You're already "God's gift to the facilities engineering world" or to the maintenance management world or to any world (take your pick). You never make mistakes. You're flexible, always on time, rarely take breaks, well-liked, communicative and so on. To sum this up with fewer adjectives: You are a perfect employee.
Of course I typed that tongue-in-cheek, but let's suppose for a moment that you possess some of those attributes. You are a good employee and you are good at your job, how then do you advance your career?
The reasons why you can't advance are well known to your boss.
- The economy is bad
- There's no promotional money in the budget
- There's no empty slot above you to fill
- There are others just as good
- We are looking at downsizing
- You may have to relocate to move up
- Management is instituting a freeze on all promotions
... and I'm sure you can add to this list.
Our fathers and forefathers told us hard work and honesty will be rewarded. I suppose that is true but up to a point, because most companies are full of honest, hard workers. Some of your fellow workers may be simply giving that perception to the boss, but nonetheless it usually works just enough to put the skids on your recognition.
Back to the question, how do you advance your career? Here's my simple answer: Do more! I don't mean at your job. I mean do more outside your job but related to it. Most companies value employees who volunteer their time with youth groups or charities. That is very admirable, meaningful and worthwhile. But, again, that’s not what I am referring to.
Do more within your job family. Write a white paper and get it published or write an article for trade media like AFE Weekly Headlines. Now when you do this, especially in a nationally-recognized publication, you're recognized by your company as someone respected in the industry, more so than localized behind the four walls of your facility.
Others may publicly wonder why you would spend your spare time writing instead of playing golf, but privately they will be jealous and respect you at the same time. You have your peers around the globe reading what you've written, so you are, in effect, teaching them — giving them the benefit of your knowledge and experience.
What boss would not be impressed with that? You'll probably find that you're asked to make presentations to upper management, which gets your name in front of the real decision-makers.
Break the tie. Rise above your fellow workers and get recognized nationally, even globally, as a true expert in your profession — as an industry leader. Be a big fish in a big pond.
Having this feather in your cap will blow away your employer come performance appraisal time and should garner you that career advancement. How could it not?
