How to Get Promoted
Sharing what you know at work is on of the easiest ways to get promoted or to get a raise.
One of the best ways to get ahead at work, impress the boss, and achieve promotion is to share what you know. Become known around the office as the “go-to guy or gal” for a certain area of expertise. Pick one of the things that you really like about your job and get very good at it; better than everyone else. It’s not hard to become an expert and to know more than most people regarding a certain topic. Most of us follow the path of least resistance at work. We do what it takes to accomplish the task at hand, and that’s about it; most of the time we do this simply because we are too busy to slow down and really give one hundred percent to each and every task. That’s life. With expanding work loads and decreasing work forces, we are given more work to do and still only have the same eight hour day to get it done.
When we pick a task and really start to learn about it and further develop our understanding, people stand up and take notice. Every office or workplace has its “gurus” – people who are the very best at what they do, people you pick up the phone and call when you need a hand formatting a spreadsheet, or solving an equation, or finding a contact. We all have colleagues like this. Generally speaking these people are among the most well liked in the office and it’s not because they are stellar human beings, although I’m sure they are very nice, it’s because they are useful to everyone; they can provide something quickly that everyone else needs. Most people when given the choice to get information easily from someone else or spend time to figure it out themselves will choose the path of least resistance.
Word travels fast around the office environment and people like to talk. Gossip about you being the resident expert will spread quickly. The boss will take notice of this and when promotions come around, or when a higher level job vacancy needs to be filled, you will likely be on the list of candidates. It is assumed that people who excel at their jobs, no matter what level of job that may be, not only want the promotion but would fill higher level responsibility positions nicely because they are committed to their work, knowledgeable, well liked and helpful.
In this troubled economic time we find ourselves in, when layoff is all too common, establishing yourself as invaluable could make you immune to job loss. The higher ups are not going to shoot themselves in the foot: they are not going to layoff the most valuable employees. Value of an employee is easy to calculate, it is determined by what that employee contributes to the bottom line. The more you know, the more value you have. The important thing then would be to offer something of great value.
Endeavor to be one of the experts at work and you will notice great things begin to happen. Just learn a little bit more than the average employee about some necessary tasks in your work place and not only will you achieve the “guru” status but you will contribute a huge amount to your advancement and your job security; you will become invaluable and un-replaceable.
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