top » talent » career » career management » career development » career opportunities

42 Examples of Career Opportunities

John Spacey, updated on April 28, 2024

Career opportunities are chances to enter a profession, earn income, advance in a profession or improve your working life. This includes things you can do to find rewarding employment, self-employment or to advance your professional talents and position. The following are common examples of career opportunities.

Job Opportunities

Applying for full-time, part-time, temporary or contract work.

Promotions

Increasing your performance and visibility and asking for a promotion.

Career Changes

Taking steps towards a career change.

Job Security

Seeking roles and positions that are critical and unlikely to be disrupted by change.

Job Rotation

Programs that allow you to gain experience in different roles.

Leadership Roles

Pursuing leadership roles within your job such as leading some aspect of a project or initiative.

Taking on Responsibility

Generally speaking, promotions and other career opportunities tend to flow to those who are willing to take on important responsibilities, even if this is difficult and relatively stressful.

Professional Reputation

Delivering to commitments and setting a high standard for your work in order to earn respect from others.

Education

Formal education such as getting a degree on a part-time basis while you're working.

Training & Development

Training and development support is often provided by an employer and can help to secure your job or a promotion.

Industry Events

Developing in your career by attending industry events and learning about your core business.

Industry Visibility

Increasing your visibility in an industry by speaking at conferences, networking or publishing media such as white papers.

Citations

Getting your name on research papers that are cited.

Patents

Getting your name on patents.

Organizational Visibility

Improving your visibility in your organization by pushing into important projects, networking and speaking up in meetings and events.

Mentorship Programs

Finding a mentor who can help you to advance.

Reverse Mentoring

Finding a mentor who is at a lower job level than yourself. Often used to understand different areas of a business or acquire important knowledge or skills.

Job Shadowing

Opportunities to learn about a job by observing and helping someone in that job.

Professional Networking

Taking every opportunity to meet people within your organization, industry and profession.

Relationship Building

Building and sustaining relationships. People like to hire, promote and give other opportunities to people they know well.

Industry Research

Opportunities to learn about different industries and careers.

Change of Industry

It is often possible to practice the same profession in different industries. For example, an IT project manager who becomes a construction project manager.

Job Redesign

Working to reshape your existing role. This can involve unofficial changes such as new work assignments or officially updating your job description.

Job Enrichment

Programs offered by firms to help employees redefine their role.

Stretch Assignments

Taking on challenging work assignments in order to grow your role and experience.

Internal Job Postings

Seeking new jobs with your current employer.

Down-skilling

People are generally obsessed with gaining more and more skills without considering roles that may be preferable in some way that involve less skills.

Career Pivot

Changing the direction of your career. For example, pivoting from an engineering career path to a management path.

Self Employment

Developing your own small business.

Side Hustles

Taking on limited self-employment to supplement your income or to experiment without quitting your regular job.

Freelancing

Self-employment based on your labor.

Contract Work

Taking on fixed-term or project-based contract work.

Sabbaticals

Taking a period of extended leave from your job with programs supported by your employer such as a sabbatical or leave of absence.

Internships

Opportunities to gain work experience in a high value industry or profession. These are questionable when they aren't paid or involve harsh working conditions or low skill work.

Apprenticeships

Programs that allow individuals to enter a profession with a combination of classroom and on-the-job training.

Entrepreneurship

Founding new businesses that are inventive.

Secondments

Working in a different role with your employer, often in a different city or country. This can also involve temporarily working for a different organization such as a partner or subsidiary of your employer.