WSJ headline screams “the secret to being a star at work right now.” OK I bit and read the article.?What did I find? Some solid do-able suggestions that may set you apart (though I guess my standard of what makes a star is a little higher):
- Do your homework. That’s an easy one for lawyers. Research people/issues before the meeting. Looking up answers, e.g., by checking emails, internal docs, or Google, can help you shine.
- Do extra. “Performing tasks that co-workers neglect or grumble about is a time-tested way to get noticed, yet the bar for gold-star work still isn’t as high as it used to be” One way is to come in the office more often than asked. A second way is doing some travel for work and visiting other offices since “[v]olunteering to travel—or otherwise going above and beyond—isn’t the norm these days.”
- Make getting promoted a goal. The article gives the example of a California lawyer who got the promotion to senior counsel by “sticking around long enough—four years—to earn the promotion.” He notes other classmates he graduated with in 2018 are on their third or fourth job, but his goal from the start was to “stay and rise to partner one day,” an “idea [that] is strikingly old-school in an industry where the culture of long tenure is fading.” He also says, “If I want to be a partner, I have to start by thinking like a partner... A lot of junior attorneys just focus on the law, but the partners are strategic thinkers. So, I started coming up with ways to strategize on a case, and after a while people started listening.”
Although those suggestions are pretty banal, the gist is you need to show you care and to work hard to stand out. Don’t just mechanically do your job, but think about ways to demonstrate your employer can rely on you.
