If you want to earn more money, you’ll need to get a promotion.
This is a 10-part series of “Nuggets” to help lay out a path to a better, higher-paid, job that is better fitted to your competencies. But you’ll notice, you’ll have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.
THE CORPORATE PYRAMID Gets NARROWER NEAR THE TOP
As you climb the corporate ladder, the corporate pyramid gets narrower, not wider. Even if you don’t care to climb the corporate pyramid, but aim to just survive for the long term in your current job, the rules of the game that got you noticed, moved around to new assignments, etc., while you were early in your career, no longer apply.
If you sit around waiting for your boss or the “system” to bring opportunities to you, eventually that flow will dry and cease entirely. You must keep up with company and system changes by acquiring new skills sets and even more relevant, knowing how to advertise yourself. It’s a great skill set to have. And it is indeed a skill since it is all too easy to become obnoxious or insensitive to those around you. Yet, if you don’t do this, if you don’t have an advertising campaign about yourself you may eventually fall out of favor or be overlooked for opportunities and promotions.
Compare this to purchasing a car. Why do you buy one brand of car compared to another? Because something about it attracted you to it. Yet, if that company did not advertise, you’d never have known about it in the first place.
It’s your responsibility to make yourself visible, to advertise yourself and your interests, in a way that fits with your corporate culture and your career objectives.
Develop, plan, and execute your own “advertising” campaign. Keep it current and fresh. As you adapt to changes in the corporate environment, keep your campaign up to date, too. It is in your best interests NOT to sit around waiting for your boss or the “system” to “do its thing”. Instead, it is in your best interests to make it gently known that you want those things.
Advertise yourself to help build in more job security or to win that next job promotion. [Click here to also read 28 ways to become more valuable to your employer.]
