When college graduates head off to the corporate world, they are often disillusioned by the tedious work their new job entails. Often young entry-level employees find that they need to work extra hard to prove themselves, and move up the corporate ladder. This move doesn’t happen fast – or at all in some cases. Instead of spinning your wheels, use some of the following tips to move ahead in the game.

Quintcareers recently pulished it’s Six Tips to Help Win at the Business World’s Game

Develop a marketable corporate persona: Think of yourself as a publicist with the task of promoting you. Learn to capitalize on your skills, succinctly assert your achievements, and project a corporate persona — or your most mature, professional, and competent face.

Establish profitable relationships: Business networking is a valuable tool to gain information, increase your visibility in your field and make connections that will help you move forward in your career. Seek out new contacts and potential mentors whom you like and admire and whose interests you share. On the home front, don’t expect your boss to figure out what you’re all about. Determine her priorities, find out what she wants from you, and brainstorm ways to surpass her expectations.

Master transferable skills such as goal setting, effective communication, and time management: You might not know exactly what you want to do with your life, but transferable skills will serve you well no matter what future path you decide to pursue. Make your time count now by working with your boss to set specific, reasonable, and attainable goals for your present position that will help you advance to the next level.

Stay motivated despite trying circumstances: There’s no doubt that the business world can be frustrating, but remember that you can choose your response to your environment. If you make a conscious decision to begin each day with a positive outlook, negative conditions at work can’t take that away from you. Aim to increase your self-awareness so you can better understand your emotional hot buttons.

Get people to cooperate: Always keep in mind that other people don’t care what you want — they want to know what’s in it for them. By approaching negotiations with an attitude that allows both parties to win, you’ll be more effective at eliciting cooperation and ultimately getting what you want.

Be proactive about your career growth: Approach your performance review strategically by soliciting feedback on your progress, identifying new goals and growth opportunities and hammering out a long-term promotion plan. When asking your boss for a raise, be prepared with a list of contributions that have positively impacted the bottom line.

So before you give up on climbing the corporate ladder, use these tips to move up in the corporate world. By following some simple tips, you can make the best use of your college degree in your corporate job.

Do you think Salaries have gotten better or worse over the years? Some career experts think that men today don’t have it as well as their fathers once did.
American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers’ generation, a reversal from just a decade ago, when sons generally were better off than their fathers, a new study finds.
The study, the first in a series on economic mobility undertaken by several prominent think tanks, also says the typical American family’s income has lagged far behind productivity growth since 2000, a departure from most of the post-World War II period.
Are You Better Off Than Your Parents?
In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s, a good predictor of his lifetime … | Read the rest of this entry »

So you have earned your degree and graduated. Now what? You can spend the summer enjoying some time off, or you can proactively start looking for a job. A recent post offered some tips on why to stay on top of your job search during the summer.
Since we were in school, summer has been associated with vacations, lazy days and a small break from life. Because of this association, people often forget that’s not how it works in the real world.
While workers do take vacations during the summer months, most people are only allowed a few weeks of vacation time. The rest of the summer is business as usual, as employers gear up for the busy fall and winter.
“If a company has … | Read the rest of this entry »

Job-hunting is part of the career process that takes a little hard work and persistence. After you have interviewed and have gotten offers, how do you decide which of the job offers to take. Do you take the first thing offered to you? – Or do you hold out and wait for the job you really want?
Last year during his job search, information-technology consultant George Cresto found himself in the fortunate position of having two companies express interest in him. There was just one problem: His second choice offered him a job first, while the other firm had yet to make a decision.
And more job seekers could face this dilemma if the job market continues to improve. Juggling two potential employers can be a … | Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know that some companies have strict policies regarding work place romance? If you or someone you know have been involved in an office romance, you probably know about the potential embarassment, or discomfort of seeing that co worker after the romance has ended. The folks over at Spherion, a recruiting and staffing firm based in Florida, recently posted this survey on their blog.
Does dating a coworker jeopardize your career? Do you try to keep a relationship secret or formally announce it? What’s the company policy? Spherion’s latest Snapshot survey looks at these issues and how workers today feel about them. Here’s what we found:
Derailing Your Career. According to the Spherion survey, 41 percent of U.S. workers think openly dating a coworker would jeopardize … | Read the rest of this entry »

Being buried under a mountain of student debt can be a tough way to start out in the workforce. When your first paychecks start rolling in, you will kiss a bunch of money goodbye when you have to repay your students loans. So how can you build a future AND pay off your student debts? A recent post had a few great pointers on how.
Learn about your loans. Many student loans allow for a 6-9 month grace period before loan repayment begins. During this time, your loans may be charged a lower rate of interest. Consider consolidating your loans and locking in your interest rate while your loans are at a lower rate. This may not only help keep the cost of borrowing … | Read the rest of this entry »

Do you consider yourself to be happy? You would be surprised to know that many Americans are NOT happy and do not know how to become happy. Does happiness depend on choosing the right career or having a high paying job?
As a country, we are richer than ever. Yet surveys show that Americans are no happier than they were 30 years ago. The key problem: We aren’t very good at figuring out what will make us happy.
We constantly hanker after fancier cars and fatter paychecks — and, initially, such things boost our happiness. But the glow of satisfaction quickly fades and soon we’re yearning for something else.
Similarly, we tell our friends that our kids are our greatest joy. Research, however, suggests the arrival … | Read the rest of this entry »

Did you get started in a career that didn’t turn out as you had planned? This happens to many intelligent people who worked towards a career that they later found out they did not like or were not suited for. Instead of being stuck in a job you don’t like or can’t do well, you should take the leap and switch careers. This might sound like a scary idea, but with a little faith and guidance you should be able to find a more suitable career.
CareerJournal.com has a few suggestions on changing careers:
Reading a field’s publications and blogs can clue you in on big issues and industry parlance. They may also contain listings for jobs that aren’t widely publicized.
You might join an … | Read the rest of this entry »

So you have earned your college degree and are ready to dive in to a corporate job. Did you know that your eligibility for a particular job might hinge on more than just the interview?
Pre-employment testing is on the rise. In the past five years, 60% of companies have increased their use of workplace-behavior assessments, according to a survey of more than 500 human-resources professionals at U.S. companies from Spherion Corp., a staffing firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Here’s what job candidates should know about pre-employment testing:
Senior executives are not exempt. In fact, the higher you aspire to climb the corporate ladder, the more likely you are to be evaluated on how well you might fit in personality-wise, says … | Read the rest of this entry »

Are you interested in a career in Healthcare? Healthcare professionals are in high demand and there are many great opportunities. Here are some of the top healthcare jobs and salaries according to US News.
Not surprisingly, nine of the 25(top) careers in the U.S. News list are in healthcare. Physician is one, although the lengthy training and thicket of regulations governing medicine are dimming the allure. Other healthcare jobs require far less training, have better hours, and offer the same satisfaction that comes from caregiving. Optometrists, for instance, typically work predictable hours, and they regularly watch patients walk out the door in better shape than when they came in. Physician assistants are rapidly replacing doctors as primary-care providers, and they earn healthy salaries with far less … | Read the rest of this entry »