How to Advocate for Yourself

By choosing to pursue a business career, you are undoubtedly throwing yourself into one of the most competitive industries! However, these positions and career paths draw certain personality types, so we are confident that you already possess the strengths to help become your own self-advocate. Keep reading here to find out about specific mechanisms that will allow you to become your best cheerleader.

Being Your Own Advocate:

  • Confidence in Your Knowledge: The first step towards becoming a self-advocate is strengthening your knowledge. Now, what do we mean by this? You should be well aware of your rights as an employee and as a person, as well as your benefits package, your resources, your managers, and even your own mentors. Entering conversations with a level of confidence stemming from prior research, an understanding of your position and the company, and preparation will automatically increase your ability to address your opinions and offer your own perspective.
  • Clarity: One of the main benefits of preparing for conversations, presentations, offerings, or any other interaction is that it allows you to cut out filler words and statements and instead be able to get right to the point! Always make sure to be mindful of the other person’s time, and get straight to it. Clarity will not only showcase your “mental map and organization,” but your appreciation of the time of the person your speaking to. Not only will saving someone a few minutes put them in a better mood… but that may bleed into the success you attain from the discussion!
  • Tone: Once you’re prepared to assess each point of your conversation, whether that be things you’ve accomplished, traits that qualify you for the given raise/promotion/project, or any other positive attribute, think about your tone! In combination with your facial expressions, body language, and emotions, your tone will be one of the key factors of how you are perceived by a given audience. We encourage you to adopt a confident, certain, but kind and open-minded tone so as to obtain the greatest response from the room.
  • Support System: Crafting a support system is essential to feeling the confidence necessary to advocate for yourself! You may find support in places that are unexpected, but keep an eye out for family, friends, mentors, managers, coworkers, exercise partners, significant others, and people that you gravitate towards spending the majority of your time around.
  • Self-Worth: Above all… know your worth! You were hired by a company because they trust and believe in your capabilities, so don’t let your nerves or worries get ahead of you. Every person on this planet deserves to be their own self-advocate because every person on this planet upholds a set of traits and strengths that is unique and unparalleled!

Searching for a new position? Check out our open jobs list!

Click here to learn about increasing your question-confidence!