Working hard is crucial to promoting your career. At the same time, one must talk enough about their good qualities in order to not go unnoticed by the people who can increase your chances of getting a raise. Promoting yourself can be tricky, especially because doing it the wrong way can make you seem narcissistic and arrogant.
Here are some easy ways to indulge in self-promotion:
Be ready with an answer
When your boss asks you what you have been doing in your free time, make sure you do not say something casual. Instead, have a ready answer about a side project that you’ve been doing to improve your skills or a recent accomplishment.
Plan your performance reviews
A great time for self promotion is your performance review. Ensure you’ve made a list of your projects, accomplishments or challenges you’ve overcome since the last review. You can also ask your boss or clients for constructive feedback.
Complement your colleagues
A subtle and easy way to promote yourself is to also promote others. If you’ve worked on a project that got great results, ensure you give credit to your coworkers for their hard work.
Don’t compare yourself to others
While talking about your accomplishments, don’t try to show that you’re better than others. Make sure you stress upon how you’ve improved and grown your career.
Learn to accept a compliment
Though promoting ourselves can be tough, learning how to take a compliment can be difficult as well. Instead of downplaying a compliment, simply say “Thank you. I worked hard to accomplish this project”.
Slowly bring it into the conversation
After asking what your coworkers are working on, they are most likely to reciprocate and you will have the opportunity to talk about your achievements.
At the end of the day, remember that the harder you work, the more people appreciate your presence and work. Let your self promotion add crescendos to your masterpiece of work.
