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Categories - Shopping - Free Online Business Help - Telecommunications Services - Copywriting Articles: Business - Enable Your Career As we grow up, most of us are protected by our families and teachers who make excuses for our mistakes and irresponsibility. It is, after all, their job to teach us responsibility and be patient as we mature and allow us to learn through our mistakes. They also tend to cater to our needs and desires because they care for us. Then suddenly, we are cast into the business world where mistakes are not acceptable, irresponsibility gets you fired, and the less you want, the better. There is no adjustment period and no one to hold your hand or make sure that you get to work on time. You are only as valuable as what you can do for them.
Here are a few things that have to be realized and done if you want to have a career:
Do not procrastinate. While you may have been able to put off doing that report that was due on Friday in your economics class until Thursday night, you were only able to do this because you had control of your life and you knew that your Thursday evening was going to be free. The business world moves quickly and your time belongs to the company. If you have two weeks to prepare a plan or economic report, you are expected to manage that task among any or many other tasks that you have or may be assigned and be prepared for contingencies. If your boss gives you something else to do Thursday morning that prevents you from having your plan ready on Friday, he is going to tell you that you had two weeks and that is not an acceptable excuse. Do things as soon as possible.
No one owes you anything. The company is not your daddy and it doesn’t care if you can’t afford your rent, your utility bill, or your phone bill because you spent all night talking to a girlfriend or boyfriend on vacation in Australia. If you bring these things up at work, you will be seen as irresponsible and less likely to get a promotion or new job. The company also does not care if you want a new car or better apartment and you could afford it if they would give you a promotion. You do not get to decide when you should get a promotion. Your boss does and the only way to get it is to earn it in his eyes. If you start whining about this, you will be labeled as having an attitude problem. Pay your dues.
Accept your job. When you were hired, you agreed to perform duties for an agreed upon amount. Make sure that you live up to the agreement. If you want to get ahead, don’t just do your job. Do more. This is how you earn a raise or promotion. Why should they pay you more for doing a job that you already agreed to do for a certain price? They are not going to give you extra credit for being to work everyday. Offer to help others with their jobs and make sure, without being obvious, that your boss knows that you are doing it. If your boss asks you want you are doing and you tell him that you are helping John get his presentation ready because yours is already done, you will eventually get extra credit in the form of a raise or promotion.
Play nice. Do not get involved in office gossip that is based on half-truths, secrets, personal likes or dislikes, or out right lies. Never talk ill of anyone, be friends with everyone and offer to help everyone get ahead. The more friends that you have in power positions, the more likely you are to have your name come up when a promotion is available. The best way to get promoted is to get your boss promoted. He will be grateful and more likely to recommend you for his old job. If you get promoted by getting your boss fired, you will not be trusted and you will have less support towards being successful in your new position. Company politics exist everywhere and you have to be viewed as being one of the good guys who can be trusted.
Say “we” a lot. Instead of saying, I got it done ahead of schedule, say we got it done ahead of schedule. This will build your reputation as a team player and good will among your coworkers. If you take credit for everything, you will build resentment and your boss will begin to doubt you. Office politics will label you as not being a team player and, then, you might as well change companies. Choose your time to let your individual skills shine wisely. When your boss asks if you can get something done by this afternoon, tell him of course and then get it done this morning. Let him do your bragging for you.
Don’t be a slob. Don’t try to make a statement by wearing jeans when everyone else is wearing suits. A picture says a thousand words and you want all of those words to be good as your image appears in peoples’ minds. If everyone wears jeans to work, make sure that your jeans and tee shirts are cleaned and unwrinkled and that you are clean-shaven and fresh looking and smelling. When management is talking about whom to give an open promotion to, they will see your image in their mind and you want it to be a good one.
Be a part of your industry. Don’t just be well liked and well known at your company. Get out and join industry associations and meet other professionals doing the same thing that you are. Attend and contribute to seminars and gain and share information. Keep up to date as to what is going on at all companies as much as you can. The better you are known and liked in your field, the better your chances will be to find a new opportunity or job should the need arise. Don’t only play golf with your boss.
If you come out of school and practice these things until they become second nature, you are more likely to have a long and rewarding career.
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