Career Advice
Promote Yourself: 7 Ways to Show Your Value at Work
When it’s done well, selling yourself isn’t boasting—it’s a strategic career move. Here are 7 ways to promote yourself at work.
If you want a new role or promotion, it’s likely that your work alone may not move the needle.
Promoting your value in the workplace isn’t boasting—it’s a strategic career move. Especially in a hybrid or remote team, workplace humility can limit your career. The good news is you don’t have to be a showoff or a braggart. There are ways to demonstrate your merits authentically and constructively.
1 Sharing your progress is part of being a good employee
When done right, self-promotion can help your coworkers as much as it helps you. After all, when you do great things, the company benefits. Talking about your accomplishments might change a business strategy, help your team plan for the future, or shine a light on new opportunities for you and others. For interim professionals, even if you're only there for a short period of time, it's critical to clarify what you've been able to achieve in that time, how you've influenced outcomes, and other ways you've had impact.
2 Help your manager help you
Managers (no matter how great they are) can’t keep track of everything. Keep a running log about your day-to-day successes large and small to share with your manager. When you provide regular progress updates, it makes your manager more effective—whether they’re helping you achieve your career goals or representing your team to company leadership.
Ask your leader how they’d like to be updated about your accomplishments. And be sure to leverage opportunities in 1:1s and performance reviews to talk about your value and career goals. Your manager will thank you.
3 Link your accomplishments to a larger purpose
Every team is trying to accomplish something, from fulfilling the company mission to achieving sales goals. To impress people without acting pompous, show a correlation between your work and your team’s strategic objectives. When determining how to show your value, ask yourself:
- How does my work further team goals?
- What have I contributed to the team?
- Which of my projects or tasks have the most impact?
- What was my role in successful projects?
- How do my soft skills (e.g., teamwork, communication, grace under pressure) improve the team dynamic?
4 Focus on quantifiable outcomes
Another way to promote yourself (without feeling awkward) is to focus on the outcomes of your work. For example, highlight times when you:
- Improved a process
- Reduced costs/added revenue
- Achieved your goals
- Innovated a successful product
- Increased productivity
- Met your deadlines
- Managed satisfied employees
Next, add numbers to those outcomes. Numbers are a way to make your achievements sound more real and exciting when it comes to how to show your value at work. For example, if you tell your manager, “My team is happy and works well together,” they might not take too much notice. But if you say, “We increased our team’s satisfaction survey by 38% in 6 months and here’s how we did it…” your manager will likely be interested and impressed.
5 Build a network and become an indispensable resource
Your leader isn’t the only one who needs to know about your talents, skills and accomplishments. Lots of other people can benefit from knowing what you’re good at and what your career goals are. And if you're working as an interim professional, it's even more critical to clearly communicate your capabilities. To build those connections:
- Praise co-workers who worked on successful projects with you (it will reflect well on you and your colleagues)
- Offer your services as “the office expert” on a specific skill or process
- Volunteer for new projects, roles, task forces, etc.
- Ask for feedback or advice on a specific aspect of a successful project
- Meet up with key contacts regularly and talk about what’s going on in your world
6 Get noticed through enthusiasm
If you’re an enthusiastic advocate for your work or organization, people will notice fast and remember your dedication. For example, you could:
- Show your smarts with posts about your work on social media (e.g., LinkedIn)
- Celebrate day-to-day successes for you and your co-workers at the “water cooler” (or the virtual equivalent)
- Speak up in meetings or show interest in discussing key topics after a meeting ends
7 Ask for feedback and accept compliments
Ask colleagues and co-workers for feedback on your work or on the outcomes of your projects. Ask them what’s going well, what could be improved, and how else you could help them. This builds relationships and provides insights on your strengths (and areas of improvement.)
Finally, when someone recognizes your hard work or skills, don’t say things like, “it was nothing.” Compliments are people telling you that your actions impacted them in a positive way. Instead of brushing it off, respond with a “thanks very much” or “thanks for noticing.”
You provide value to your organization—let people know
There are plenty of great ways to show how much value you bring to an organization. It takes some time and energy, but that hard work can lead to opportunities to make your career more meaningful and rewarding.
Learn more about interim professional work
Join the Interim Network or review available jobs today.
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