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Nine Little-Known Ways to Advance Your Career
Nine Little-Known Ways to Advance Your CareerSetting long-term goals and creating a plan for achieving them are important for career growth, but small changes to your daily routine can have a big impact on your professional prospects, too. Following are nine simple -- yet often overlooked -- actions that can help you advance professionally.
1. Speak up.Actively participating in office discussions demonstrates your enthusiasm and interest in the company. Before you attend meetings, review the agenda and prepare a few points of interest on the topics to be addressed. While you don’t want to talk to hear yourself speak, do not hesitate to share your ideas when you have something valuable to add.
2. Sit in the 'hot seat.'Did you know that where you sit in a meeting can determine if you get a plum assignment or not? Choosing a seat near the meeting leader signals your support and helps ensure you’re seen and heard. And by placing yourself at the center of the action, you’re likely to participate more.
3. Exercise your bragging rights.You may have heard the phrase, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” But in the office, it often comes down to who knows you. Imagine the executives in your company are having a meeting to decide who will work on a high-profile project. Would anyone in the room mention your name? If not, you’ve got some self-promoting to do. E-mailing a weekly status report to your boss detailing major accomplishments or volunteering to present your group’s milestones at a meeting are easy ways to increase your visibility.
4. Go beyond the call of duty.Another way to raise your profile is to assist colleagues with their workloads or take on tasks outside your job description. You might, for example, volunteer to serve as a trainer during new-hire orientations, lead the internship program or help organize the company’s annual team-building event. These types of duties may not seem glamorous, but they’re often near and dear to executives’ hearts, and they force you to move out of your comfort zone.
5. Accept credit graciously.When someone compliments you for doing a good job, how do you react? If you typically shrug it off and say, “It was nothing,” you may be leaving the door open for someone else to steal your thunder. Try instead, “Thank you. I’m glad the hard work paid off,” or “Thanks. I’m really pleased with the way it turned out, too.” Just be careful about accepting credit that’s not yours — it’s a sure-fire way to create tension and animosity among your teammates.
6. Shoot the breeze.Did you know the gift of gab can lead to improved work performance? Forty percent of workers polled by Robert Half International said water cooler conversations increase productivity by providing opportunities for employee bonding. In addition to engaging in occasional chit-chat with your co-workers, be sure to partake in company gatherings, such as the annual picnic or holiday party, and team-building activities. Through these informal events, you can develop camaraderie with other employees and make valuable new contacts within the organization.
7. Eat, drink and demonstrate proper dining decorum.The business lunch is becoming increasingly common, so it’s in your best interest to learn proper dining etiquette. Being rude to wait staff or arriving late, for example, may cost you; these were cited as the top business blunders a professional can make during a lunch meeting by executives surveyed by Robert Half. Ordering the rib platter (or equally messy foods), constantly checking your cell phone or broaching business matters before orders are placed can also be a recipe for disaster.
8. Make more meaningful connections.Conferences and industry events are great opportunities to network, and there are a few tricks to help you make good first impressions. For example, wearing your name tag on the right side, near your shoulder, makes it easier for others to see and remember your name as they shake your hand. Using the back of people’s business cards to write information about them, such as their interests, also will help jog your memory after the event and provide motive to follow up.
9. Give thanks.If someone recently helped you — perhaps your neighbor alerted you to an employment opportunity or a friend proofread your résumé — let the person know you appreciate the support. Take a few moments to write a short, sincere thank-you note. The respect, kindness and personal touch will create an indelible mark in your recipient’s mind and improve the chances he or she will help out again.

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Sri Lanka's champion allrounder Sanath Jayasuriya said that whoever tries to emulate his feat of scoring 12,000 runs and 300 wickets in ODIs will have to work really hard for it and also have luck on his side."It's tough to get 300 wickets and score over 12,000 runs. Its hard work and a lot of sacrifice in your career. It's not easy. Somebody who wants achieve that feat will have to work really hard and be lucky," Jayasuriya said after taking four wickets for 31 runs as well as the man-of-the-match award in the second one-day international against Bangladesh.Jayasuriya who started the match with 296 wickets from 396 matches said: "I never thought of getting the four wickets today. But I am extremely happy with my achievement."His great moment came when he snapped up the final Bangladesh wicket by having last man Syed Rasel caught by Jehan Mubarak at mid-off. "I am not a big wicket-taking bowler. When I bowl I am not looking at taking wickets but I try to bowl my ten overs for less runs and try to keep it as tight as possible. I just want to do the basic things for the team. If I am lucky I will get wickets," the 38-year-old allrounder said."Some of my best bowling had been in the 1996 World Cup against England and against India in the semi-finals. I also took crucial wickets in the 2007 World Cup. Sometimes if you fail to score runs but can contribute with the ball it is good for the team and it also gives me a lot of confidence."I went through a rather lean patch in my bowling and when I was in India the last time I got some help from Bruce Yardley [the former Australian off-spinner and former Sri Lanka coach]. That worked really well for me," he said.Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene recognising Jayasuriya's achievement said: "It's a great achievement when you look back and see that no one has done it. Sanath has done it in a very quite manner. He hasn't taken a lot of credit for the work he has done for Sri Lanka cricket."Batting-wise a lot of people have recognised him, not many have recognised his capabilities with the ball. He's made a huge difference to our team over the last 10-12 years with his bowling. That's why we've got a very good balance in our team. We have three guys with over 300 wickets in our line-up. We got another two young guys who are doing well. It's a very good combination to have."Jayawardene stated that his team made some mistakes in this match which they won by five wickets to take a winning 2-0 lead in the 3-match series."We made a few mistakes today. We dropped a few catches and batting wise we lost a few wickets. We need to iron out all those mistakes and be very professional in our game. When we have a target like this the tendency is to finish it off quickly. We were not sure about the weather also. It was drizzling a bit and we didn't want to take it to another day. The wicket was not coming that well in the latter part and it was a bit difficult to play shots. We probably should have been a bit more patient with our approach," Jayawardene said.Bangladesh coach Shaun Williams expressed disappointment in their batting and said the main problem was that the batsmen were unable to cope with the bounce."It was disappointing again we need to find a way to bat better. You need to give credit to their bowlers. They are doing exceptionally well. We are not playing as well as we need to. We are struggling to cope with bounce and the Sri Lankan fast bowlers are really exposing that," Williams said."If we are to move forward as a batting side we need to come out with a way to over come it. The only way to do that is when you go back home you need to have pitches prepared in a way that prepares us better to face the bouncing ball. Even in the Test matches the extra bounce was the major problem."Having lost the Test series 3-0, the Bangladesh team is trying hard to avoid another whitewash in the one-day series."We are putting every effort into and making sure we post a score. If we do that we got a good chance. We can be confident we can bowl well. We bowled quite well in the first two matches," Williams said.