Chapter 17
Becoming a Star Employee
According to one school of thought, all you need to do to keep a job is to show up to work on time, perform according to your job description, and do what you are told. We don't know whether this was ever true, but we do know it's not true today. This approach is also boring.
Ultimately, your job is to make your boss's job easier, or make your boss look good to his or her boss, or both. The best way to achieve this is to implement outstanding network solutions. Taking a more active role in the company can be fun!
These days, it is important to be seen as contributing to the overall success of the company. Failure to have a solid, or even stellar, reputation puts you at risk of being on the layoff list if the company decides to have a shake-up to get rid of dead wood or has to make some tough decisions for financial reasons.
Achieving that stellar reputation doesn't require that you work long hours every night as well as work weekends. You probably need to perform only a few actions differently. Some of these actions are relevant to the early days of your employment, and the rest are ongoing suggestions. This chapter documents as many of these actions as possible. We hope that most of these suggestions will seem like old news and a few will be novel and easy to apply.
On the other hand, if you prefer the old school of thought described earlier, be sure ...
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