Self-Promotion on the Job
By Pam Baker
It's harder to move up the IT career ladder within your organization these days because the rungs don't stay put.
With downsizing, outsourcing, off-shoring and ever-shrinking corporate budgets, IT job slots are often re-named, redefined or replaced. The good news is that industry analysts report the field is healthy despite the rapid-fire changes, and that opportunities in 2007 are plentiful.
How can you make the most of those opportunities and move ahead? According to industry experts, it can be a matter of using smart and tactful self-promotion techniques.
"Self-promotion is truly an art form," says Melanie Robbins, host of "Make It Happen with Mel Robbins," a career coaching program heard on Sirius Satellite Radio, suggests, "If you are too overt, you risk coming across to upper management as an irritant. And if your colleagues see you doing it, you risk alienating them and creating resentment -- it will always look like you are taking credit for their hard work."
But that's not to say a direct approach may not trump more subtle methods. "When I was working my way up the ladder," relates Robert Ardell, managing partner at KoreOne Staffing in San Diego, Calif., "the best advice I received was to schedule a lunch with my boss, and even my boss' boss, and ask them, 'What do I need to do to receive a promotion?' The simpler, the better." (article continues)
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