The workplace can be a pretty competitive place in today's world. If you want to get ahead in your career, then it's important to get noticed at work. This is the first imperative requirement of career advancement.
The reason many employees don't advance and they spend years in the same boring and repetitive jobs, wasting their potential, is to a large degree their inability to get noticed at work.
You can be the smartest and most competent employee in the company, but if barely anybody knows who you are and is aware of the great work you're doing, it doesn't really matter.
This is where getting noticed comes in, as a tool to attract attention to your person, skills, results and potential. I'd like to show you the top 4 strategies I know for achieving this.
1. Be Social
The employees who get noticed the easiest is the ones who are very social. It's impossible for them to not get noticed. They talk with everybody, they're curious, they're open and they seek to make friends in every corner of the company.
On the other hand, the employee who eats all his lunches by himself at his desk, doesn't get involved in conversations and is only focused on work is the one nobody knows almost anything about. And consequently, people don't notice them.
You want to be in the first group, not in the second one.
2. Speak At Meetings
Meeting are a great opportunity to get noticed. In a meeting you're in front of your boss and several of your colleagues. Everything you say there will be heard by everybody. You speak once and have an impact on multiple people.
This is why it's a good idea to get involved during meetings. Don't be the employee who says nothing, only nods with everybody else and is half asleep. Ask questions, comment, share your ideas and make suggestions. Be active, say useful things, and people will remember you.
3. Interact With Your Boss
Your direct manager will likely play the most important role in your evolution as an employee. He/she is the person you want to notice you the most and the person to impress above all other.
I always recommend my coaching clients to seek to interact with their manager often. To ask them questions anytime they have some, to socialize with them when they accidentally run into them in the elevator and so on. That's how you build a casual professional relationship.
4. Don't Be Afraid To Toot Your Own Horn
Most employees who don't get noticed are way too modest. They don't talk about their achievements and their results, because they fear they will come off as arrogant. Add often, others end up taking credit for their work.
It's important to realize that it's not bad to boast and talk about your results once in a while, especially if they are real. This helps others become more aware of your value as an employee, and they pay more attention to you.
Getting noticed is mostly a matter of being social, open and confident. These attitudes generate a way of behaving that makes you stand out and it builds your credibility in the company. This is key in getting ahead in the workplace.
If you seek to overcome shyness or you believe you need to be more social, I advise you to check out my People Skills Decoded blog for valuable resources on this topic. Your career and its future are in your hands.