Recruitment doesn’t stop when the candidate’s in post. This is a cornerstone of our candidate charter, and it’s why many of our candidates come back to us and ask us questions like “how should I ensure my work and contributions are visible in this company? What skills do I need to get ahead?”
In truth, it’s not easy. Putting your every achievement on your personal website and emailing the link to everyone in your company is crude and obvious – and it won’t work. Personal brand gets your foot in the door, but once you’re in the office it gives way to something more subtle.
Keeping your head down and working hard won’t work either. Working hard is crucial, of course, but that’s the basics, it’s what’s expected of you. Building a reputation as someone who can be left to get on with it and not expect thanks is not what you want either.
If we had to boil down “getting noticed in the workplace” to a single concept, a single skill, we’d say the one that counts is “internal networking.”
What is internal networking?
Internal networking isn’t the same thing as “going to networking events”.
Internal networking is about volunteering for things – internal or informal projects – outside your job description and your comfort zone. It’s about stepping into other people’s worlds and finding opportunities there. It’s about suggesting solutions to problems that the average employee doesn’t know exists. And crucially, it’s about doing all of this not for financial reward or a promotional prospect, but to broaden your horizons.
These efforts demonstrate that you’re engaged with the brand and the business. Most employees wait until they’re told to do something, do it, and want thanks for doing it. To be different, take the initiative, and the additional responsibility. It doesn’t have to be an operational responsibility: it can be something that drives the company in a softer way, something as simple as organising the post-work night out on a Friday.
“Everyone near the top of the ladder has an idea they can’t deliver.”
There are a great many things business leaders would like to do, but can’t find time for in the hubbub of daily operations and leadership decisions. Everyone near the top of the ladder has an idea they can’t deliver, and they want someone to come along and say “oh, I’ll do that for you”. Putting those ideas into practice brings you to the attention of the people who had the ideas – and that’s when you can start asking for something back.
Driving your own feedback
Internal networking allows you to drive your own feedback. It makes you known to the people who can tell you how to improve, and help you climb the ladder. If you aren’t getting one-to-one feedback, regular contact gives you an opportunity to ask for it. Take that opportunity when it comes.
“Asking for feedback on something you’ve done means you’re presenting a concrete achievement to their attention.”
It’s important not to be demanding here. Don’t make your lack of feedback and contact a problem that you’re asking someone to solve. Come to people with a solution – “I’ve done this, how does it look?” Whether it’s the company social or the new security protocol, asking for feedback on something you’ve done means you’re presenting a concrete achievement to their attention – not suggesting there’s a shortcoming in the way your managers manage.
Don’t just see this as an upward-facing activity either. You can find useful feedback from your peers and subordinates too. You’ll get ahead in the workplace by understanding what people above and below you think of you, and working to influence their thinking in the directions you want.
Finding your direction to grow in
We use a specific technique to help candidates identify where they want to grow and develop – and where they want to be seen as developing. Based on our Psycruit psychometric testing, this Carousel 360 review breaks down key personal skills like communicating and influencing, working together, leading change and strategic focus into four ratings – one from yourself, one from your manager, one from a peer, and one from a direct psychometric report.
The Carousel review highlights the differences between how candidates perceive themselves, and how their colleagues and leaders perceive them. It isn’t an objective assessment of how good you are at your job – it’s a subjective assessment of how good others think you are, which is exactly what you need for internal networking and standing out. By taking a review like this one, and basing your adaptations on the shortcomings others see in you (rather than attempts to impress your boss with what you think you’re good at), you can show that you’re working on what they think you should be.
This concept – working on what your workplace thinks needs doing – is key to internal networking, and to making sure your work and contributions are visible. By establishing how people expect you to improve, and what they wish someone would do, you can identify the key areas you need to work on – and you have the perfect opportunity to ask for feedback based on concrete contributions, rather than problems.
Hard work is what’s expected of you: smart work is what will get you ahead.
Your perception of yourself is the keystone of the 360 review. To get a sense of where you are and what you’re good at, take our psycruit personality test today.
