For the assist
5 people who can help advance your career
“I kept track of everyone.”
That’s how Anthony Littleton claims he stayed successful during a 38-year career in insurance. “You stick with the people you know and the people who know you,” says Littleton, now retired and living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. “I didn’t work with the same people for all those years, but we did help each other out. We definitely kept an eye out for each other.”
Littleton and his network of former co-workers, industry contacts and previous clients aren’t alone. If you want to have a career with some legs, it’s best to build a strong network and maintain it throughout your working life. But which peers make for the best contacts?
“There are some obvious and not so obvious signs about who can help but it’s important to find them. The right people will always have more of an impact than the right situation,” says Timothy Glenn, a career coach in San Francisco and former HR specialist with Microsoft. “It’s always a matter of finding the people who can help you reach your full potential. And when you find them, you have to you create a connection that isn’t false or overbearing.”
Glenn says there are numerous ways to connect with successful peers and managers but before doing so, employees must recognize the types of people who can provide the most assistance to their careers. Here are five potential people you’ll meet while working who can prove to be a huge advantage to your potential success:
1. The boss: Working for the right person can be a huge boost to your career, regardless of whether or not that person stays with your company for an extended period of time. If you do quality work for someone, they will recognize your talents and skills and will recommend you for positions long after you’ve worked together. “Managers don’t forget good employees,” says Glenn. “They’ll sing your praises if you’ve done right by them in the past and they’ll have a genuine concern for how you do in the future. And if they keep moving up in their current companies, there’s a good chance they’ll seek you out if an applicable position becomes open.”
Your professional network should include a wide variety of people.
2. The employee: If a manager is loyal to his or her best course, not those of your potential employer. “If you are in employees, the flipside is usually true as well. Some of the best an industry that is highly competitive, like sales for a specific job recommendations come from the people who served under type of product or programming or design for a specific type the job candidate in question. “When a recruiter hears high of application, there’s a good chance that you have developed praise from an employee of a former manager, those words strong relationships with others in your field,” Glenn says. “Take carry a lot of importance,” Glenn says. “If you manage people advantage of those relationships and be sure to offer that same effectively, compassionately and fairly, they will be loyal to sort of professional benevolence to your outside peers as well. you and will do what they can to help you get ahead. Like the If you can get a recommendation from someone you’ve been boss scenario, strong employees know that strong managers hire competing in the trenches, it can be incredibly effective.” people they know can do the job, so this is a two-way street.” 5. The executive: Glenn says that today’s younger workers can
3. The connected co-worker: Think “movers and shakers.” feel more of a bond with the senior vice presidents and presidents Without being gratuitous or phony, it’s important to recognize of their respective companies because they aren’t restricted by the people in your office who have connections inside and years of corporate protocol governing what they should and outside of the building. “While it may seem unlikely that a shouldn’t do. “People who have been working for 20 years or so person in the finance department can help a person in the or a little less likely to joke around with the VP in the hallway or customer service department find a new job, it’s much more ask about their kids in the elevator, and that’s a mistake,” Glenn common than people think,” says Glenn. “People who are says. “For those employees who have enjoyed a professional and good at networking are good at it because they are consistent. casual relationship with the decision-makers of their company, They aren’t necessarily caught up in what their connections do there is no real downside to asking them to serve as a reference for but instead they value the roles that they play. Many people your career, especially if you’ve been downsized out of a position. create and cultivate their networks with an eye on long-term Even if they only know you from your shared stories about advancement. They love the idea of putting together that map college life at the University of Wisconsin, it may be enough to of people, and more importantly, they love the idea of sharing – put a name to a face, which could elicit a positive word or thought and then expanding – that map with others.” to a potential employer.”
4. The competitor: Want to impress a recruiter? Use one of your competitors as a reference—your competitors, of