Career Power: Get Ahead at Work

Here’s a practical list of my top 10 career strategies to employ if you want to advance your career this year.

1. 1. Identify you strengths and manage your weaknesses. Put your emphasis on your strengths and look for opportunities to focus more on these skills.
   2. Create a career portfolio. Collect all of your certificates, credentials, résumé and any other papers that relate to your skills and put them in a binder
   3. Increase your profile. Volunteer to join committees, projects and special events to connect with people in other areas of the company. It shows your engagement with the company and the job will be more fun if you venture outside your cubicle.
   4. Help others succeed. It’s very satisfying to help someone out of a jam. You feel you’re contributing and it benefits someone directly.
   5. Build your network. Get to know people playing different roles in the company.
   6. Find a mentor. Look for a colleague who’s been with the company a long time — or someone in the same industry with another organization — you can safely talk to about your career aspirations and who will give you honest feedback.

1. Talk to your manager or human resources department about your career. Discuss your long-term goals and seek advice about how you can improve your performance in your current job and what you could do now to prepare for a future role.
2. Pursue professional development. Seek training to enhance your skills in your current role but also consider what skills would be useful to your department.
3. Expand your horizons. Attend industry conferences and read journals and blogs about your profession and industry to find new ideas to bring to your job and organization.
4. Be inquisitive..Ask lots of questions: How can I improve? How do you do that? What needs to be done? How can I help? Where do I go from here?

Related to Get Ahead at Work

• The Weakness Question
• Resume Advice
• Networking Advice