The Career Advice No One Ever Gives You

The Career Advice No One Ever Gives You Photo Via: http://www.timothylutts.com Look no further. If you want to get ahead at work and ensure you’ll become an asset to the company you work for, it takes effort. So to help you out, here is the career advice that no one ever gives you. 1. Attitude is everything. Photo Via: http://www.commdiginews.com Whether you’ve learned this or not, the way you present yourself at work (and in your personal life) influences how people perceive you. Having a positive attitude and hanging around with positive people will go a long way, especially in the eyes of your boss and coworkers. I know we’ve all heard about picking friends carefully, but in the workforce, it carries much more weight than you think. So keep your attitude in check, and that means in your personal life as well. 2. Mentors can make or break a career. Photo Via: https://usfconnect.files.wordpress.com Typically, when you start a new job, you find a mentor, or someone higher up in the company than you are to learn from and help you advance. No one ever tells you this, but picking a mentor is something that’s ultimately up to you, and that choice matters. Just because someone is assigned to help you doesn’t mean they need to be your mentor. You can look up to anyone in the company and develop a professional relationship with them as well. Picking the right mentor isn’t only important for helping you better yourself in your given field, but also for helping you advance in that field. Whether you use them for recommendations, advice or just as a role model, a mentor is one of the most important people in your professional career, so choose wisely. 3. You need to be present. Photo Via: http://knote.com It’s common sense that spending your workday on Facebook, or taking selfies with Picpal isn’t exactly productive, and it certainly isn’t going to get you a promotion. But many people don’t know that physically leaving your office and communicating in person with your boss/coworkers is one of the most important things you can do during the day. Of course, this doesn’t mean leave your work behind in the office to rendezvous at the water cooler, but rather that face time with your employer can show your engagement with the job (and office) as well as display your hard-working attitude and communication skills. If you have a question, don’t just send out an email every time. Go physically ask your boss and have a conversation about it. This is one of the easiest ways to avoid mistakes and to show that you care. 4. You arent permanent. Photo Via: http://racetalkblog.com Despite what many think, getting a job does not mean you’re there until you quit. This is where the advice you actually do get comes in handy: do what you want to be doing. Because if you aren’t, your employer will notice. So while it’s easy to take a job for some extra cash and go through the motions everyday, at some point, your boss is going to notice you aren’t progressing and he/she will replace you with someone that will. You always need to be improving, you need to be actively working and you need to care about what you do, or none of the above tasks are going to be possible. Faking it until you make it may work from time to time, but in the business world, you’re expendable, so you definitely need to act like it. 5. Looks arent everything, but they matter. Photo Via: http://sunshinesigningconnection.com And finally, no one ever tells you how important your looks are in the business world. And I know we’re told to dress nice for work and such, but that’s not all that you have to do. How clean you are is indicative of how much you care about yourself, which translates to how much you’ll care about your life, job, etc. So while wearing slacks and a button up shirt may seem like enough, it isn’t. Your hair/face need to be washed daily, you shouldn’t look like you just crawled out of bed a few minutes ago and you certainly shouldn’t ever looked stressed out or tired. Yes, this seems like too much attention to detail, but I assure you, it isn’t. There’s a reason you look your best when you go to a job interview, and it’s the same reason that you look your best when you go to work for the day. Looks matter in the business world, even if they shouldn’t. So there you have it: the career advice no one ever gives you. So take advantage of this advice and apply it to your future career choices or your current ones. While they may not make detrimental differences in your professional life, your employer will take notice, and it just might set you ahead of somebody else when it comes time for that promotion.