7 Tips To Super-Charge Your Career

There’s a ton of career advice out there, but most of it is crap, in my opinion.  Much of the career advice online is simply too vague to be useful.  “Make a good first impression” is decent enough advice, but how do you go about actually doing it?  Other times, the advice is written by somebody who clearly has no experience dealing with office politics working in a cube farm.

7 Tips To Super-Charge Your Career

1. Make Your Boss Look Good – Until you make it into the ranks of upper management, only one thing is valued in corporate America:  making the guy above you look good.  If you make your boss look good, they will be your most enthusiastic cheerleader when you aren’t around.  Conversely, making yourself look good at the expense of your boss is the surest way to stall your career advancement.  No matter how highly upper management thinks of you, you aren’t going to get promoted against your boss’s recommendation.  That’s just not how it works.  Sometimes, this will require you to give your boss credit for something you accomplished on your own.  So be it.  Sure, you might get the CEO’s attention for a short while, but your accomplishment will be forgotten as soon as something even shinier comes along.  You need a loud and consistent cheerleader, not sporadic recognition from way up the ladder.
2. Develop A Reputation For Getting Things Done – You don’t have to be the most visible employee in the company to be the most successful, nor do you necessarily have to be working on the most important projects.  Every office has one or two people everybody else goes to when they need something done but don’t have the time or patience to go through official channels.  Be that person and everybody in the office will owe you a favor.  Furthermore, it will paint you as an ambitious go-getter able to solve any problem in your way.  It may not be true, but that’s what people will think.  Don’t make a big deal about it and don’t constantly remind your co-workers that they owe you, though.
3. Fly Under The Radar – This may seem like it flies in the face of conventional career advice, but it fits perfectly with points #1 and #2 above.  In order to succeed in corporate America, you need to fly under the radar.  Do a good job, but don’t go out of your way to put yourself out there.  Many people believe being the most visible employee in their department will help them advance.  That’s crap.  All you’re going to do is annoy people doing that.  Your coworkers will begin to think, justified or not, that you’re just trying to take credit for their accomplishments and resent you for it.  Even worse, you’re far more likely to be associated with your department’s failures than its successes simply because you’re the easiest target to scape-goat.  And believe me, your annoyed coworkers will see to it that you are the scape-goat.  In the end, the friendly,  low-key guy-who-gets-things-done will get the promotion over the loud-mouth every time.
4. Cultivate Relationships – Above all, you’ve got to be likable.  Every hiring manager in the world would rather hire somebody they like over a slighty-more-qualified douche bag.  Go to lunch with your manager.  Get drinks with coworkers after work.  Be funny.  And for pete’s sake, take a shower every morning!  Show genuine interest in your coworkers’ lives and genuine compassion for their troubles.  In short, be the person that brightens everybody’s day, even when the coffee machine is broken.  Being likable is far, far, far more valuable than being smart, which is something many engineer-types just don’t understand.  Pity.
5. Say No To Your Boss At Least Once A Month – Nobody respects somebody they can walk all over.  Don’t be the person your boss knows she can pressure to work Saturdays to make up for the fact that she dropped the ball on some important project.  Stand up to yourself and your boss will respect you.  Don’t be a jerk about it, but don’t be afraid to tell your boss something is a bad idea, either.  So long as you  can back your argument up with facts and rational analysis, you won’t be branded a trouble-maker and will score major respect points with the Type-A people who normally dominate upper management.  This has the side benefit of dramatically improving your work-life balance.
6. Don’t Bring Your Personal Problems To Work And Vice Versa – Most people will be sympathetic about the stupid stunt your spouse pulled last weekend…to a point.  In reality, they are probably thinking how uncomfortable they are being dragged into your personal business and just being nice in order to get rid of you.  Constantly complaining about personal problems to coworkers makes you seem unstable, irresponsible, and immature.  Put on your big-boy pants and keep that stuff to yourself.  You’re an adult, right?
7. Demand What You’re Worth – Far too many people are afraid to demand what they’re worth in this economy, thankful just to have a job and fearful of being fired.  Well, I’ve been laid off in this economy and guess what?  It’s not that bad! In reality, the three months I was unemployed was absolutely amazing, some of the best months of my life.  If you aren’t being paid what you’re worth, say so.  Present your argument factually, without a trace of emotion.  If they refuse to pony up, don’t be afraid to quit.  I promise you, being unemployed is preferable to working a crappy job for little pay.  And if you really are worth that much, you’ll find another job in no time no matter how poor the job market is.  Don’t be a pansy.