Promote Yourself

 

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way.
Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author's copyright, please notify the publisher at:
us.macmillanusa.com/piracy
.

 

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my incredibly supportive parents, who believed in me in the best and worst of times. Through all the stress and obstacles, they made sure I kept my head up and had a positive attitude. I feel very privileged to have them both in my life because having great parents makes it that much easier to “Promote Yourself” and achieve your dreams. The best advice they've given me is to not take life too seriously, always be yourself, and not to let anything get you down. This book is written in honor of them because without them, I wouldn't be here.

 

CONTENTS

 

      
Title Page

      
Copyright Notice

      
Dedication

      
Foreword by Marcus Buckingham

      
Introduction: Thinking Inside the Box

  
1
  
The Future Is YOU

  
2
  
Hard Skills: Be More Than Your Job Description

  
3
  
Soft Skills: Make Every Impression Count

  
4
  
Online Skills: Use Social Media to Your Advantage

  
5
  
Gain Visibility Without Being Known as a Self-Promotional Jerk

  
6
  
What Managers Look for When They Decide Whom to Promote

  
7
  
Develop Cross-Generational Relationships

  
8
  
Build Your Network at Work and Beyond

  
9
  
Turn Your Passion into a New Position

10
  
Start Your Own Business While on the Job

11
  
Moving Up, Moving Sideways, or Moving On?

      
Epilogue: Your Career Is in Your Hands

      
Acknowledgments

      
Notes

      
Quotes

      
About the Author

      
Also by Dan Schawbel

      
Copyright

 

FOREWORD

 

BY MARCUS BUCKINGHAM,

NEW YORK TIMES
BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF
NOW,
DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS
AND
STANDOUT

 

Change is constant and certain. We may flatter ourselves into thinking that we feel the pressure of change more keenly than our ancestors did, but it seems especially easy to notice flux and uncertainty in our time. Technology has made the world a smaller place—people and companies are intimately interconnected. Economic bubbles and recessions have left corporations and communities repeatedly having to adjust to new realities. Jobs are more variable and skills more quickly obsolete than ever before. Organizations are hiring less, for less, replacing humans with technology and outsourcing or offshoring jobs whenever they can.

Generation Y will come to dominate the workforce, but they are entering it at a particularly difficult time. While they are often—and rightfully—considered to have a pioneering, we-can-change-the-world outlook, they are also a more delicate cohort than the stereotypes might suggest.

We all know that members of Gen Y are accustomed to constant, immediate feedback. Forget annual reviews; they want weekly or daily check-ins with their supervisors. And we know they're used to that feedback being overwhelmingly positive. They are accustomed to being praised for their uniqueness. The result is a challenging set of expectations. Nearly 40 percent of Gen Y respondents to a 2012 Trendera
1
survey believed that they should be promoted every two years. An even more eye-opening statistic: Only 9 percent believed that their promotions needed to be warranted by their performance.

What will help them, on the other hand, is that all they know is a world of constant change. It's their normal. When the Baby Boomers entered the workforce, they sought jobs at corporations where they envisioned staying for the next thirty years. Now, Gen Y is entering the workforce knowing they are likely to have at least seven jobs during the course of their careers. In fact, 60 percent of Gen Y respondents recognized their current position as a mere stepping-stone.

Given these realities, the most critical skill anyone can have is awareness of his or her unique, transferable strengths. My research involving literally hundreds of corporations and millions of people has demonstrated that top performers are those who focus on their strengths the majority of the time. That may seem obvious—play to your strengths and you'll succeed. But, even more than preceding generations, Gen Y needs to learn that simple truth. For all the analysis indicating that they are praised and self-entitled, they show a marked tendency to overlook their strengths. Asked whether they will succeed professionally by fixing their weaknesses or by enhancing their strengths, an astounding 73 percent of Gen Y respondents (as compared to 55 percent of people overall) chose fixing their weaknesses.
2

So what does all this mean for Gen Y in the workforce at large? It means that they need to learn how to double down on their strengths. Winning in the workplace mandates that you know who you are, where your greatest strengths lie, and how to differentiate yourself. When your job could shift tomorrow and technology is constantly making old skills obsolete, your strengths are your constant. You must understand and promote your greatest strengths, your edge that can be applied in every situation. Is your strength strategic thinking? Competitive spirit? Empathy? Ability to bring people together? All of those ingrained talents will travel with you, regardless of technological or societal change. These strengths are multipliers, adding value to what you do in any situation. Specific skills may become irrelevant with change, but strengths are infinitely transferable.

In the chapters that follow, Dan will help you figure out how to take your strengths and uniqueness and turn them into your personal brand. Promoting yourself doesn't mean getting promoted. Instead, Dan will show you how to communicate your unique contribution, so that you make yourself indispensable. In this competitive world, he will ensure that you highlight your strengths for all to see. As the workplace continues to transform, your personal brand is the key to your success. Be the best version of you—and let everyone else marvel at that value.

 

INTRODUCTION

Thinking Inside the Box

 

If everyone has to think outside the box, maybe it is the box that needs fixing.

—
MALCOLM
GLADWELL
,

BESTSELLING
AUTHOR
OF
T
HE
T
IPPING
P
OINT

 

Meet Jason, a typical twentysomething college grad. He's at the office, working hard on his latest project—and doing a great job. Like many of his peers, Jason is pretty good at multitasking, so while he's working he's got his earbuds in and is listening to music on his smartphone, texting and IMing his friends (some of whom are only a few cubicles away), and checking Facebook status updates. Jason has been working for his employer for about a year, and he's getting itchy feet. His manager has been out at an offsite meeting and Jason is waiting for her to come back so he can ask her about working at home or that promotion he thinks he deserves. A year in the same job is a long time, he thinks. It's time to move up or move on.

As recently as five or six years ago, Jason's move-up-or-move-on calculation would have been a good one. The economy was chugging along nicely, unemployment was low, and newly minted college grads were getting jobs right away—and if you couldn't get a job, you could at least get a paid internship that would most likely lead to one fairly quickly. Bonuses were big, and recruiters were always calling. But today, the economic situation is pretty grim. Millions are out of work, and it doesn't look like things are going to get much better anytime soon.

But that's just the beginning. Jason and most of today's young workers are competing for jobs and promotions not only against other young people, but also against experienced older workers who've lost their jobs and highly trained workers in other countries. And internships, if you can get one at all, are usually unpaid.

In other economic times, Jason might have quit his job to start his own company. But small businesses that were created just a few years ago by young aspiring entrepreneurs who had been attracted by the prospect of making millions blogging and doing social networking, are failing because of the lack of resources, mentorship, and funding. Banks aren't lending, venture capitalists are only investing in new companies with a track record, and established companies are cutting back.

As I see it, one of the biggest problems is that while schools are giving out degrees as quickly as they can print 'em, they aren't doing a particularly good job of actually preparing young workers for the real world. There are probably hundreds of job functions today that didn't even exist five years ago, but schools are still preparing students to step into those old jobs, not the new ones. And kids who are starting college today are being taught only how to do today's jobs instead of how to adapt to a changing world and acquire the kinds of skills that will help them land the jobs of the future—jobs that probably don't even exist today.

So here's the situation: The economy sucks, which leaves a lot of people afraid to quit their jobs because they worry that they won't be able to find a new one; even in the best of times, entrepreneurship isn't easy; and a traditional college education isn't the guarantee of future success that it once was. The good news is that there are a lot of other ways to take control of your career without quitting your job, striking out on your own, or burning your diploma. The fact is that companies need young entrepreneurs working on the inside if they're going to stay in business let alone succeed. The challenges of rapid globalization and constant technological disruption in the midst of a global economic downturn that has tightened up the credit markets and slowed down mergers and acquisitions has put companies under many of the same pressures that their employees are under, They need to grow from within, and the only way they can do that is with you. That means that now, more than ever, in order to advance in your career, it's essential that you become indispensable at work. You can't just sit back and wait for things to happen. If you're going to get ahead and be happy with your career, you need to be in the driver's seat, constantly seeking out opportunities and being persistent. When you do, your manager, your coworkers, and the executives will view you as a valuable asset, and you'll get those raises and promotions that you've been killing yourself to get. Today's workplace doesn't tolerate slackers. Either you rise to the top or you don't survive. The problem is that most people don't know how to get started. But I'm going to show you exactly how, and by the time you finish this book, you'll be an expert at using your current job as a springboard to success and using thinking-inside-the-box skills—rather than outside-the-box skills—to realize your potential, maximize your success, and take your career to a whole new level.

I know, I know, that's an awfully big promise. But let me tell you how I got to a place where I can make—and deliver on—those promises. To start with, I'm not some kind of Internet genius/billionaire. I've definitely always been interested in tech (I once started a James Bond Web site), but school was never easy for me.