Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash
Do your peers or associates seem to look right through you? As though you’re invisible?
Whether you’re just out of college or in your baby-boomer years, you won’t feel happy and successful if you feel invisible in the workplace.
If you’re not staying relevant, undoubtedly you feel invisible. Of course, it’s as a miserable feeling.
Not to poor salt on your wounds, but people set themselves up to feel invisible. Instead of focusing on professional development, they isolate themselves.
Don’t let this happen. Do just the opposite. It’s all about building your personal brand, which leads to another valuable asset — trust in you.
There are eight ways for personal-brand relevance:
1. Personal SWOT
Take stock of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Acknowledge the dangers to your career and your self esteem.
Naturally, if you’re considered irrelevant, you face the likely consequences of being under-employment or unemployed.
2. Research
If you’re not an entrepreneur running the show, it’s important to become more valuable to your employer. Study your company’s environment. Research the trends affecting your industry.
Also, determine what you must do to stay on top of the short-term and long-term trends affecting your company and sector. Read trades and other articles on the Internet and pay attention to what your customers are saying and writing in reviews.
If you’re not an entrepreneur running the show, it’s important to become more valuable to your employer.
3. Strive for more education
Even if you’re in a situation in which education isn’t reimbursed, take charge. Don’t think and act like a victim. Invest in yourself.
Before becoming a business-performance consultant, I worked for others. At pivotal points in the 1980s and 1990s, I spent a lot of money to learn and grow. But the feelings of self-fulfillment and the financial rewards were well worth it.
The opportunities are endless: Courses, conferences, associations, networking and finding a mentor.
4. Engage others
Read every day. Set up Google Alerts for important keywords. (They’ll also help you land an unadvertised job).
Also, subscribe to newsletters. Engage others in LinkedIn and online articles.
5. Make contacts among all generations
The key is to get the broadest-possible perspective. Always keep your eyes on the big picture.
You’ll never know who can be a big center of influence in your career. Turn acquaintances into friends – in all generations. If you’re young, you’ll benefit by befriending baby boomers.
If you’re older, don’t be too proud to engage Millennials.
6. Prioritize your professional footwork
Do the footwork for relevance each day. Professional development should forever be a top priority.
7. Write
Become a thought leader, by writing. If you’re not an authority on a subject, do your research. Many professionals learn by writing. Plus, you’ll be helping others.
Develop a good-looking blog. Submit articles to trade magazines and other media Web sites. E-mail reporters who cover your sector with your contact information to suggest you’re available to be a credible source of information.
Along the way, you’ll enhance your odds to become an in-demand public speaker.
8. Synch with your personal lifestyle
Professionals become the most-successful and stay that way by focusing on personal habits, too. Family, hobbies, recreation and exercise are part of their daily routine.
Such routines lead to happiness, and happiness attracts more happiness.
From the Coach’s Corner, more career tips:
Your Career: Fair Is Not an Adult Word at the Office — If you think your co-workers will be as thoughtful as your friends in your personal life, you might want to think again. And if you’re a highly productive employee but you’ve been laid off after several years of service, you’ve experienced the same phenomenon. That stems from a lack of reciprocity and fairness among adults at work.
Learning from a 15th-Century Role Model Will Propel Your Career — A 15th-century quote by Michelangelo is apropos today for people who want to be successful. A positive attitude about learning in the job-seeking process leads to success. The concept has been confirmed by a University of Missouri study.
Your Career Success is Determined by your Spouse’s Personality — Study — Your spouse’s attitude has an indirect, powerful impact on whether you succeed in your career. That’s the conclusion from an important study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.
11 Tips to Enhance Your Career as an Effective Writer — As a career — whether you’re writing as an author or to generate content to market your business — effective writing requires two attributes. They are dedication and passion.
8 Tips to Boost Your Career with Shameless Self-Promotion — Some of the best tips ever given to me – at a pivotal point in my career – were given to me in the 1980s by one of the nation’s pioneers in radio and TV. At the time, he was the president emeritus of a major broadcasting company, Bonneville International.
Branding is rooted in building trust, increasing relevance and driving action.
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