Golden rules to succeed at work

Ashish Garg, director of recruitment at Convergys, India, explains what it takes to succeed at the workplace.

Do you find yourself juggling multiple tasks, struggling to meet deadlines, combating frustration, fighting insecurities, worrying about your competition and contemplating new moves to reach the pinnacle of your career? As you pursue your ambitious journey up the rungs of the proverbial ladder of success, you need to frequently pause and ask yourself: How employable am I in today's market? How valuable am I to my employer? How easily do I embrace change? How confident am I of selling my skills against the new entrants who come armed with a diversified skill set?

Today, marketing yourself as a specialist in a certain area is just not enough to ensure that you are a desirable candidate. This approach is passe and disengaged from the reality of today's job market.

You must first pause and take time to reflect; think smart and think fresh. Where are you now? Where do you want to go from here and what steps are you taking to get there...FAST?

If you want to stay ahead of the curve and remain employable at all times, it's important to invest your time and effort into enhancing your capabilities. Those who have the skill, talent and dedication are the ones who eventually make their way to the top. We all are aware that it's the capability of handling a higher, more complicated, demanding and broader range of tasks that makes the difference between the 'superior' and 'average' employee. When you can take on more and deliver more, you create a compelling case for your career growth. When you make concerted efforts to enhance your capabilities and broaden your knowledge, the next opportunity will come seeking you.

Today's fiercely competitive world demands that we proactively take charge of our career paths and be personally responsible for identifying the skills we need in order to offer value to our employer. Commitment to lifelong learning is essential to remain inherently employable and brighten your career prospects. Be alert and take advantage of every opportunity offered by your employer to up-skill, re-skill and multi-skill yourself. Embrace change, adapt to new technology, upgrade your managerial skills, brush up your soft skills, and enhance your formal educational qualification to make your profile more attractive. It's all about being open to new opportunities wherever they arise -- be it a different role, job function, sector or industry.

Developing the right skills is essential if you want to land - or keep - your dream job. Reach out and seek advice from your mentors or career counsellors to help you strengthen your existing competencies and guide you on a well paced, enriching career path. Take advantage of training programs offered by your company to help prepare you for new responsibilities and opportunities within the organisation. By utilising the resources available through your employer or even taking part-time courses outside of your organisation, you'll amplify your competence and broaden your horisons.

The industry and academia are rising to the ever-growing need to nurture talent through various skill enhancement initiatives that support corporate growth and train people to remain competitive. For example, Convergys launched Convergys University -- a first-of-its-kind initiative for the Business Process Outsourcing industry – to help prepare qualified employees to advance into alternate, industry specific roles or take on new job responsibilities via a structured learning environment.

In addition, in an attempt to impart global education to the students, Convergys launched a Global Business Foundation Skills course in association with Delhi University and NASSCOM. The course has five modules: Industry Awareness, Business Communication, Customer Management Skills, PC and data skills and Campus to Corporate World. Hailed by the industry, this course will help our employees to nurture their basic skills and enhance their management skills.

Being able to change direction quickly is a trait of successful, modern organisations. This flexibility also requires employees to remain malleable. As an employee, you must possess skills that can keep pace with the change – and which make you valuable to your employer.

A little self-reflection at regular intervals throughout your career can help ensure you stay on track. Let go of the redundant practices. It's important to force yourself out of your comfort sone and not allow yourself to become complacent in your career. It's time to renewyourself; so evaluate your employability, skill up and enable yourself to succeed.