As the year goes by, we often find ourselves falling into regular work routines. Get up, go to work, go home, go to bed. Wash, rinse repeat. We become a little too comfortable with our day-to-day life, and forgot to go the extra mile to improve our careers. You’re never going to get that promotion if you’re putting in the bare minimum effort. But with the start of a brand-new year, we all get the opportunity to make some much needed adjustments in our professional lives. Here are some helpful tips on how to make some healthy changes that could help grow your career.

Apply for at least 3 jobs a week

Even if things are going well in your current position at your company, there could always be a better opportunity out there waiting for you. Studies show that job hopping is the rising trend and employees who stay with a company longer than two years earn 50 percent less over their lifetime. Applying for a few jobs every week keeps your options open, and improves your resume building skills. Which brings us to our next helpful tip.

Regularly update your resume

Let’s be honest, unless you’re currently looking for a job, you aren’t regularly modifying your resume. Which means there’s potentially a lot of missing information that could prove only beneficial for you to list. Consistently updating your job history is very important so that you’re not left scrambling to gather months or even years’ worth of information about what you did for a company. No matter how hard you try, you’re not going to remember it all unless you write it down. Another thing to consider, is that your previously used verbiage or format may not be as great as you once thought it was. Try researching modern resume styles and seeing if yours is up to par.

Revamp Your office

Is your desk pad falling apart? Or are you struggling to keep your conference room tidy and arranged? Why not use the fresh start of the new year as an opportunity to redecorate your office! The Elegant Office offers a wide variety of beautiful and high-quality office accessories at an affordable price. From conference pads to coasters, they’ve got everything you need to give your entire office a stylish new look and get organized.

File, sort, and organize!

That mountain of paperwork you’ve been avoiding isn’t going to sort itself. Time to make use of that shredder in the copier room. Or if you can’t simply dispose of those old papers, find a way to file them that works best for you. The Elegant Office has a great Black Leather File Sorter that would be perfect for holding documents you need readily available without doing tons tedious of searching.

Earn certifications

Think of certifications like yes-cards. Having newly learned capabilities can only create more opportunities for you in the workplace. Maybe your company is looking for someone who knows CPR or a second language. Learning these skills in your free time could result in a pay raise when you are able to apply them to your career. Coursera offers many affordable online courses that can help grow your career and make you a more versatile employee. They even offer a 1-week free trial on many of their programs. There’re also many other companies out there like them that offer online classes based around your schedule.

All of this information is a good start to advancing in your career. But never forget to work hard and strive for greater things. There’s always room for improvement. Remember to have a safe and happy new year!