Have you have wondered what are some of the ways to know you've made it in your career? You’ve worked hard and you’ve paid your dues but are you where you want to be? Has all the hard work finally paid off? Even though not all of these will apply to everyone, here are a few ways to know you've made it in your career.
One of the ways to know you've made it in your career is when your body of work appears on search engines. We have all Googled our names at least once in our lifetime. Mostly we were curious as to what would show up and were looking for a good laugh, but a part of us also wondered what accurate information would pop up. 9/10 times the only accurate result that applied to you when you searched yourself up was your social media accounts. However, as you progress through a company your body of work or work profile might start showing up in search results as well!
Remember when you were starting off your career? One of the things you probably did was add people on the professional networking website LinkedIn to your profile who you thought would become useful connections in the future. In return, you very rarely got added by anyone who wasn’t your college classmate. However, as you move forward in your career you might find that people are now starting to add you on LinkedIn, hoping that one day you’ll prove to be a useful connection to them! How life has come full circle!
Who would have thought you would have the opportunity to hand out little rectangle pieces of cardboard paper which have your name, business and job title embossed on them and other people would actually want them? Business cards aren’t just for anyone, you usually have to work pretty hard to own your own business card!
You know you have moved up in the corporate world when you’ve been asked to do some type of presentation in front of the big dogs. Although it’s nerve wracking, here’s some perspective on the issue – if you’re asked to do a presentation, it’s for a few reasons. First, your superiors value your opinion, perspectives and objectives. Second, your supervisors trust you to understand, collect and present information in a clear and concise manner. And finally, your bosses trust you to represent yourself and your branch in a professional manner.
Well, everyone’s opinions matter! But, when you move up in your career your opinion will matter more and more, not only to those below you but to those above you as well. People will come to you for advice and opinions because they trust you and your work ethic, and believe in you because of your work and/or educational experience.
Another way to know you’ve made it in your career is that you have more authority. Whether it’s a manager at the local fast food restaurant or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, you know you’ve succeeded when you’ve been given more authority and responsibility! Authority and overseeing co-workers/projects are key indicators that your supervisors believe in you and believe that you are capable of performing your job above company standards.
Probably the best indicator that you’ve made it in your career is when you are head hunted. Being “head hunted” is when other companies hear about you (whether it be through referrals, word of mouth, LinkedIn, etc...) and try to recruit you to work for them. Being head hunted is probably the best compliment there is in the working world.
We all want to succeed in our careers and we have different ways of measuring our success. Some measure by how much money they make while others measure by their position and role in the company. Regardless, it’s always a personal accomplishment when you’re good at your job and everyone knows it too! What are other ways you know you’ve made it in your career?