Fall: A time to Focus on Your Career

People are returning from their vacations. Kids are returning to school. You should be focusing on your career. With the end of the summer upon us, now is a good time to focus on your career. Are you looking for a promotion, that raise you deserve or greater job satisfaction? Here are three tips to start the season off right:

1. Try a new look- one that is designed to project authority
2 Nurture your network
3. Take on a project designed to increase your visibility

Try A New Look: How a person looks and how they carry themselves forms the foundation of how people view them. Creating the right image will enhance one’s ability to persuade others. That requires you to look the way the people you are dealing with expect someone in authority to look. So dress like the people who are in the position you aspire to. Police Officers, judges, and doctors for example, all dress in a way that let’s you know instantly that they are functioning in a role that sets them apart from the rest of us and signals how we are expected to react to their directives. Different occupations have different ways of dressing to indicate your status. That will of course be different for women than for men. It will also differ depending on whether you are in Singapore, New York or Moscow. Look at how successful individuals in your field dress and let that guide you.

Nurture Your Network: Create a network of people who care about your career success. How do you do that? Build relationships with people in your field, both within your organization and outside. Stay in touch. Periodically call them and try to get together. E-mail them with information that they might find useful. Send them articles of interest. Remember their birthdays. Ask for their help and advise. More importantly, offer assistance. Look for ways tohelp them. Networking is about giving. give unselfishly. Your efforts will pay dividends many times over.

Take On a Project Designed to Increase Your Visibility: Seek out opportunities to work on projects that are important to the organization and to your boss. Good work is not enough. Your work needs to be noticed. So try to do it where people are looking. Work on the projects that people care about. do a good job and people will take note. I have a saying I use when I coach " If a tree fall in the forest and no one hears, who cares? But if you do great work and no one notices then career opportunities pass you by.

Coming into the Fall with a plan to move your career forward and you will reap the benefits. For more information go to YourCareerDoctors.com