Becoming Your Best Advocate
Your work speaks for itself. People advocate for you because they understand your value and will refer you when you’re looking for new opportunities. Unfortunately, you don’t always have someone to vouch for you and that puts it on you to sell yourself.
Being your own best advocate is hard. When people don’t see your work day-to-day, they have to take your word that you’re good at what you do. Sometimes you feel that you sold yourself short and didn’t share what really matters.
How do you find your voice to convince people that you’re worth the chance? Well, I’ve been trying to figure that out myself!
Research Yourself Through Colleagues
I spent a lot of time upfront reflecting. I didn’t have much success at first and was grasping at straws for what made me unique.
Despite being a UX researcher, I didn’t think of asking my colleagues what they thought of me.
I mean should I even ask? Would they even be helpful?
Obvious Answer: Yes, they were.
A friend recently asked me to answer two questions about himself. Turns out I got a blessing in disguise because I asked if he would return the favor.
The two questions were…
- What am I naturally skilled at?
- What are my under-utilized skills?
These two questions helped me understand what I bring to the table and focused where I wanted to grow.
He knows my work and sees my impact from a different vantage point. There’s no “imposter syndrome” to hold him back from dismissing skills and accomplishments that do matter. He helped me appreciate my work and my growth over the past couple of years.
Research Your Work Through Peers
Only in this past year did I start to really meet people in tech. I wanted to learn more about others and meet people from outside of my bubble.
One-on-one conversations with new people have become a useful tool. Not only does it forge relationships with your peers, but it gives you a glimpse into how your work and skills resonate with others.
When both of you are sharing stories about the successes and challenges of your work, your conversation will often pinpoint the most interesting skills you’ve both developed. Listening deeply to these conversations will give you a better idea of what you need to highlight.
These people didn’t know me, nor have they seen my work first-hand. Yet they extracted meaningful nuggets from stories that I might not have been able to do as effectively on my own.
What matters to you and what do you want to convey?
Speaking to others will help you mold what makes you unique. However, at the end of the day, you still have to do some self-reflection and execute your communication.
- What type of work do I enjoy?
- What types of opportunities excite me?
- In what ways do I want to grow?
- What are things I’m good at and want to keep doing?
- What are things I’m good at but would rather avoid?
- What do I want people to know about me?
Often what we present to people at first doesn’t feel quite right and that’s okay. The more we learn to be our own best advocate, the more confident we can be that we’re heading towards our north star.