Jeff Castner on Career Advancement

Jeff Castner has had many opportunities for promotion and job growth in his career at a local university. He began his career there as he graduated from college and today is in upper management. Jeff Castner offers these tips for successfully moving forward in your career.

•   One of the best things you can do is to find someone who is further along in their career, hopefully a few positions beyond you and get their assistance. Turn that into a mentor relationship by asking or showing them your goals. Make sure it is someone you feel comfortable being fully open and honest with. Being honest with a trusted mentor will help you overcome most situations that could arise.

•   Be willing to go beyond your job requirements. Don’t always volunteer but do so often enough that you supervisors know they can count on you. Eventually it will get to a point where they will ask you if you can help them. This will help them know that you are loyal, care about the company and are willing to go that extra mile. Some managers when looking at promotions will look at who was willing to do what needed to be done and you want to position yourself in that group of people.

•   And last but easiest, avoid gossip and politics. Gossip hurts people. It may not help you get a job by not gossiping but gossiping will definitely not help you get a job. Office politics, is a sure way to be in disagreement with someone else. Stay as far away from office politics as you can and be sure that people know you will not take part. Employers and managers want to know that the people they promote can stay above the things that are unimportant.

While there are number of important things to remember which can help you move forward, Jeff Castner believes these are three of the most important.