Increase Your Chances of Long-Term Success

10 Tips to Increase Your Value

While it may be difficult right now, we all know the economy will improve. It always does. What we don’t know is if employers will hire the same people back into the same jobs, and at the same employment levels we experienced in the boom times.

Here are 10 tips to increase your chances of long-term success:

1. Work in an industry that is growing. Declining industries may eventually leave you without a job and with skills that are no longer needed by employers. It is important to be aware of where your industry is currently going.

2. Work in a position that will be needed even more in the future. While there are industries that may be considered obsolete one day, there are also job positions that will no longer be needed. In order for you to determine the future fate of your profession, you will need to do some research on where your current position will be five, ten or fifteen years from now.

3. Provide multiple skills and talents that will benefit many areas of the organization. The more talents and skills you bring to a company, the greater of an asset you will be. Many of these skills can be learned through reading or taking classes. If money is an issue, it is worth noting that many cities provide a free form of continuing education for residents to gain new skills in many different areas. Many universities, including MIT, are now putting all their course content on the internet, free for anyone to access and learn.

4. Obtain a personal reputation for delivering outstanding internal and external service. Business leaders want employees who will go above and beyond for customers as well as with assisting others with tasks within the organization.

5. Develop the knowledge and skills before internal and external customers even know they need them. This requires foresight gained from communication with the organization’s leaders, managers and some market research.

6. Build a reputation for driving value to the bottom line. Are you seen as a cost in your organization or someone who drives value to the bottom line? People who drive value increase revenues, make customers excited to do business with the company, find ways to cut costs, innovate and constantly look for ways to continually improve the organization. When someone is doing all these things, they add tremendous value.

7. Solve really big problems within the organization with a great attitude. Managers and leaders love problems solvers, especially ones that have an attitude that radiates, “Hey, no big problem. I am happy to help.”

8. Become “an expert” or “the expert” in your field. To become “an expert” in your field, learn as much as you can about your profession. If there is any part of your field that you are not familiar with, now is the time to familiarize yourself with it. Read publications related to your work and talk with other professionals in your field to find out if there are areas you can learn more about. To become “the expert,” in your field, write about your areas of expertise, and teach, train or present state of the art material about your profession. You will create a name for yourself and will be able to bring even more expertise and experience to your company.

9. Be a “low maintenance” employee. Low maintenance employees don’t take much supervision. They are accountable for results, easy to get along with and do what needs to be done to make the organization successful… without being asked.

10. Reflect on the past and plan for the future. Ask yourself, “How have I fared in comparison to the above 9 tips and what are the steps I should take to prepare for the next three years?”

This economy has been a force that has had a significant impact on everyone. We can’t say that putting a plan in place to address the ten tips listed above will guarantee your business success or guarantee you lifetime employment. However, we do feel confident it will increase your chances of success… whether the economy is up or down.