Nobody wants to be stuck in the same job year after year with no career growth. When you’re a new employee, you mostly just want to do your job well. However, as time goes on, you want to begin learning new skills and making an impact on the company you work for. After all, your main goal should be to continue to impress your managers so you can get promoted and make more money.
Jobs are competitive, which means you need to differentiate yourself from everyone else who wants your job or wants to surpass you in your current position. Taking your career to the next level may sound difficult, but it’s quite easy if you follow these tips.
- Help Your Boss Succeed
As an employee, one of your jobs is to ensure your boss succeeds. By helping your boss become more successful, your boss will notice your dedication to the job and reward you with your raise or promotion. You can help your boss succeed by understanding their goals and helping to achieve those goals when possible. If you can help your boss make an impact on the company, you can get yourself noticed as well.
- Be Valuable
Adding value can help you quickly get noticed. Instead of simply sitting back and letting someone else do all the hard work, consider volunteering for major projects that can be daunting and stressful. These projects are typically those that will lead to recognition, which can help you get a name for yourself in the company.
When asked, always try to provide new ideas on how to improve the business. These can be seen as new training, updated technology, or internal growth within your company culture. By becoming the person many employees and even managers go-to for important assignments, you can become someone the business relies on.
As a valuable asset to the company, they’ll be less willing to let you go or lose you to the competition. If you get another job offer, you can ask for a raise or a promotion by proving your value and highlighting all of your key accomplishments.
- Anticipate Needs
By anticipating the work that needs to get done and doing it without anyone asking you to, you can quickly become known as someone who is proactive and takes the initiative. For example, if you know your boss has to work on a monthly social media report and they haven’t started yet, consider doing it for them when you have downtime to help them get through the day. Even though this benefits your boss, you’ll still be recognized as someone who not only helps but someone who took the initiative on an important project.
- Continue to Learn
Instead of saying you can’t do something because you don’t know, ask if someone would be willing to teach you. For example, if you work in HR and don’t know how to onboard employees, you can ask your manager if you can shadow them during the process so you can take over that key responsibility one day.
By being a continuous learner, you’ll be the first person everyone goes to about new technologies and frameworks. By developing your skills, you can demonstrate your dedication to your job, ultimately helping you rise the ranks.
- Be Upfront
Upper management doesn’t want to hear about surprises after it’s already too late. You can tell your boss bad news before it becomes a huge problem by being upfront. Although it may feel awkward to be the bearer of bad news, you can help your boss get on top of the problem and come up with solutions. If you already have a solution in mind, you can email your boss a document of your proposed solution to provide them with a starting place.
- Self-Assess
You may never know where you stand with your bosses, but you can give yourself a continual self-assessment to track your progress. Take a note of all of the feedback your bosses give you and find ways to track your improvement. For example, if your boss asks you to change the way you lead a team, consider the different types of management techniques and figure out which one works best for you.
You should also track your progress on your professional goals. For example, if you’ve been in a job for more than two years and haven’t received a raise or promotion, something might be wrong. Many people receive raises within their first year after demonstrating their commitment to the company. If you haven’t received any praise or recognition in a while, consider talking to your superiors to see if something is going on that you should know about.
- Take Care of Your Health
You can’t succeed at work if you’re not taking care of yourself. Taking supplements, eating right, and exercising may sometimes be time-consuming, but they’re important for your overall health. You can’t work hard if you’re under the weather. Similarly, you can’t work well and take your career to the next level if you’re too stressed. Fast-paced environments, bad managers, and even rude coworkers can increase stress, and it’s up to you to find ways to manage your emotions. Eating well and taking care of yourself can help, but it’s best to find an outlet that allows you to leave work behind and relax.
If you notice you’re feeling negative emotions while at work, consider tracking your mood to determine whether work is the cause or something else. By finding the cause of your stress, you can start to find ways to manage it so you can focus on your job.
- Be a Team Player
You never know which of your coworkers is going to get promoted. Some of your coworkers might even be your bosses one day, so it’s best to play nice and be a team player at all times. By working well in teams, you’ll not only show your bosses you can lead and follow, but you’ll show potential future bosses (your coworkers) that you’re someone who works well with others.
Standing Out
Believe it or not, it doesn’t take much to become a top employee. As long as you’re willing to work hard and help your bosses and coworkers succeed, you can quickly become someone your employer relies on.
Matt Casadona
Matt Casadona has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Psychology. Matt is passionate about marketing and business strategy and enjoys San Diego life, traveling, and music.