Get noticed
OK, so you got hired. How do you maximize your chances of success besides from being brilliant and hard working?
Get noticed. People need to know who you are in order to comment about you, care what you write, care about your work, keep you on the top of the promotion list, etc.
Drive a distinctive car. And park where it will be
seen. This may mean that you need to get to work early enough to get one of the more visible parking places. That is a good thing too. People who get to work early are thought to be hard working and dedicated people. You want
to be in that group. Back to the car. It doesn’t have to be an expensive car, and in some companies environments that may not be a good thing. So you will need to feel out which way to go on the car choice. In my first engineering
job I had a red Volkswagen. Noticeable, but not over the top. I have to confess, however, that after 6 months I bought a very fast Corvette. It was very noticeable and gained me friends and influence. In a later blog I will write about
cars, including that Corvette.
Get there early. I already said that, and I think it is important in the get noticed at work category, but staying late also is good. Doing both is great if your outside life lets you do it.
I had a boss once who made a point of walking around at 5:00 pm to make sure everyone was still at their desks working, and then he went home. So did everyone else right after he left. Dumb management.
Introduce yourself.
How will others know who you are if you don’t tell them? Learn who the managers are and make a point of introducing yourself to them. Don’t kowtow, or act deferential; managers are just people like yourself. They want to know
who others are just like you do.
Look busy. Keep busy. If you are not challenged, ask for, or better yet volunteer for additional things to do. When you are walking around, carry something. It might be a folder,
a report, a box of parts, something besides your smart phone. Have a purpose in your step.
Interact in group events and meetings. Ask questions (good ones), but don’t dominate. I became well known to the top management
of my last company by doing just that. I was concerned that I had gone slightly over the top by correcting the slides of our Sr. VP of Operations, but it turns out that I gained his respect. I asked the CEO of the company questions in several of
our all hands meetings (10,000) people most of them on line, but I was in the room. One time I asked him what his position was on off shore corporate profits. He really liked the question as it gave him an opportunity to expand on his opinion
about this country’s dumb tax policies. Note that I had spent time thinking about a good question to ask well before the start of the meeting.