Five Ways to Give your Career a Boost
If the very thought of going to work makes you involuntarily cringe, your career may just need a boost. You too can accomplish professional nirvana (and stop dreading the office) by utilizing Cincy Chic’s five easy steps to a more fulfilling professional life.

Get a Makeover, Honey

O.K., you may be thinking a makeover is every magazine’s solution to every problem, but if it is, it’s for a reason. Changing your appearance is one easy way to change your whole outlook. And when you change your outlook for the better, that in turn affects every other part of your life. Elementary, my dear Watson. So go out and get some splashy fall highlights and a few sleek wardrobe upgrades (think knee-high boots and anything romantic looking or street chic). Everyone at the office will be sure to notice you’re making the effort to take care of yourself, which will make them think you’re capable of the effort to pull off any project in any facet of your life, including work.

Evaluate and Share
A second great way to upgrade your career is to create a list of goals you have for the company and yourself with the company, and discuss these goals with your boss. Take some time and think about what you like and dislike about the company and your situation in it, and write your thoughts down accordingly. Sharing this goal sheet with your superior shows him or her that you’re not just zoning out from 9 to 5, you’re actually thinking, evaluating yourself and your surroundings in order to make you and the company as successful as possible. Your boss will be impressed by your initiative in making these goals, and may even reward your “get up and go” by making one or more of your goals a reality.

Company Picnic Time

Another effective way of revving up your career is to become more involved with your job’s extras. Have a company picnic coming up? Help organize it (and bring your famous potato salad). Any cause your company supports? Attend its next event. Putting your all into company-related, shall we say, extracurricular activities will again impress upon your boss that you are not only willing to put in the time during office hours, but also put in your extra time into the company as well. Your bosses are more likely to promote someone whose face they remember showing up frequently at company events rather than an equally experienced person who doesn’t socialize and runs to the car at 5:01.

Get Organized

It happens to all of us: we get caught up in a project or talking to a fellow employee and we forget all about that very important meeting that was set up the week before. To err is human, but erring in a very common way such as this can be career suicide. Avoid this problem by coming up with an organization system that works for you, be it a planner, text alerts on your phone or a desk calendar. Once an appointment has occurred, mark it off. Finish an assignment? Check it off. Color coding is another great way to organize — assign a certain task its own color, and you’ll be able to figure out what’s happening next in a glance. Never forgetting assignments or missing meetings will definitely impress itself upon your higher-ups, and again will do nothing but help when they’re deciding who will get that corner office.

Connect the Dots

Those who have been successful in the workplace will tell you that it’s all about who you know. And they’re right. Depending on the field, a person will often get a job based on who he or she knows instead of talent or expertise. So how do you get to know the right people and reap the “knowing someone” benefit? Go to places or events where you know there will be people who are influential or of some importance to your profession. Then, forge connections with these people. Even if you’re only an acquaintance of the district manager of the company you’re interested in working for, that’s still a foot in the door your competition doesn’t have.

Career success, just like any type of success, is assured if you’re willing to put in that extra effort and time. Your boss will know if your heart isn’t in your job, so invest yourself into your tasks and responsibilities, and the company will reward you by investing in you. (And you’ll reward yourself by investing in those Manolo Blahniks you’ve been dreaming about.)

Regan Coomer
		About the author:
		Regan Coomer is a freelance writer for Cincy Chic and a graduate of Northern Kentucky University with a B.A. in English. Send her an e-mail at rcoomer@cincychic.com.
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Last update: 06-08-2007 14:18

Published in : Magazine Items, Career