APPRENTICE star and West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady answers your careers questions and meets an inspirational CEO.
Here she gives a reader advice on how to feel confident and champion yourself without looking like you're blowing your own trumpet.
Q) I love watching The Apprentice, both for entertainment and to try to learn more about business.
While I find myself rolling my eyes at some of the more ridiculous things the candidates say, I’m always impressed by how confident and sure of their abilities most of them seem to be. This is something I struggle with.
I hate blowing my own trumpet, and end up making projects I’ve been responsible for sound like they were nothing to do with me. Do you have any tips on how to own my successes?
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Clare, via email
A) No candidate on The Apprentice has ever been shy about sharing their successes! Championing yourself isn’t about being arrogant, it’s about being assertive.
If you want other people to see your worth, you need to learn how to advocate for yourself, as nobody else will do it for you. It’s helpful to remind yourself that great businesses have great staff – and they want to keep their rising stars.
So it’s really important that you understand your worth and your contribution, stay enthusiastic and make sure people know about it. Championing yourself is also about how you communicate.
Don’t expect to be congratulated or praised if you say to your boss: “I’ve been so busy this week, I’ve worked until 8pm every night.”
Working long days doesn’t necessarily show that you’re contributing remarkable things to the organisation; it could actually mean that you’re inefficient and have bad time management.
If, however, you tell your boss that you’ve had a fantastic week, you’ve done X, Y and Z, and you’ve exceeded your target, they will likely take note, because you’ve given them tangible evidence of your commitment and value.
- Got a careers question for Karren? Email bossingit@fabulousmag.co.uk