know from their work how important networks are for careers. It is all the more important to apply this knowledge to your own development.

Conclusion

Anyone who has lost touch with internal development paths due to home office and virtual working should not leave the next career step to chance. Good performance remains important, but alone is not enough.

The key is to sharpen your own goals, actively explore internal opportunities and position yourself more strongly within the company as a person with development potential. At the same time, visibility, networking and regular exchange are becoming increasingly important. Especially in the virtual context, the following applies more than ever: careers are not only built through competence, but also through clarity, presence and initiative.

Anyone who also has the courage to actively request support – be it from their own manager, their personal network or the career experts in their own company – significantly increases their chances of successfully taking the next career step.