By Srabon Nath
Everyone tends to work towards being the best at what they do. Practically this means
getting more recognition than your coworkers so that you can work your way up the ladder. Most
people regret not taking opportunities and not putting in their best effort when they see all their
colleagues getting promotions and finding more successful ventures.
The best way to stand out is all based on the small things. You have to show your boss and everyone else that you are consistent and reliable. Consistency is especially important because others know exactly what you are capable of. Someone who has a certain level of work ethic all of the time is in a better position than a person who does very outstanding work only once a month. Being reliable means that you are a team player and operate well with others. You get along with others and create a positive atmosphere. Being able to adapt to any sort of work situation and deal with all sorts of work also makes you reliable. The reason it’s important to be reliable is that your boss knows that you can be placed in any type of workplace. This makes your value as an employee much higher.
In many careers, and especially in technical careers, it’s really important to possess
certain skills. One way to progress your career and be in a better position than your co-workers
is by advancing your skills outside of work. An easy example to demonstrate this sort of
behavior is to consider a software engineer. Obviously, this career path requires you to be very
comfortable with different coding languages and all sorts of software-related areas. However,
being a software engineer at a certain company does not mean you need to have mastery of all
software-related skills. Most often a company will focus on a certain set of skills. For example, in a
company where you are responsible for the front-end side of the company’s website means that
you would be working with HTML, CSS, and other UX/UI frameworks. But someone who is
proactive and looking to increase their value as a software engineer often takes on projects
outside of their work to learn new skills. Usually, these skills would be the newer and more
popular technology that companies use. This way, they are setting themselves up for success in
case they ever find an opportunity.
Finally, even though the small things matter a lot, you also have to jump in and take any
big opportunities at work. Even if you’re not asked to, you should always be looking to take
more work and contribute as much as possible. This should be done with no hesitation, even if
the work is outside of your comfort zone. This is because, by taking projects and doing work like
this, you might end up contributing to a project that brings a lot of success to the company.
Doing things like this will not go unnoticed and is a fast way to bring attention to yourself.
Make yourself an employee that your boss cannot afford to lose. This will open up
opportunities and you might be the next person that receives that position or that promotion!