Put Me In, Coach!

Ever feel like you're working your butt off and no one notices? Ever feel just plain invisible? I felt invisible today... not really sure why. I just did. Sometimes it's nice to feel invisible for a couple of days, I mean I did get a ton of work done today. Silver lining!

So, in case anyone else out there is feeling invisible on a regular basis, here's an article from iVillage about how to get noticed at work. The author has 5 tips on how to Get Your Career in the Spotlight:

1. Meet people in other departments. Why? It's not about what you, but who knows you! (and who likes you!) Apparently this one-liner works internally as well as externally in the job world. Personally, done! I have a fairly small office, so it's easy to get know other departments. But, there's always room for improvement! I don't know that much about everyone - so there's something to work on.

2. Join an outside group. The theory here is to make yourself an informal spokesperson for the company - in the networking world. This means you're a natural leader. Well... I've been doing some business chatting on LinkedIn, does that count?

3. Learn a new technology. The author suggests trying predict what might be the next new technology in the field and start teaching yourself necessary skills now - so when it becomes standard and others have to learn it, you'll be a pro already. Hmm... I'm going to have to think about this one for a while. I'm already pretty tech-forward for my office, and that hasn't really gotten me 'noticed' in the big way just yet.

4. Take on something unpopular. Earn brownie points by taking on a high-profile job that no one else wants to do. Bonus if you ace it. Good advice, I think. But make sure you're confident you can at least do very well at it, so even if you don't ace it - it's not like you took a bath or anything. That's a good way to get noticed in a bad way.

5. Remember to limit yourself. Choose your tasks carefully, and really focus on them. Everyone knows you're better at something when you can really dedicate time and effort to it. For me this means going back to the basics. While I can really excel in some of my job duties, if I work too hard on one project, the basic duties start to slip. Time to go back to focusing on the little things - because the little things add up.

What have you don to 'get noticed'? Did it work?