How to Stand Out at Work

Me and a friend were talking about work yesterday during MLK day. It's amazing how even on holidays when you're supposed to be chillin' "the office" comes up. Anyway, we were discussing what makes a person a superstar at work.

There are may factors that go into it: working somewhere that values your ideas, staying away from gossip, having a supervisor who understands her team member's talents, actually doing work that you're good at, and having the desire to stand out. It also helps if you stay at a job longer than a month!

So if you're looking to get a raise, earn a promotion, get a letter of recommendation to graduate school, or even transfer to a new department as smoothly as possible, here's a list of things I thought might help you:

1. Do work that floats your boat. There is no substitute for actually being passionate about your chosen field. I spent the first 4 years after I graduated from college searching for something that would excite me. No wonder why I was ready to quit almost every job I had less than two months into it.

2. Come with some original ideas. Yeah you can simply sit and wait for your boss to give you something to do. You can also be the best team player in the world. But, if you don't come with some spine-tingling ideas that get you and your boss excited, you'll constantly see other people getting promoted ahead of you.

3. Speak up. Being the cool, quiet person at work who you don't hear a peep from all day might be okay if you're a librarian. But, this rarely gets you anywhere in a corporate setting. Have something relevant to say in meetings; when you see problems, fix them and let your supervisor know.

4. Keep a record of your accomplishments. Yes, your boss saw you take the initiative to change the water cooler. But, what else have you done that you can document? If you helped organize an important event or if your activity has increased your company's sales, make a detailed note of it in your files. When it comes time for your review you'll have a complete dossier of all the good you've done that year.

Do these simple steps and you'll be raking in the dough and movin' on up in no time!