How you would create an opportunity to your company?

1. Career development
2. 11 Effective Strategies To Find Opportunities in Business

By Indeed Editorial Team

Updated August 14, 2022 | Published April 13, 2021

Updated August 14, 2022

Published April 13, 2021

Opportunities for career advancement can develop unexpectedly and manifest in many ways. To benefit from opportunities that might lead to promotions or professional success, you need to know how to recognize and use them to your advantage. By developing a strategy for finding opportunities, you can show your commitment to your career and set yourself up for advancement.

In this article, we list steps and tips for finding opportunities in business.

What are opportunities in business?

Opportunities in business are circumstances or changes that allow you to advance your career. Examples of business opportunities you might encounter include:

• A colleague leaves the company, presenting an opportunity for you to accept more responsibility if you ask for it.

• A state or country recently lowers its taxes, making it possible for your company to afford to enter a new market.

• A friend knows the CEO of a marketing agency you want to work for, so you ask if she can introduce you.

• You read about a new technology that could improve workflow and reduce expenses in your department.

Opportunities give you or your company a professional advantage. You need to act on them, however, to benefit from them.

Related: 11 Ways To Achieve Career Advancement

How to find opportunities in business

Rather than relying on luck to find opportunities in business, follow these strategies to identify and pursue them:

1. Be observant

You need to look for opportunities to find them. Pay attention, be curious, and observe what is happening in your environment. Look for things that might make work tasks or processes faster, easier, improve quality or lower costs. Be aware of situations or ideas that correlate with your skills and interests. An opportunity might already be available if you take time to look for it.

2. Read

Read articles, journals, newsletters and books about your industry to identify promising trends and get new ideas. If your goal is to become a CEO, for example, read a book written by a professional who has followed that path successfully. If you work in finance, read about market trends and economic predictions on reputable websites. If you work in science or technology, subscribe to the major industry journals to learn about the latest research and developments. If you are well-educated and updated about your industry, you might be able to identify new opportunities within it.

3. Educate yourself

Improve the knowledge and skills you might need to pursue new opportunities through continued education. Take online courses or workshops that teach new skills or technologies or discuss important industry topics. Your employer might even offer to pay for training and education if it benefits your performance at work.

Related: How To Grow Professionally in Your Career

4. Experience life

Gain a variety of life experiences in different fields. If you have a diverse collection of experiences, you might find opportunities and patterns in unexpected or unrelated areas. For example, you might meet your future employer in a cooking class and impress them with your creativity and attention to detail. Or you might attend a science fiction convention and discover a futuristic device your company can make a reality.

5. Consider different perspectives

When you encounter a challenge at work, look at it from various angles to see if you can turn a problem into an opportunity. For example, you have received several customer complaints about your website's login feature and realize that by installing a new user portal, the company can improve website performance and visitor retention time. Practice looking at problems with a positive mindset about how you can make them better.

6. Network

Attract and find opportunities by networking and connecting with other professionals. Network with people within your industry as well as outside it. You might learn about opportunities by communicating and interacting with individuals from different fields. Expand your professional network by:

• Joining trade organizations

• Attending conferences and workshops

• Following and interacting with those you admire on their social media and professional networking sites

• Going to alumni events

Stay in contact with your connections to learn about new or upcoming opportunities.

Related: The Complete Guide To Networking

7. Take risks

Find opportunities to advance and succeed by putting yourself in situations you might typically find uncomfortable. For example, if you are an introvert, push yourself to attend networking and social events. Go to book readings, or take a public speaking class. Attend a seminar by yourself, or start a conversation with a stranger. You might even move to a new city or state. Do things you might not normally do to find and create fresh opportunities.

8. Become an expert

Identify your area of expertise, and share your tips and knowledge with others. Gain name recognition and establish yourself as an expert on a certain topic by:

• Creating a website or blog and using it to share information, videos and tutorials

• Starting an online discussion group

• Submitting articles to relevant magazines and website

• Writing a book

• Hosting seminars or speaking at conferences

If others view you as an expert in your field, they might come to you with opportunities.

Related: How To Become a Subject Matter Expert in Your Field

9. Work with a mentor

Find a mentor who can offer you valuable advice and inform you about opportunities as they arise. Mentors are often experienced professionals in your industry who have high levels of knowledge and insight. They might know about opportunities before you do or think of you when opportunities appear. A mentor can also introduce you to other influential professionals who can lead to new opportunities.

10. Recognize others

Give praise for work you admire, and you might receive recognition and opportunities in return. Ways to recognize others might include:

• Sharing and complimenting someone's article on social media

• Emailing someone to say their idea or project is impressive

• Celebrating someone's insight in a blog post

• Praising colleagues who have worked hard

People enjoy praise and might notice you for recognizing their efforts.

11. Offer to help

If you have a particular strength or task you enjoy, use that skill to help others. If you have exceptional writing and editing skills, for example, offer to proofread a colleague's white paper, or ask the content marketing manager if you can reduce their workload by writing guest blog posts for the website. Tell people how much you love certain projects or doing the thing you do best. They might think of you when opportunities related to your strengths arise.

Related: How To Identify Your Key Strengths in the Workplace

Tips for finding opportunities

Follow these tips when looking for opportunities to advance your career:

• Schedule time away from work or life's distractions to think about and recognize potential opportunities.

• Have a positive mindset.

• Keep your resume updated so as soon as opportunities arise, you can share your experience and accomplishments with the right people.

• Know your skills, strengths, desires and values.

• Be flexible and willing to accept unexpected opportunities.

• Identify ways you can improve, and pursue self-development in those areas.

• Be aware of your verbal and nonverbal cues and behavior and their impact on the people around you.

• Place value in your work so others see it as important, too.

• When you find an opportunity that matches your strengths and interests, take it and use it to learn and grow.