Career Planning – Promote Yourself Or Why It Doesn’t Pay Off To Be Modest

Dec 28th, 2007 | By Bill | Category: Employment News



Lily is a lovely, talented graphic designer who works for a vibrant top design studio downtown. Only a few weeks after she has started, major clients begin requesting to work with her. They like Lily's fresh creative approach, her friendly appearance and willingness to go the extra mile to achieve outstanding results for them.

Lily has each reason to be proud and happy. However, she's getting more and more tired, depressed and frustrated, loosing enthusiasm for her job. Why? Lily has noticed that while her colleagues are working at two, maximum three projects at a time with at least one assistant by their side, Lily often has to manage up to five projects with no assistant at all.

“I don't know what to do”, she sighs. “Sometimes I begin work at 6 am and stay until way after midnight. But no one seems to notice, let alone care.” To her it doesn't seem fair after all the good work she does and she’s eager to find out how she could bring the topic up in a conversation with her boss without sounding too desperate or angry.

By the way, Lily's boss appreciates her and often commends her youngest and most successful designer in front of clients. When asked how Lily reacts to those compliments, her answer doesn't come as a surprise to an experienced career or communication coach: “Mostly I say: 'It was nothing' or 'It really wasn't a massive deal'. I don't feel comfortable if she makes such fuss about it.”

Tell me, if you were Lily's boss would you ask Lily whether she needs any help when apparently she achieves great success single handedly even when working on multiple projects with tight deadlines? My guess: you would not and that is exactly the clue to solving the problem. If you work hard and deliver good results you need to learn to speak about them or they’ll go unnoticed.

It's a very common phenomena observed when people complain about not getting appropriate rewards for their hard and obviously successful work: Lily – like many other professionals , in particular women – trips over her own modesty. When we were children we were all told not to show off our accomplishments. We were taught to be modest. Fair enough! No one likes people who boast with their achievements.

However, if you take this childhood lesson as seriously as Lily, you might not get where you want to – especially in your career. If you want to get a superior job or your well deserved promotion, try this:

# If you work hard for your success, simply state so calmly and friendly and no one will take it as showing-off.

# If someone congratulates you, look him or her straight in the eye, smile and say: “Thank you. Yes, it took me many hours and weekends to complete the project. I'm really proud of the outcome and I'm very happy that you appreciate it.”

# Delete sentences like “It was nothing” forever. Never ever downplay your success. If you downplay it everyone else will.

Workplace has become a fast paced and competitive place. If you want that your success is being noticed you need to promote yourself. The good news is that you can learn how to do that even if you're the kind of person who likes not to stand in the spotlight. How? Get a communication coach who will show you simple and easy-to-use techniques how to talk about your successes while feeling good about it. Enroll in a course that's specialised in the art of effective but subtle self-promotion where you'll find great ideas and also like minded people.

Good work resulting in excellent outcomes is worth to be talked about. And so are you! Take action! Get your credits, get your promotion! You deserve it!

Claudia Raab is an internationally experienced journalist, communications professional and as director of Raab & Raab Performance Consulting.

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