Do you worry that past managers and others won’t think of you when they have new job opportunities? Doing a good job in a timely fashion is probably not enough to make you “positively memorable.” Somehow, you need to add “something extra” – usually this should be focused on the work. Some ideas are:

At Client Employers:

  • Can you solve a problem related to your task but not your direct responsibility? This has the added plus of expanding your provable abilities as well as contributing over and above what was expected of you.
  • Can you provide helpful information and/or contacts about topics that concern managers and others but are not directly related to your assignments?
  • Are you hearing concerns from other workers about aspects of your project that they are not willing to share with management? If you believe the concerns are important to the success of the project, you might tactfully alert management to the concerns without naming names or judging. As a limited term professional you may have more freedom to speak than those whose roles are more long term.
  • At the end of an assignment, can you offer a strategic assessment of the project/process you have been involved with and project what future challenges they may face?

OutstandingOpportunities for these types of extra contributions can happen throughout work engagements. Take advantage when you can. To “set” the incident in a manager’s mind, make a brief reference to your added contributions in your thank you note or email at the end of your engagement. And finally, remembering the issues and concerns of managers long after your engagement, and sharing articles or other resources you find that pertain to their concerns can help re-remind them of your abilities.

With Staffing Reps:

The key here is to think about how you can help staffing reps do their work more successfully by providing them information that they can use. Some key ideas are:

  • Keeping the staffing rep up-to-date with your achievements or difficulties at a client employer helps them know how to build their relationship with the client employer.
  • If the client employer is expanding or contracting in terms of workers, giving the staffing firm a heads up can help them generate business or provide them with new personnel possibilities.

Always remember that staffing reps are pressed for time so make your communications short and to the point. If they want more information, they will contact you.

Accomplishing your work responsibilities is a given when you are a consultant/contractor. To give yourself that “something extra” that makes you memorable think about being committed to contributing to the success of all the organizations and individuals with whom you come into contact.

 

Sally Power, Ph.D. is a writer, researcher, and personal consultant accelerating successful career transitions.

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