How To Stay Relevant And Visible When Working Remotely

How To Stay Relevant And Visible When Working Remotely

How do I stay relevant when I’m not in an office/work remotely? 

These are actually two questions in one because you can fade to irrelevance even if you work in the office, so what you need to consider is both: 1) staying relevant; and 2) staying visible so others realize how relevant you are.

Why Relevance Is Critical In The Current Job Market

Today’s job market is uncertain and competitive — even once-forever government jobs aren’t safe. Staying relevant means that your employer needs you, which improves your negotiation leverage, promotion opportunities and overall job security.

PROMOTED

Be indispensable

Have skills that are prized in your company (which probably means gaining expertise and experience in AI). Work on clients and projects that align with what senior leadership cares about – ask your manager if you’re not sure. Make your manager look good, so they’ll prioritize keeping you around.

Be seen

If your job keeps you behind a desk, it’s easy to forget that ultimately people decide who to hire, people greenlight projects, and people decide bonuses, raises and promotions. Your superpowers with spreadsheets or financial pattern recognition may be valuable but if no one knows about them, you still might be overlooked. Increase your relevance to the company by growing your network within the company – the more that people know about you, benefit from your work, and care about what you do, the more relevant you’ll be to them and therefore the company overall.

Be liked

We spend so much time at work, most people want to enjoy who we’re working with and therefore keep those well-liked people around. The management consulting hiring process even has a likeability part of the interview process known as the airport test (i.e., would I want to be stuck in an airport with this person?). Get to know people at a personal level, such as hobbies, family updates or travel plans. 

How To Stay Visible When You Work Remotely

Being indispensable, seen and liked is a challenge even if you’re onsite full-time. If you work remotely, you have the extra hurdle of accomplishing the above from afar.

Maintain regular virtual communication

You can build strong relationships, contribute to others and showcase your individual work via email, phone and video communication, but you have to prioritize making that outreach. Even if your manager doesn’t ask for regular reports, provide regular reports – project status updates, key wins, new ideas. Invite colleagues to breakfast, lunch or a coffee break over Zoom, or at least, include some social connecting if you already have regular work meetings.

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Schedule face time even if you have to travel

Meeting with people live is different than virtual communication, so if at all possible, build in some face time at your company offices every few months or so. If you’re a consultant whose client won’t pay for travel, consider it a marketing expense, and plan your trip to include meeting with people beyond your immediate project contact so you grow access to more than just one decision-maker. If you’re an employee and really can’t stomach having to pay your own travel, plan your visit for a Monday or Friday, use the weekend for fun stuff, and consider it a bleisure (business plus leisure) trip.

Raise your visibility outside your company

If you become known by competitors as a thought leader, your company will also pay attention. Volunteer with HR for recruiting events or with marketing for conferences. Give a talk at your alma mater (check with career services, alumni relations, or your previous major). Apply to be on a panel or speak at a breakout session at your industry’s annual conference. If you live and work far from company headquarters, you can focus visibility efforts right where you are.

Warning Signs To Watch Out For 

Kudos to this financial services consultant for being proactive about maintaining relevance and visibility. If you haven’t thought about prioritizing relevance and visibility for your own career, do so now. If you see any of these three warning signs, step up your efforts:

Your projects are sidelined

If your manager skips you in a team meeting or no one seems to care about your latest status update, that is a sign that your contributions are being overlooked or minimized. If you need resources and your requests are declined, or worse, if you had resources but they have been reassigned or reallocated elsewhere, then your work is falling down the priority list. If you see in company internal memos or press releases that senior leaders are emphasizing products you don’t work on or geographic areas you don’t cover, that could mean your work is less relevant.

People respond to you slowly or not at all

If you need information or help from others and it’s late or never, your manager and/or colleagues are prioritizing other things than working with you. It could be that you need to be clearer in your communication (e.g., including a clear ask and a deadline). It could be that there are others who would be more helpful or responsive, and you need to grow your network. But if it means that people are sidelining you, that’s a problem.

You can’t explain your impact on the company

If your manager calls you in because the team is shrinking and they need to make cuts, how would you persuade them that you should be kept? If a recruiter calls and asks about a key win, could you pull a recent example from the last year? If a friend lands at your dream company and you want them to put a good word in for you, what would you tell them to say? If you can’t easily and enthusiastically respond to any of these questions, then your relevance is fading and probably your visibility with it.