Woman wearing red shoes climbing ladderTV shows like Dragon's Den and The Apprentice are fuelling bright ideas and CEO aspirations across the country - but what does it really take to make it to the boardroom?

Sarah Drew, General Manager of TheLadders.co.uk (which deals only with £50K plus job-seekers and positions) offers her advice to women serious about climbing the career ladder.

1. Your first 100 days in a job are often the most stressful (learning new terminology, learning names and who works in what department, etc) but there are ways to tackle this so that you turn your first quarter into a successful one. Think about where you want to be in 90 days time and what you want to achieve between now and then. Then put together your plan – your vision – your strategy and use this as a focus through the first few months.

2. Be your own PR person! When you have successes whether it's a new product launch, winning new business or getting a strategic hire, make sure you let both your team and management know. You should celebrate your successes and let others share in the celebrations.

3. Identify your weaknesses. Few can be experts in every field so if you're more creative than financially minded, hire people who balance out your weaknesses. You will learn from them and at the same time will improve your strengths.

4. Leadership skills – recruit, retain and develop a management team that will allow you to drive the business strategically.

5. Communication skills – learn that communication is key and managing up as well as down will be a necessity. Being aware that how you communicate to the board versus the organisation as a whole is a skill that will stand you in high esteem.

6. People skills – if people enjoy working for you then you'll retain them and ultimately get better productivity from them.

7. Change management – as you move up the ladder you need to be aware of changing your management style. As a marketing director I managed the marketing team in a much different way to how I managed a finance person – they respond differently to incentives and rewards and are motivated in a different way.