Gaining Seniority(3)

•Besides building rapport with your team mates/colleagues and gaining the trust of your superiors, another very strategic action you can take is to make yourself vital to the customer

•If you are in the advantageous position of having direct access or direct communications with the customer, take advantage of this and seek to service the customer to the best of your abilities. Revert as quickly and as accurately as you can and always follow up your communications with suggestions on what can be improved or offer to assist with anything else. You may not be placed in this position in your first 6 months but it is likely that you can manoeuvre your way into this position given time. If you are unable to interact directly with the customer, ensure that you can provide solutions to the team mate who is accessing the customer and passing on the work/tasks to you. Indirectly you are servicing the customer and when the time comes where the customer is seeking clarification on a piece of work you have done, your team mate may have to loop you into the email or the call and you can put your best foot forward in that instance. Having value to the customer or bringing customer satisfaction will definitely be a huge stamp of approval and a significant sub-goal for your first year agenda.

•All of this can be achieved if you put in the required effort to build your knowledge. Without knowledge, you will have no value to anyone.