Skip to main content

Find Your Advocate


Career Toolbox Tip: Find Your Advocate

By Daryl M Williams

I’ve fielded some excellent questions along the lines of:
·         “Why aren’t I advancing, moving up, being promoted?”
·         “What should I be doing?”
Now, I can give a simple answer and this is a blog post so perhaps something microwavable would be best as opposed to a seven course meal but I still want to offer something useful. Here are some thoughts I have on this topic I am increasingly hearing.

·         Find out where you stand in the organization?
o   Have you worked in the same role for four plus years? You might be typecast. http://goo.gl/IWeRH
o   Do you have a bad attitude? How would you know?       
§  Do people run SCREAMING the other way when you approach?
§  Do you generally not speak to anyone even when spoken to?
o   Are your peers getting the coveted assignments such as projects, reports, meetings with the executive leaders?

This is only a small test to determine how you may be viewed in your organization and if some of these are true, you need to find an advocate who can help you get the best of what you offer. Organizations are often a large group of multiple cliques and understanding this can benefit you.

Back to your advocate!

Your advocate may be the Project Lead on a team who you worked with months ago and highly recommended your work. It could be a supervisor in your department or a recruiter or Director or one of your peers but at the risk of sounding elitist or snobby, your advocate should be influential.
1.       dictionary.reference.com/browse/advocateCached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
Advocate definition, to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument; recommend publicly: He advocated higher salaries for teachers.

Your advocate can assist in getting you on project teams allowing you to show a new audience how valuable and brilliant you are. Setting the stage for you to steal the show and earn additional opportunities. Your advocate can be a male or female, young or old, in your department or out but in an ideal world they will be willing to speak up on your behalf and support you and your potential candidacy.

How do you find one?

They don’t grow on trees but what I have done is made it a point to pay attention. Who requests I accompany them to lunch or seeks out my advice or offers me helpful tips on things such as the company culture? In my experience, my advocates have typically been a level or two or three above me and not always in my department. They are visible enough to be seen and high enough up the ladder to be influential. I’ve made it my goal to learn from them AND assist them when I can making it a mutually beneficial relationship.



Daryl M Williams, MBA, M.S., is an adjunct professor, teaching Career Planning and Management as well as being a Career Coach. He is passionate about providing information to assist friends, family, students, alums, and even frenemies (really) in professional development and uses his management experience in Fortune 500, non-profit and private corporations to inform his decisions. Feel free to connect via LinkedIn.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Wait Till Eventually?

Why Wait Till Eventually? By Daryl M. Williams December 18, 2012 If I had a $1 for every time I heard a student or client indicate they were going to wait until they graduated or until the holidays were over before beginning their employment search, I would have a nice down payment on a near luxury vehicle. Here’s the thing, folks: it really is a myth that hiring stops during the end of the year. We HAVE to go forth and conquer because depending on where you look you will find data suggesting that the average time it takes to earn a new job is 6 months to 1 year. For example, an article at AOL indicates the average time is 7 months. AOL Job Length Think about that in terms of YOUR job hunt YOU just pushed back until you graduate one year from now. If you thought you would waltz from the classroom to the boardroom you may be in for a huge, unwelcome surprise. The same applies to the holidays in terms of assuming companies are waiting. Here’s the thing, I get it. Peopl...
3 comments
Read more
Marketing 101: You are the Product By Daryl M Williams Think back to the past several Super Bowls and some of the companies that produced commercials. At the end of their 30-60 second spot, you had no idea what service or product they were introducing or selling. DON’T be those guys! Even GoDaddy.com, a seemingly successful and newsworthy company is an example NOT to follow. Why? Well for one thing, they relied on your desire to research them further by going to their website, routinely ending commercials before you knew what was being sold. It worked for them but unless your résumé offers truly captivating content, ending it before you’ve sold the connection  between your experience and the role you are pursuing is a sure fire way to hear crickets from that job you applied for. How do you avoid being those guys? Glad you asked and here are some tips: ·          AVOID the empty rhetoric such as: o    Keen ey...
Post a Comment
Read more

Failure and how to use it!

Failure and how to use it! By Daryl M. Williams December 20, 2012 There is a quote that goes “Failure to plan is planning to fail” and it is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin. I think about this quote as I reflect on the areas where I made mistakes, whether personal or professional. More importantly, I think about how to improve upon the mistakes I’ve made and how I can turn those failures into success either for me or someone else. As I was teaching last night I relayed the story of how years ago I applied for a role in an organization and listed myself as having a skill set/experience level they listed as essential. I had only performed the skill a time or two and I definitely didn’t paint myself as an expert, however I still FAILED. Where I failed is that I didn’t bone up on that particular skill and when the telephone interview came, I answered in a manner that painted me as unqualified for the role. I FAILED because even though I was told, per the job postin...
Post a Comment
Read more