If you have extra capacity, this is a GREAT time to invest in your career.  Here are three ideas:

1. Take on growth opportunities.

COVID has caused many senior leaders to have more to do and less capacity, resulting in an abundance of growth opportunities available for the taking.  Volunteering to take on more senior projects will expand your knowledge base, allow you to build your network, and increase your value.  In an ideal scenario, you would negotiate increased job responsibilities and compensation simultaneously.  Even if you can’t negotiate right now, going for the extra responsibilities will drive up your market value, which you can “cash in” in future negotiations.

2. Add an additional skill to your resume

Will having a better understanding of digital marketing will help you at work? Think knowing the basics of coding will be useful? Always wanted to understand what six sigma is?  Need to become an Excel wizard?  Now is the time!  Bonus points if you ask someone further in your dream job what skills they recommend and then go fill in your gaps

3. Learn to negotiate (you knew it was coming…)!

If there were a stock out there that, on average, earned a 21% return with almost no risk, I imagine people would be beating down doors to buy it.  That’s what it means to add negotiation skills to your professional toolbox.  In under a week, you can learn something that has helped other women increase their total compensation by an average of 21%.  Now is a great time to learn this because the pressure is off, and there are no great dinner parties anyway.  

Note: There are as many unique situations right now as there are unique women.  We’ve put out two blog posts – one for women who are thinking of quitting, and one for women who have the bandwidth to accelerate their career right now – but this is by no means comprehensive, but an attempt to get the conversation going.  If your situation does not fit into one of these buckets, please leave a note here.  You can request advice from our community, or you can share advice that might help other women.  <3