Top Five Ways to Be Irreplaceable at Work

If you want to be eligible for promotions, it will work to your advantage to become an indispensable individual at your place of work. While you do not want to work so hard that you suffer from burnout, you can do want to stand out in both your boss’ and co-workers' eyes.

Demonstrate a Positive Attitude

While you may have read this advice elsewhere, there is no contesting that a positive attitude will work wonders in the workplace. After all, a “can do” attitude is contagious and can have a positive effect on other employees. In turn, this type of environment creates a more constructive work environment – and will make your boss happy.

Be Knowledgeable and Demonstrate Leadership

Know your job duties “inside and out” and excel at this position. Become known as a reliable worker that will complete projects on time. Along similar lines, as policies and methodologies within organizations can frequently change, it is beneficial for you to keep on top of these policies. When other employees have questions, they will then come to you for information. In turn then, your boss will recognize that the other employees use you as a resource and keep this info in mind when he or she is thinking about promotions.

Be a True Team Player

Besides working on your own assignments, show that you work well within in a team environment as well. After all, if you wish to move up in the company, you will have to work with many different types of personalities and it is therefore in your best interest to demonstrate that you are capable of getting along with coworkers in your current position.

Have a Flexible Disposition

This tip is essentially a “no brainer” – if your boss asks you to perform a task that is outside your standard job description, perform this task anyways. Saying that the requested task is “not your job” will not get you anywhere.

Show Initiative

Act like your place of work is your own business; for instance, if you see excellent business opportunities, you should recognize these opportunities and tell your higher ups about them. In addition, you should volunteer for new assignments and “go the extra mile” so to speak when completing your current projects.

By simply following these few workplace tips, you should be well on your way to being perceived as both a valuable and irreplaceable employee.

Ready to supercharge your job search? Visit PhillyJobs.com.



Larisa Redins is a full time writer and editor with degrees in both Arts and Biological Science. She writes about career issues and other topics for a variety of international websites and magazines.

Job Search 101 - Tune Up Your Resume

There's no doubt about it, looking for a job is stressful. In fact, many people can quickly find themselves overwhelmed by the process and as a result, they put off doing the things that they know they should be doing in order to find a new position. For many people, feeling like a task is too complicated mixed with a simple fear of failure, causes them to procrastinate and not be as effective as they could be.

The easiest way to overcome those feelings is to break down the large task and turn it into a series of small steps. The steps themselves are much easier to accomplish and it is always easier to convince yourself to “just do it”, when the job doesn't feel so big.

To make things a little easier, let's break it down into small steps, so that you can cover your bases:

• Tune-up your resume – It might take a little time, but do what you can to make it clear, concise and easy to understand. If you think that you need a little bit of help in making your resume the best it can be, consider using a resume writing service, like the one offered at Beyond.com. Or, if you are more of a do-it-yourself sort of person, read some of our past blogs filled with resume tips.
  
  
  Make your resume the best document you possibly can. This may mean writing and editing it, then putting it away for a day or two, then coming back to it with fresh eyes. This document is going to be your first impression and you best shot at getting an interview. Once you have your resume fine-tuned and you are happy with the information it contains, you aren't quite done yet. Using your resume as a guide, you need to create an internet friendly copy to be posted online to job boards and your Linkedin profile.
  
  
  The main things you want to change in order to make your resume ready for the internet is to remove your personal information. Your full physical address, your phone number and even the contact information of your previous employers should be removed. If you have been in the workforce for a long time, you will probably want to trim down your previous work experience to just the past 3 or 4 most relevant jobs.Think of your online resume as an advertisement.
  
  
  When companies search through the posted resumes, they are looking for qualified candidates to find out more about. Typically, an interested company will look at your posted resume, and if they are interested, they will ask you for a copy of your actual resume. Even though you want to be accessible to companies who are searching for new applicants, you don't want to have your personal information out there where it is easy for people with bad intentions to get to it.
  
  
  Keep an eye out for the next installment of Job Search 101.
  
  
  Are you looking for a job in the Philadelphia area? Be sure to visit PhillyJobs.com
  
  
  By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
  
  

How to Improve Your Career in 2011

With the dawn of a new year, now is the perfect time to evaluate how you can make improvements to your current career situation. Read on to learn about how some simple practices can work wonders for your career in 2011.


Update your resume - Whether or not you are actively looking for a job, it is always a great idea to keep your cover letter and resume up-to-date – just in case – the job of your dreams suddenly becomes available. Plus, it is always a good idea to think about both your accomplishments and goals at this time of year. Also, if you do not have an online presence, now is the perfect time to create an online resume and/or a LinkedIn Profile.


Learn a new career-related skill - Depending on your career, you can take a course at your local college, learn a new computer language, keep abreast of the news surrounding your industry, or take a personal development course. Any type of learning will surely make you a more interesting candidate for promotions and just make you a more interesting and well-rounded person in general.


Take care of yourself first – before you can be a helpful employee, you must first be in excellent health – both mentally and physically – yourself. In other words then, you should ensure that you are getting adequate exercise, proper nutrition, and proper rest. It is also important that you do not overwork yourself – as this activity will only result in burn out in the long run. Further, a good work-life balance can work wonders for your career as you will find that you will be more relaxed, focused and efficient during work hours.


Find a mentor and/or become a mentor – depending on the stage of your career, you should consider finding a role model to learn from or becoming one yourself. If you are thinking of trying to find a mentor, do not hesitate to do so as a mentor can offer you excellent guidance and advice. Remember also that a mentor does not have to be someone within your company – although it could as well. On the other hand, if you are at a comfortable stage in your career, you may consider becoming a mentor yourself. After all, becoming a mentor to another person as helping another individual achieve personal and professional success can be extremely rewarding for you.


To conclude, if you resolve to make just a few small positive career changes in 2011, you can achieve amazing results.



Ready to supercharge your job search? Visit PhillyJobs.com.




Larisa Redins is a full time writer and editor with degrees in both Arts and Biological Science. She writes about career issues and other topics for a variety of international websites and magazines.

How Honing Your Listening Skills Can Help Your Career

Want to improve your career prospects? Improve your listening skills.

After all, the best leaders are generally the ones that possess excellent listening skills. As good managers know that making employees feel like their opinions are heard is important, the ability to listen well tends to bring out the best in people. Further, when you have good listening skills and an interest in coworkers, positive relationships can easily develop. Besides these benefits, great listening skills will also help you in these specific areas:

You will better understand the tasks that are assigned to you at work. In other words then, you will know exactly what will be expected of you and the best way to implement these tasks.

You will be better able to give relevant feedback comments.

You will become the “go-to” person at work as you will be able to answer specific questions about topics at work. In turn, both your employer and your co-workers will appreciate your abilities.

All that said, not everyone on Earth is born with the innate ability to be a focused and engaged listener. Luckily though, proper listening skills can be learned – for instance, during a conversation, you should:

Remember not to interrupt the person who is currently speaking.

Make direct eye contact. By maintaining eye contact, you are showing that you are focused on the speaker and that you are actively listening.

Nod your head and use other body language when appropriate during a conversation. Again, this action shows that you understand what is being said.

If you have inquiries, ask these questions once the other person has stopped talking. By asking questions, you are clarifying what the speaker said to you and also demonstrate that you are actively engaged in what the speaker was saying.

Upon conclusion of the conversation, ensure that you remember exactly who told you this information. After all, you do want to give the proper person credit when it is due.

As there are a number of benefits to being a good listener, working on improving your listening skills can go a long way when it comes to furthering your career prospects.

Ready to supercharge your job search? Visit PhillyJobs.com.

Larisa Redins is a full time writer and editor with degrees in both Arts and Biological Science. She writes about career issues and other topics for a variety of international websites and magazines.