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Kathy Simmons
Have you ever wished you had your own personal career expert? What pearls of wisdom would he or she offer to you? Stop wishing and start reading. Following is the best advice from career experts of all varieties:
How To Develop Success Habits
Dress for Success (start with wearing a smile)
Maintain 20/20 "Lifevision"
Renew Your Enthusiasm
Do More Than Punch The Clock
How To Take Charge of Your Career
Schedule a Career Check-Up
Know Thyself
Take Charge!
Value Yourself As A Professional
Craft Your Career
Be Proactive, Not Reactive
How To Strengthen Your People Skills
Increase Your Visibility
Manage Your Boss
Get results - or be indispensable to someone who can.
Form Strong Allies
Play Nice
Don`t Be Overly Sensitive
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How To Develop Success Habits
Keep An Achievement File
Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D.
International business trainer
Fill your file with evidence of completed projects and goals. Keep track of on-going education/training programs you`ve attended as well as letters or notes of praise you receive. If your manager writes a positive comment in an e-mail or on a memo or a report, copy and file it. Keep a record of how you added value to your position and department. Why? When it comes time for performance reviews, you can prompt your manager`s memory about your accomplishments; when it comes time to move to another position or company, you have a portfolio of achievements; when you`re having a bad day, you have proof of all the wonderful things you`ve done.
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Dress for Success (start with wearing a smile)
Andrew J, DuBrin, Ph.D.
Author and Professor of Management, RIT College of Business
Keep smiling and being supportive. However superficial it sounds, a warm smile is a powerful asset in a hectic office environment.
Carol Haun
Career coach, author of Career Success: Plain and Simple
Looking the part is equally as important as getting the part. People who dress professionally are usually also thought of as dependable, smart, hardworking, and leaders. Before leaving for work each morning, ask yourself, "If my boss`s boss walks in today, will his or her first impression of me help my career with the company?" If the answer is no, you need to make some changes. Remember, at work there are more people who hope to be promoted than there are advancement opportunities. Bring your name to the top of the list by demonstrating strong performance and a professional appearance.
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Maintain 20/20 "Lifevision"
Tim Hoerr
President, Lifevision, Inc.
http://www.lifevisioninc.com
The most successful people have taken the time to really discover their "lifevision" (a combination of their skills, talents, passions, etc.) and then proactively aligned their lifevision with their work. Can you redefine your job to be a better fit for your particular gifts and competencies? What specific things will you commit to this week to bring better alignment between "who you are" and "what you do?"
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Renew Your Enthusiasm
Dr. Beverly Potter
Author of Overcoming Job Burnout
www.docpotter.com
Every job has demotivating aspects. The challenge is in how on-the-job frustrations are handled. If you succumb to feelings of powerlessness, job burnout is a risk. A Can-Do attitude and feelings of personal power buffer you from burnout, and boost enthusiasm for working.
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Do More Than Punch The Clock
Bob Rosner
Author of Working Wounded: Advice That Adds Insight To Injury
www.WorkingWounded.com
Work is hard and getting harder all the time. So punching the clock just doesn`t cut it anymore. To get ahead you`ve got to ask yourself the following five questions: 1. How realistic are your expectations? Expect to do lots of stuff that no one else wants to do - and to do it better than they expected you to do it. 2. Do you ask for feedback? Ask your boss regularly to tell you how you`re doing and don`t just listen to the good stuff. 3. Are you doing the best job you can? Don`t just limit yourself to your job description see if you can take the next step in each job or function you perform. 4. Do you dress and act for the job you have, or the job you want? Build the image you want to project. 5. Can you be extra nice to yourself when your job isn`t? Frustration will be a part of your career long after this stinky job is history.
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How To Take Charge of Your Career
Stop Blaming - And Start Practicing Positivity
Dr. Ross West
Author of How to Be Happier in the Job You Sometimes Can`t Stand
People can help themselves be happier in their work by avoiding the two biggest job mistakes: (1) blaming others or the situation for personal unhappiness, and (2) emphasizing the negative. If you are in either of these no-win situations, you must first take responsibility for your own happiness on the job. Start looking for areas you can work on to generate greater personal happiness. You`ll probably be surprised to find that there are lots more things you can do about something than you realized. Second, you need to start emphasizing the positive without denying the negative. One thing that means is to send regrets to all invitations to "pity parties."
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Schedule a Career Check-Up
Louis Garver, CPRW, CMP
Career consultant, President of Career Directions
Most people spend more time planning their vacations than they do planning their careers. Today, it is essential that you take ownership of your future. Take time to engage in in-depth assessments of your career...an annual career check-up. Focus, flexibility, preparation and planning are all essential components of career success.
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Know Thyself
Tom Welch "America`s Career Coach"
Author of Work Happy Live Healthy - New Solutions for Career Satisfaction Including More Time & Money
www.workhappy.com
Know the following well, and you will be on your way to career success:
1) Your specific talents and skills.
2) The type of people with whom you work best.
3) Your work values (what is required for you to be happy in your job?).
4) Under what circumstances do you feel you are making a genuine difference?
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Take Charge!
Rosemary Barnhart
Career planning and employment consultant
www.olywa.net/rosemaryb /index.html
Best career advice: Update your resume every six months to add your new accomplishments. If you find you have none to add, look for a new challenging assignment and ask to take it on. Work out of your job class whenever you can to gain the skills to advance. Volunteer for committees and projects where you can meet new people broaden your opportunities and gain new skills. Be your own career advancement specialist. Today`s job market needs take charge people!"
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Value Yourself As A Professional
Gail McMeekin
Career and creativity coach, author of The Power of Positive Choices
800-248-5566
My best advice for office professionals is to value their work as professionals. It takes great organizational, customer service, sales, and prioritizing skills to succeed in this career. It is a difficult and very important front line job. Remember, often you are the person that is a customer`s first contact with your company and you have the potential to make a great relationship and impression! Secondly, take advantage of every opportunity to build professional development skills in speaking, time management, customer service, computer software, office management, and any other area of expertise that interests you. Write down your own professional goals every January and commit to them!
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Craft Your Career
Howard Sambol
Author of Career Crafting
www.careercraft.com
Design your most ideal career and life path from a total synthesis of your strongest interests, passions, skills and talents. Do not compromise on your dreams and choose a path that makes your heart sing.
Handle your short-term financial needs with a "taxi job" that best leverages your most easily marketable skills. Achieve your long-term goals with dynamic and consistent coaching and support combined with state of the art networking, relationship building, and 21st century marketing using the latest Internet technology.
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Be Proactive, Not Reactive
Judy Kaplan Baron, Ph.D. (Careergyde)
Asst. Director, Gonyea Career Center, AOL
Be proactive, not reactive. Stay in touch with the job market in your area. Always be on the lookout for new opportunities, even if you`re happy with your current situation. You never know when something may change. Make networking a common activity. When you take the initiative to make things happen in your career, you`ll be amazed at the possibilities you can uncover.
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How To Strengthen Your People Skills
Increase Your Visibility
Marjorie Brody, CSP, CMC
Executive coach, and author of 15 books, including Speaking is an Audience-Centered Sport, and Professional Impressions... Etiquette for Everyone, Every Day
www.marjoriebrody.com
Look for ways to expand your skills and knowledge. Take all available training programs. Read and listen to tapes. Then, be willing to take risks by volunteering within the organization for leadership roles. Be seen as a leader by volunteering to work on teams and committees. This will give you visibility outside of your own working area and people can see your abilities.
Find a mentor. Look for people within the organization who can help you understand how to navigate the politics and plan your career.
Look for innovative ways to save the organization money and time.
Evaluate the processes and give your manager suggestions for change.
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Manage Your Boss
Catherine Jewell
Career coach
www.jewellspeak.com
Keep your boss informed, especially when things go wrong. Quit thinking that he or she should know your job better than you do. Remember that if communication breaks down, you are at least 50 percent at fault. Take 100 percent responsibility for a good relationship, and you are likely to have one.
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Get results - or be indispensable to someone who can
Mark Goulston, M.D.
Life Skills expert at Lifescape.com
Author of Get Out Of Your Own: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior
www.lifescape.com
Get results that directly increase the growth and/or profitability of your company and that help your boss to look good to their boss. If you don`t know how to get results, locate someone who does and learn everything that they know. If after this, you still don`t know how to get results, keep your wagon hitched to someone who can and learn how to be indispensable to them.
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Form Strong Allies
Susan M. Osborn, Ph.D.
Author of The System Made Me Do It! A Life Changing Approach to Office Politics
On the basis of rank, personality, or connections, certain people are privy to crucial information. Link with trusted allies to exchange ideas and data. Form alliances with those who can make the way smoother for you. Find mentors who want to help you succeed and will show you the ropes.
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Play Nice
Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D., Bob Rozakis
Authors of The Complete Idiot`s Guide to Office Politics
Treat people well - especially your enemies. Remember the rule you learned at your mother`s knee: if you can`t say anything nice, don`t say anything at all. Avoid harmful gossip, backstabbing, and double-dealing. If you transfer to a different department or leave a job, never burn your bridges by telling your colleagues and superiors what you really think of them. It`s a very small world; you never know who will turn up at your new job. And what goes around invariably comes around.
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Don`t Be Overly Sensitive
Ronna Lichtenberg
Author of Work Would be Great if It Weren`t for the People
www.officepolitics.com
My best advice is to remember that everyone you work with in the office is a person first... and their role, second. That means you may have done everything right and your boss may still be grumpy because she is bloated that day or because his team lost the day before.
That leads to my second best advice. Most of the time the best way to handle an office tangle is to leave it alone and see if it will heal by itself. As with any other sores, picking at it will make it worse.
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