Succeeding in Your Career

1. Succeeding in Your Career Tips for Today’s Business World

2. Keep a Log • Update regularly, weekly is a good idea • List assignments, work activities, completed jobs, responsibilities, critical conversations, and problems as well as successes • Print copies or email to yourself regularly at non-work email (if allowed)

3. Track Project Progression • Create and track timelines, minutes, roles and responsibilities, status reports • Demonstrate impact to overall timeline when a deadline is missed to discuss rational next steps • Keep track even if you haven’t been told to do so

4. Create a Paper Trail • Save critical outgoing and incoming email on company mail server • Bcc or forward critical emails to a personal non-company email account (if possible and allowed) • Send emails to confirm critical decisions, relay critical conversations, and get approval on documents (often with deadline for corrections) • Be prepared to objectively show where the ball was dropped

5. Document, Print, and Store Everything in Writing • Memory can be faulty, paper is tangible: keep a PRINTED paper trail! • If you get oral agreement from a colleague or supervisor, always send a confirmation email of the details. • Team decisions should also be outlined in a follow up email • Important dates or deadlines for the work or agreement • Changes in scope of project or responsibilities

6. Organize Your Documentation Well • Print hard copies • File all work documents effectively • Make files easy to find • Printed documentation does you no good if you can’t find a document when you need it! • Remember that in the worst-case scenario you may be escorted out of the workplace without access to your computer files

7. Keep a List of Contributions and Accomplishments • Keep track of your own achievements: it is not high on a supervisor’s priority list, so present yourself well and be prepared • Update regularly as you will likely forget some of your contributions by the next review cycle • Make list concise and verifiable • Present list at evaluation whether asked to or not

8. Market Yourself • It is easy to lose track of a quiet employee who always does a good job – so beat your own drum strategically • Help your colleagues appreciate your contributions – you want to be someone they want to work with • Be subtle—no one likes someone who is constantly tooting their own horn

9. Always Try to Get Buy-In From Other Team Members • Engage co-workers to encourage them to take ownership and responsibility • Solve problems more easily if all parties involved in the project feel their opinions have been heard • Have a kick-off meeting that involves all and encourages collaboration and sharing of ideas

10. Ask for Advice and Help from People You Trust • People love it when you stroke their egos and seek them out politely as mentors—you can learn a lot! • Be cautious with who you trust!!!

11. Evaluate and Establish Trust • Be very careful about who you trust • Use your best judgment, but be prepared for errors • Recognize the risk before you take it • Evaluate how people you admire behave with others and mimic their behavior

12. Watch What You Say at Work • Walls have ears!! • People who gossip with you are likely to gossip about you • Rumors spread fast and viciously • No heart-to-heart discussions at work — take a walk, go in the parking lot • Personal opinions are best discussed off-site or with people who are NOT coworkers

13. Understand Another’s Point Before Making Your Own • Understand and repeat another person’s opinion/statement before you assert your own • Understand other’s words as they were intended to avoid misunderstandings • Give them the benefit of the doubt • Try to build on common feelings and thoughts • Make them feel understood, then you have a better chance of making your point

14. Resolve Conflicts • Always deal with problem at lowest level. Deal with other party directly and politely • Go to a higher level only if there is no other way of resolving the conflict directly • Try to resolve tension when possible rather than letting it fester • Sometimes you may have to agree to disagree and then be pleasant

15. Set Expectations Appropriately • It is better to under promise and over deliver • Do the best work you can and try to exceed expectations • Don’t say yes before thinking—it is okay to get back to someone with an answer after you’ve had a few minutes to think

16. Set Appropriate Boundaries • Your work is not your life - know how much you are willing to do • Pick your battles and save your silver bullets • Be a team player and give a little extra when you can, but say no politely when enough is enough • Find objective ways to set boundaries with little emotion • You don’t leave your personality and ethics behind just because you have a job!

17. Set Appropriate Boundaries (con’t.) • Remember that rarely does a company truly care about your health, family relationships, work/life balance, or sense of fulfillment and happiness • If you are salaried, why wouldn’t they want more work for the same amount of money? • Companies care first and foremost about their own survival and the bottom line—don’t mistake their natural self-interestedness for undying loyalty

18. Keep Your Resume Up-to-Date • Update regularly • Keep adding new accomplishments/skills to resume as they come up • The worst time to update a resume is when you desperately need to!

19. Keep Your Eyes and Options Open for New Opportunities • Job searching while you have a job allows you to evaluate what’s out there • Don’t be an ostrich with your head in the sand—know what your options are and why you are where you are • There’s always the possibility of sudden and unexpected layoffs at your company • Remember a job is not quite the same as a romantic relationship

20. Keep Your Contacts Warm and Stay in Touch • Meet for lunch, leave a voicemail, send an email occasionally to useful people to keep in touch • Help them with requests, referrals, and information whenever possible • Don’t ask for help at the last minute after a long silence! • Cold contacts are hard to resurrect naturally

21. Save Some Money if You Need to Quit • Offers you incredible freedom if you can ideally save 6 months of expenses • Gives you some peace of mind – you have some fallback if you lose your job • Allows you to take a stand – you don’t HAVE to stay at your job if it becomes unbearable