How to Keep Your Job and Advance in It

Feb 11, 2011
Tel Asiado

How to Keep Your Job and Advance on It - Tel Asiado

Practical advice for keeping your job including getting along with co-workers, being involved and volunteering for extra tasks, and advancing for promotion.

With technology advancement, the workplace has become so competitive and there’s hardly any place for complacency. It’s not enough that as an employee you are on the job roll. It’s important that you are competent and that you demonstrate you deserve the position you've been hired to do. Following are tips how to keep the job and advance in it.

Keeping the Job and Advancing in It

Focus on the job you’ve been hired to do. Personal activities should be avoided. With the advent of the Internet and the popularity of online social networking like Facebook and Twitter, it’s very easy to be tempted. Personal emails and calls should be avoided.

Get along with others. This includes co-workers, supervisors, colleagues from other departments or sections, and customers, if applicable. The most frequent reason for failure to advance in the job is inability to get along with fellow workers and supervisors. Although it is true that there are difficult people in the workplace, be professional, stay away from office politics and unnecessary gossip or rumor mongering.

Avoid constant absenteeism and be on time. Some companies are strict on absenteeism and/or tardiness, which can mean ineffectiveness, and can seen by employers as a sign of being unprofessional.

Get education and learn everything you can about your present job, the job you want to advance to, and the company in general. Show enthusiasm and involvement and that you are willing to learn. Stay focused on your job role, but not overwhelmed. Make use of resources provided at your fingertips.

Be involved and volunteer for extra duties. There’s an element of psyching your way around to get a feel of your team and the company culture and atmosphere. Find out about your team and the other areas your team interacts with. Ask questions if there are things you are not sure of.

Control display of unnecessary sensitivity and emotion. This means that before losing your cool and quarreling with your supervisor or co-worker, pause to think and ask yourself it is worth it, and if it’s to your advantage in the long run.

Leave personal problems at home. Be professional. Keep out of controversy and avoid taking sides in office conflict.

Let your supervisor or manager know that you are interested in advancement. It is almost inconceivable that any job is a dead end, even for the best person. Do your best at your present job, for a good record in any job helps establish a good future reference, and improves curriculum vitae and resumé.

If the tips sound intimidating, they are not, especially if responsibility is taken seriously by an employee as a part of the role he or she is hired to do. Work doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of fun if it is done with the right frame of mind, commitment, organization and responsibility.

In time, if you keep to these tips, you won’t only keep your job, but advance in it with a well-deserved promotion.

Interested readers may want to check out the following articles: How to Handle Tough Confrontations at Work, New Employee Onboarding and Job Start and How to Deal with Stress at Work.