When you lift your fingers from the keyboard and poke your head outside your cubicle, what do you see? That cut-down queen from public relations who humiliates her rivals at the monthly meetings? Or the backstabber from accounting who seems to get ahead by bringing everyone else down? Or maybe the new pretty girl, loitering outside the boss’s office? Should you take a page out of their book if you want to get ahead? “Absolutely not,” says Debra Benton, author of The $100,000 Club: How to Make a Six-Figure Income (Warner, 1988). “At every level, the bottom-line secret to getting promoted is to work smarter.” Here’s how:
Go the Extra Mile
Current status: Freelancer, intern, part-timer, or temp
Next step: Entry-level staff position
“At this point, attitude is everything,” says Arlene Hirsch, a Chicago career counselor and author of Love Your Work and Success Will Follow (John Wiley & Sons, 1996). There’s a benefit to being so low on the totem pole—no one expects you to be an expert, so the accomplishments you achieve through your dedication and positive attitude will surprise them at every turn.
“If you want a full-time job, swallow your pride and do everything your boss asks—even if you think it’s beneath you,” says Ann, 25, an associate editor at a Manila-based publishing house. “Whether it’s fetching coffee, making 150 photocopies, or buying feminine-hygiene products, do it with a smile and do it as quickly as possible.” Ann knows the drill: By going the extra mile and never complaining, she parlayed a three-month stint as an editorial assistant into a permanent gig as staff writer with benefits.
Clue In Quickly
Current status: Entry-level staff position/assistant
Next step: Midlevel job/associate
Doing the job with a smile isn’t enough anymore. Now the boss is watching to see if you’re a quick study, if you’re batting home runs on every assignment, and if you’re contributing fresh ideas—from developing a customer feedback system to recommending a much more effective way to recruit on college campuses.
Take charge. “I’m totally impressed when entry-level employees do what needs to be done—without being told,” says Terrie Williams, president of The Terrie Williams Agency, a public relations firm in New York City, and author of The Personal Touch: What You Really Need to Succeed in Today’s Fast-Paced Business World (Warner Books, 1997).
Kathy, 26, credits her rapid rise at a local record company to that strategy. “When I was a secretary, I would finish all the boring stuff quickly, so I’d have time to do interesting things, like search for new talents by listening to demo tapes from new bands,” says Kathy, promoted to an assistant producer after nine months. “My boss didn’t even realize that I was listening to demos until I handed him my reports on several hot bands that I found first. Then he knew that I was capable of much more.”
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