High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: What You Need to Succeed

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 8 Tips to Resign from Your Job Gracefully: "If your manager has a track record of taking feedback gracefully and generally makes it safe to be honest, you might consider sharing the factors that led you to look for another job."
• Why You Don't Need to Be Smart or Talented to Succeed: "You don't need to focus on padding your resume or hiking your GPA, you need to focus on understanding and improving yourself."
• Two Things You Should Do After Getting Fired: "Use the experience to learn how to change some workplace behaviors, whether [they're] personality-driven or communication-driven or something else."
• 7 Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success: "Jump past barriers and countless years of indecision by hiring a business partner that gives you the kick you need to stay motivated or a sales representative to get your product out in stores."
• Be Your Own Best Advocate: "So we all need a strategy for everyday negotiations that will allow us to come away not only successful but also still held in high regard by bosses and colleagues."

Self-Advocating and Selling Your Ideas

Whether you currently have a job or you’re job hunting, when it comes to your career you’ll do well to get comfortable with self-advocating—in other words, promoting yourself. If talking about yourself seems in poor taste or if you are an introvert, being your own advocate may seem difficult at first. However, it’s an important step in furthering your career, landing a job or promotion, or even just selling ideas to management or clients. 

The best way to get comfortable with self-advocating is through preparation and practice. For example, if you’re interviewing for a job, research the job and company to understand how your skills and experience match the job requirements.  Practice delivering your elevator pitch and get comfortable sharing examples of your achievements, such as how you solved a problem that resulted in a savings for an employer. 

When promoting your ideas, know your audience and what is important to them professionally.  State your purpose up front, and be succinct and specific in sharing key points and benefits.  Use logic to appeal to your audience and frame things in terms of “what’s in it for them.”  Additionally, anticipate and identify ways to productively counter your audience’s objections, if necessary. 

In addition to promoting yourself, the following are also good rules of thumb to follow for a successful career:

• Maintain a professional reputation for being dependable and trustworthy
• Establish and continue to grow your professional network
• Seek opportunities for professional development and learning
• Actively participate at meetings
• Be a team player