Most everyone has been in the situation at one time or another in their lives. Working hard, doing what is expected of them, and seemingly being passed over when it comes to raises and promotions. It may cause feelings of resentment and the desire to seek out a new place of employment as soon as possible. It some cases, this may be unavoidable. You may work for someone who simply doesn’t know how to run their business and doesn’t know the value of good employees. In many cases, however, there are subtle things you can do as an employee to make sure your work is rewarded.
Step #1: Go beyond the expected
If you go to work every day with the attitude that you will do everything that is expected of your job requirements, there is a decent chance you will never get a raise or a promotion. In order to stand out in a manager or employer’s mind, you have to go above and beyond your required duties. If there is a job you want to move to, begin learning the job. Ask questions. Show an interest in the company beyond the limitations of your particular job.
Step #2: Attitude
If everyone you work with has a sour attitude about their place of employment, it can become easy to fall into this way of thinking. Avoid it. It may help you to “fit in” with your friends at the workplace, but it will do nothing to improve your position in the company. Instead, try to be the person who lifts spirits. Complete your work with a positive attitude and it will show.
Step #3: Volunteer
This step is especially important and goes hand in hand with the first step. Every job presents opportunities to step up and do things that aren’t manifestly required of you. Do these things, if you want to get ahead. It may seem like thankless work for a while, especially if you have an employer who tends to take advantage of his or her employees, but eventually it should pay off. If it doesn’t, you know you work for a poor company and it may be time for a change.
Step #4: Become friends with the boss.
This doesn’t mean sucking up. An employer will see through this and you will wind up in the same position you were in before. It means building a mutual, real relationship with your boss. It doesn’t have to mean going to dinner at his house or bringing him coffee every morning. It simply means talking to him about the business. Letting him know that you are there. An employer can’t very well decide to promote you if they don’t know who you are.
Follow these steps and you will be sure to get the raise or promotion you deserve. Remember, the final, unwritten step, but perhaps the most important one of all: ask for it. If you know that you deserve it, and have done everything a model employee could do, the worst that can happen is your boss will say no. At that time, you will know that it’s time to look elsewhere for better career opportunities.
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