10 Moves You Need To Make To Upgrade Your Career — Violet Summer Zine

There’s one thing I know how to do and that’s an upgrade, switch and get it right on the W-2 forms. In retrospect, I’ve had a fairly upward career trajectory. I started out in digital media as a millennial who was often the youngest in the office with the most digital knowledge, often even more than the senior executives. I’ve held fancy titles like “associate” and “content engineer” and I also held the infamous “executive assistant” title. Through all these titles and career paths — in editorial and in media, plus a brief stint in fashion and finance, I’ve learned to think quickly on feet. for example, one time a celebrity customer was irate because her one — of — a — kind garment was “ruined” by an artisan in the company. At that point in my career, I was given the title “marketing lead.” I had no skills related to fine fabrics but I was able to get on the phone and quell this angry customer enough to buy us a few weeks to fix the issue. I guess I have what they call Emotional Intelligence ( EQ), because of the many personalities that I’ve worked with and was able to get everyone on one page. There have been times that my co-workers would yell and argue with each other. Processes would be non — existant.

I remember being at work until 11 pm at night QAing emails, hurrying to finish my work before my flight to my family’s house for Thanksgiving Dinner. There was major work drama when the accountant at one of the jobs was caught stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars. No one questions her cab rides to work or her bi-weekly office lunches. “Don’t worry about it,” she’d say when I gave her money for my portion. And then there were the times I didn’t get paid for on direct deposit days.

Through it all, I made it. It was just yesterday I was working at my first job out of college making $25K. Now, I can laugh at that and easily negotiate my salary or whatever writing contract is on the table. You wanna be a boss bitch? Here are 10 changes you can make to truly live the life you deserve.

1. Get a good work outfit. A structured blazer from Theory, Equipment, Dior, Gucci, can change any outfit and any mind. Sometimes, I feel like the seas part on the subway when I’m wearing my power suit. When you’re dressed like a boss, people will hold you to a higher standard.
2. Take inventory of your current situation. Do you like your job? What would you be happy doing? Who would you want to talk to on a daily basis? Where would you want to work? Whether you want to be an entrepreneur or climb the corporate latter, here’s your chance to really be real within yourself. If you work in nursing and sell eyelashes, that’s fine. But maybe you should direct your 9 to 5 energy at a spa or doing something in the beauty field so it’s closer to your goals. Just saying. A lot of people I meet or perhaps follow on social media are so “happy” for my career, but it’s not hard to create the life you want. You just have to stay positive and act the part.
3. Show up on time. When I was fresh out of college interviewing at editorial jobs, I made the mistake of not showing up on time. I had subway issues. The interview was for an internship at a fashion magazine. It was my chance to make it easy but for some reason, I was late. I regretted it for years but I learned to arrive on time.
4. Do what’s required. People come to jobs and say “ohh this is above my pay grade or I’m not doing this because it wasn’t on my job description.” No, that’s bullshit. If you’re not the CEO then you should be open to doing whatever will help the team. That means, making copies, going to the post office, helping to pack up offices, doing stamping envelopes for marketing collateral. It really makes a difference. I’ve done a lot of shit that wasn’t fair like going to get someone lunch and organizing warehouse boxes, and picking up my bosses kids. I may have complained but I made the best of it and I know my bosses and co-workers really appreciated it.
5. Learn to say no. When you start gaining traction in your careers, like when you have 4–10 years of experience, you can start saying no to shit. Saying no means doing assistant work when you’re a senior level. Saying no means you have boundaries. No, I don’t work weekends. Once you get in the habit of saying no, it’s the best feeling. People will respect you more.
6. Scheduling means on your calendar. When you send a google calendar your meetings are more legit.
7. Attend conferences and panels. This is somewhat trendy now so you can find a lot of them on Event Brite or Splash That. When you network with other likeminded people you’re exchanging industry tips, and also you get the insider scoop on jobs.
8. Join an online community. We wrote about this in Issue 5 and we stand by communities online. Sistas in Tech and Her Agenda are perfect for getting advice on topics like salary negotiation to interviewing for tough companies like Google and Facebook. You can also tap into the hidden job market as many people in these groups will often post job listings that aren’t on Zip Recruiter.
9. Become an expert. Host a class or be a guest on a panel if you find yourself a teaching opportunity. We are in the age of information and people love to learn from other people, aside from reading a book.
10. Know when to boss up. Being a boss bitch isn’t always about being prim and proper. It’s about knowing when people are trying to take advantage, get under your skin, and speaking for yourself.
11. Bonus tip: Get a financial advisor. When you get to this level, you’ll have money, savings, investments and will need advice on how to manage it.

Originally published at https://violetsummerzine.com on October 2, 2019.