On many occasions of any career, there are times where it’s vital to represent yourself fully. To make the best publicity you can for ‘yours sincerely’. And there are easy tactics you can use…

Whether you are applying for a promotion in your existing organization; looking for a new job altogether; or simply experiencing a performance review, there are steps you can take that will enhance your outcome.

Most, if not all, individuals find it hard to tweak their achievements to make the best of them. Whether this comes from naivety, modesty or simply a misjudgement of what they can pluck from their experiences, it’s hard to say.

The truth is that long hours wringing hands and fretting need not be suffered. Because in the main, all you need when being assessed is already within you. All you need to create a really effective candidate – or A+ result in your performance.

There are six key steps to making the most of your assets:

1. Start Early

Be aware. When you are in the thick of experiences and learning, always, but always, be prepared to make a note – however small – of something that you did. You don’t have to write a whole portfolio of it, that can come later (just kidding!). Just notice when things happen.

2. Link To Role

By being aware of what you might need to take careful note of before you start looking for it. Here you’re simply looking for the categories upon which you will ultimately be tested and then you can start to create a list of your personal activities (the ‘What I did’ of your evidence).

3. Keeping Up

As you create this list of your activities, you categorize them as you go and, as the evidence piles up, create a note of the gaps too. Then you can pro-actively ‘create’ the activities you need to make your offer almost irresistible. You will become rounded and thorough and then have the luxury of deciding not just that you have enough, but you have a choice of evidence you can talk about when you are being assessed.

4. “I Can’t Find Enough”

It’s vital to understand that the evidence you create does not need to move mountains. A clear action you personally took, where you can demonstrate just four simple elements – What you did; Why you did it; What the outcome was and What you learned is perfect – and keep it short and succinct. It gives them clear facts and a space to ask you more too – A perfect candidate!

5. Last Minute?

Left it too late? No problem! All you need is a kindly colleague to ask you the questions and push you for answers. It’s amazing at what we leave out or underestimate in ourselves. With focus, it’s possible to create quite comprehensive evidence if you are coached to create it in a couple of hours with a ‘coach’ friend drawing from you the actual – even where you think there are few.

6. Blagging!

Actual lying can never be condoned – least of all because you’ll get found out and, if you were successful and got something without really deserving it, likely as not it wouldn’t suit you anyway. You can – and must – embellish, by really stretching out all you do in a category and make it really sing for you. Every scrap of paper evidence; every single impressive fact and figure pile up to become much more interesting to assessors.

7. And Finally

Always but always focus on what you did. Yes, you personally. Using ‘we’ and ‘they’ won’t cut it. Be brave and strong and shout about you out loud. Use the ‘I’ word and really show what you are made of.

We all do pretty good work. We all deserve that you be recognised and in the main, we don’t shout about ourselves enough. And when you don’t, who will?

Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach and Trainer. For more useful stuff check out CoachTrainLearn.com.

So what can you do to increase your promotion prospects and achieve the career success you desire?

Determine Your Strengths and Development Needs

Before you can ever start to make any progress you need to know where you are starting from.  We might all have great intentions but let’s face it with a busy work schedule it is tough to sit down and reflect. And the reality is that until you do you are going to find it difficult to play to your strengths.

Learn What Jobs At A More Senior Level Require

Imagine you were playing golf in the fog. It would be kind of difficult to know where the hole was and in what direction to aim your shot. Knowing where you are aiming for and what you need to do to achieve success is just as important in your career. Starting finding out what really matters at the next level and level after that so you can start building for that role.

Learn How To Lead and Manage

In just about every profession the only way to progress is to take on more responsibility. Usually this includes responsibility for managing and leading people. If you don’t acquire these skills you are at a huge disadvantage and are going to find it tough to progress.

Aim For The Right Target

The more senior you become the more important it is to become strategic when it comes to seeking out opportunities. While it might be nice to work in a particular sector unless you can show you have some exposure or understanding it is going to be difficult to get the results you want.

Demonstrate Commercial Skills

Professional people are in what is often seen as a support role. With more and more advances in technology the role is changing. Take accountancy as an example. Rather than being just about running processes, increasingly it is about partnering with non financial managers to find new and innovative ways of working or achieving more success for the organisation.

Get Comfortable Stepping Out Of Your Comfort Zone

It’s tempting for all of us to stay doing what we are already good at. Remember though when it comes to promoting people, employers are looking for potential too. It can be tough stepping out of your comfort zone but unless you do there is always a cap on how far you can progress.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to achieve more career success and get the rewards and recognition they desire. He invites you to sign up for his free masterclass on climbing the career ladder at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

One of the most common is the employee who is not performing to the required standards.

Alternatively it could be a division that is not delivering targets.

It could be a savings plan that is not resulting in any change in spending.

It might even be tensions between members of the senior management team.

The trouble is that when it comes to performance issues many leaders and managers think they can sweep it under the carpet or avoid and it will somehow magically disappear. Yet the reality is that things tend to get worse when not dealt with.

There are several reasons why managers don’t deal with performance issues in my experience:

1. They don’t want to be unpopular. In other words, their popularity is more important than results.
2. They want an easy life. Don’t we all at some level but if you have chosen to step up to the plate as a leader or manager you have to be willing to deal with the difficult stuff.
3. They don’t know how. Sometimes people get promoted into senior roles because they personally are good at doing things. They may even have resisted taking the training they need to succeed at more senior levels.
4. They lack courage. No one said leading or managing is easy. We all know that being courageous requires you to take some risk.
5. They worry about the backlash. I would never suggest that people just do what they like if they have the seniority to do so. At the same time you have to accept that whatever you do there are always going to be people who disagree. It does not mean they are right and you are wrong. They just have a different point of view.

The trouble is that when performance issues remain unresolved, there are potential consequences like:

People don’t respect you or you lose hard earned respect.

People stop bothering because they know you will let them off the hook.

Service quality or service provision drops, leading to more complaints and lost business and, in the worst case scenario, the business failing.

Those to whom you report start to have doubt in you and whether you are really up to the task, which can lead to you losing your job.

The Bottom Line: No one likes to have to deal with the difficult stuff or confront the areas of problem. At the end of the day the willingness to do so is what sets apart the best from the rest.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective managers. He invites you to sign up for his free e-course, Management Mastery, at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

1. The Right Experience

Employers want to know that you have acquired sufficient experience to step into a role and do a good job from day one.  Of course you are unlikely to have every bit of experience exactly as set out in the job description but you can probably demonstrate something similar.  For example, just imagine part of the experience they are looking for is project management.  You might not have run a business project but maybe you have organised a big event at your kid’s school.  All of that experience is relevant so don’t be afraid to talk about it.  You had to plan, organise, delegate, build relationships, stay within budget and monitor progress – the very same things you would have to do in managing a business project.

2. A Track Record of Delivering Results

Candidates for jobs often spend a lot of time talking about their responsibilities rather than the results they have achieved.  Results are what set you apart from the other candidates.  Potential areas you can talk about are introduction of a new way of working, automating a manual process, growing income from a service or product area you were leading, turning around a poor performing team to name just a few.  Before any interview stand back and reflect on what you have achieved.

3. Potential To Grow and Develop

Recruiting and retaining people is a major expense for most businesses.  At management levels you might be spending as much as 30% of the salary on recruitment consultants and then there is the ongoing cost of training and development and the salary each month.  An employer making a recruitment decision is probably seeing it as along term investment and so will be looking at your potential to grow with the organisation.  The type of questions you ask or the ways in which you approach your research for the position are really simple ways of demonstrating your potential.  The poorly prepared candidate will do the minimum and ask about pay and benefits.  The candidate with potential will go out of their way to find out as much as they can about the organisation and ask about promotion prospects.

4. You Will Fit In

One of the areas that will matter to any recruiter is whether you are good fit for them.  What this means is will others be able and willing to work with, have you got the type of attributes and behaviours that the company is looking for.  Researching the company in advance of the interview and maybe even asking for an informal chat can be a good way of finding out whether you and the organisation might be a good fit.

5. Confidence And Self Belief

The final area that you need demonstrate is that you are confident.  Most of us are at least a little nervous when it comes to interviews and you might not be at your best.  Confidence is about being assured, believing that you have something to offer.  The way in which you respond to questions, interact with the interviewer and introduce yourself when you first arrive all help demonstrate your confidence.

At the end of the day there are no guarantees on who will get the job but by demonstrating all of the above you can greatly increase your chances of success.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people achieve more career success.  You can sign up for his free audio masterclass at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

Wasted Time

One thing that most people seem to be short on these days, despite all of the advances in technology, is time. Worse still, no-one can buy more of it. We all have the same allocation per week, per day, per year. Imagine for example you fail to effectively communicate your requirements for a piece of work you have asked your team to do. They will spend valuable time and energy delivering something that is not of value. And as you are paying them for doing it, you are adversely impacting on the bottom line financial results.

Loss Of Confidence

People want leaders to lead and provide clear direction to others. When they procrastinate or avoid taking decisions, they create doubt and this doubt can lead to a loss of confidence among your followers. It can also result in a loss of confidence from external stakeholders.

Loss Of Credibility

People only follow people who they believe have credibility. How you communicate with others has a direct impact on your credibility. For example, if you don’t treat people well and are even perhaps off hand with them, your credibility diminishes.

Loss Of Business Opportunities

If you are involved in delivering services, being a poor communicator and specifically not listening can actually result in lost business opportunities. For example, professional services organisations like accountants and lawyers work hard on building client relationships. They are looking out and listening for unmet needs to which their firm may be able to help them find a solution.

Loss Of Staff

One of the biggest complaints people have is that they don’t know what is going on. Failing to keep people informed as to what is going on and the possible implications for them, especially in times of uncertainty, can result in the loss of key staff.

The Bottom Line

Being an effective communicator is not an optional extra but a key ingredient in being a highly successful leader.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people become great leaders and managers. Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

Obviously you would like to be the person who is appointed and in my experience there are 3 key questions that unless you can answer is going to result in you not getting the job.

What Do You Know About Our Organisation

10-15 years ago it was much harder to get information about an organisation than it is today.  Organisations these have web-sites, LinkedIn accounts, twitter accounts, press releases, are listed in trade websites and so much more.  As a result information has never been so freely available.

If you have not done your research or homework you give the impression that you are someone who is lazy, does the minimum, won’t plan ahead, does not really care to name just a few.

How keen would you be to recruit that person if you were the recruiter rather than the candidate?

Why Do You Want This Job

While the reality is that you might have been made redundant and you need to get an income this is not likely to make you stand out in a positive way.  If you have done your research you will have learned about the values, style, aspirations and senior people in the organisation.  Use this research to say why you are excited and enthusiastic about getting the role.

Why Are You The Best Candidate

The reality is that you know nothing about the other candidates most of the time.  The reason for asking the question is to give you the opportunity to sell yourself as the logical choice for the role.  Surprisingly few candidates have a good answer to this question even though it is almost guaranteed in some form or other for most roles.

The Bottom Line:  You can expect to be asked many questions in a job interview but unless you can give a great response to these questions you greatly reduce your chances of success.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professionals to achieve more career success.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio masterclass at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

While it might be tempting to think this way as a manager, the reality is that a recruitment decision is a two way decision. The organisation decides who it wants and the candidate decides if they want to work for the organisation.

So what are 5 mistakes to which you need to be alert when recruiting staff?

Mistake 1: Expecting Candidates To Tick Every Box

When candidates are making a decision about a job opportunity, particularly at a more senior level, they want to know that there is some personal growth and challenge in the role for them. Think about it: if someone comes into a job and can do 98% of it perfectly on day 1, how long are they going to stick around? Be willing to accept that in only very rare circumstances will you find a candidate who perfectly matches your specification.

Mistake 2: Not Selling The Organisation

You will quite happily ask candidates what they know about the organisation and why they want to work there. By the same token good candidates will want to do their own due diligence on the job, the people and the organisation. Expect them to ask you about the good points of working in the organisation and be ready to sell the benefits to them.

Mistake 3: Talking About Failings Of Others

Yes, it is good to be honest and not paint a picture of it all being perfect. At the same time you don’t want to give the impression that every employee is a problem employee. Everyone has areas of strength and areas in need of developing. As a manager you need to accept this.

Mistake 4: Not Having Clarity

In any job there are things that are so key to the job that if the candidate does not have them it is a show stopper. You need to have 100% clarity on any show stoppers in terms of candidate fit.

Mistake 5: Wasting People’s Time

Every single person who turns up for a job interview will more than likely have put in a huge amount of time and effort to prepare. If you are just inviting someone along to get your quota of applicants you are wasting their time and not giving a great impression of yourself or your organisation.

The Bottom Line: Recruiting staff is a major investment decision so treat it as such and avoid these common mistakes.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective managers. He invites you to sign up for his free e-course, Management Mastery, at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

So what are 7 things you could do to progress your career straight away?

Make It A Priority

Anyone can talk about wanting more success in their career but like anything worth having it requires an investment of time and energy.  If career progress matters to you make it a priority.

Get Clarity

Before you can embark on any kind of career progress you need to get clear about what you want in both the long, medium and short term.  The clearer you are the easier it is going to be to make progress quicker.

Speak To Your Boss

People often wrongly assume that the only way to progress your career is to move on to a new job.  Sometimes you can get a secondment or involved in a project to broaden your experience.  On the other hand you will never get this unless you are willing to ask.

Do Your Own Self Assessment

Sit down and do an honest assessment of what you do really well and what are your weaker areas.  Chances are your strengths will far outweigh your weaknesses.

Get Some Feedback

Others can often see qualities and attributes we don’t see ourselves. Asking a group of people for feedback is the fastest way to get these insights.

Create a CV or Resume That Markets You Well

At the end of the day your CV or Resume is your personal marketing document.  How good a job is your document doing in effectively marketing you?

Use All The Job Search Options

Up until a few years ago the options around job search were quite limited.  These days there are so many options at your disposal yet many people fail to utilise them.

Take A Long Term View

A career is more of a marathon and less like a sprint.  Make decisions with the long term in mind.  Remember too that the more senior you are the longer it is going to take to find the right opportunities as there are fewer opportunities around.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to climb the career ladder and achieve the career success and rewards they desire.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio masterclass at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/careers-main.html

So what are some of the signs that you are leading rather than just playing at it?

You Are Thinking Long Term

There will always be things to do in any organisation no matter what it does. While you cannot ignore the present, you also need to be thinking long term too. Remember that as a leader your job is to drive the organisation forward.

You Provide Clear Direction

People want to know where they are heading so that they can decide whether they want to get on board and help you to reach the destination. As the leader you need to provide as much clarity of direction as you can. Vagueness about direction of travel will always result in less than optimal results.

You Listen A Lot

Leaders often talk about the importance of employees being engaged. What makes people engage is the belief that their ideas will be listened to and acted on when it is appropriate. Failing to listen is one of the fastest ways to disengage those who you lead.

You Take Personal Responsibility

It might not seem fair but as a leader you are ultimately responsible. In practice what that means is that you have to be willing to take personal responsibility even when there are potentially serious consequences for you.

You Recognise The Contributions Of Others

You might think that leaders are successful because they personally are brilliant. The truth is that behind every great leader there is a team of great supporters and followers. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that the public face of the organisation is doing it all by itself.

The truth is that leading is a process of continual learning and the best leaders keep growing and developing.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people become great leaders and managers. Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

Now let’s not pretend that leading is easy; it’s not. At the same time my view is that people who choose to step into a leadership role do so because they can make a difference.

Of course it is easy to come up with a whole host of reasons why you cannot change things, like:

• Well that can only be changed at a national level
• If only people were more engaged
• The time is not right because of…… (you fill in the blank)
• I don’t have the authority
• I don’t want to go out on a limb
• You don’t really understand what it is like in my organisation, sector or industry.

Yet here is the reality: When you step into a leadership role you make a positive choice to take the lead, to move things forward, to contribute to strategy and success.

In return you get well rewarded.

Of course it is going to be uncomfortable at times. You will face obstacles, barriers and even complete resistance at times. If all you ever do is wait for someone else to make the tough choices, then you are not a leader; just a well paid follower.

At the end of the day as a leader you are in the risk/reward business. You take balanced risks, get results and get the benefit in terms of your salary.

The question is, are you a leader or just passive and waiting for everyone else to act?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people become great leaders and managers. Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.