Getting a job in fashion and entering the industry might be the most difficult part and because it’s so difficult you don’t want to think about going again through the job search but, especially if you like the company you are working at, you want to get noticed into your office to get a promotion, take on more responsibilities, renew your work contract, extend your internship period or turn it into a full-time job.
These are 10 ways to get noticed at the fashion office. Some of them might sound cliche but it’s really all about these simple things and trust me that many people tend to forget them. To make sure that what you read today is not just another career advice, but new habits to adopt at work, write these 10 things down into a post-it or into the notes of your smartphone and look at them every morning before getting into the office to make sure that you perform them every single day. Remember that it’s all about being consistent so these tips work if you apply them every day consistently for weeks and months (better of course if you embrace them and you bring them with you for your entire career) .
EXCEED EXPECTATIONS
It doesn’t matter if you are intern and you think that they give you just small tasks. Every assignment or deadline you are given is a new opportunity to show your mettle. Give your best and think about what else you can do, the next further step that can really make you stand apart from all the others. Maybe you can do it quickly? Maybe you add something extra? What else can you bring to the table? The better you do anything, the more work they will give you. Do you remember in The Devil Wears Prada when Andy not only got the copies of the new Harry Potter book but she also bound it, put the cover, and gave it directly to the girls? Anticipate your boss’s needs!
SHOW UP EARLY
Arrive 15 minutes earlier than your boss every morning. This will not only show how much passionate you are about your job but that you are also responsible and furthermore it will give you the time to organize your daily work calmly when nobody is still in the office.
STAY LATE
The rule is that you should never leave before your boss. If you are done with your work for the day you can:
- anticipate something of tomorrow
- learn something new
- prepare a report/analysis (sales, competitors, trends, new opportunities to explore…) for your boss
- ask your boss if there is anything else you can do to help
BE POSITIVE
Be the sunny person people like to surround themselves with. Be a breath of fresh air and show your enthusiasm. Smile even if they ask you to just bring coffee, be kind with anyone from the door person to other interns, assistants, your boss, and anyone. The fashion industry, in the end, is small and words run fast so never compromise your reputation.
FOCUS ON THE SOLUTION AND NOT ON THE PROBLEM
In this article, I talked about 8 mindsets to be adopted to be successful in fashion. One of them is to be the problem solver and focus on the solution. There will always be problems, probably every day in the office, but instead of being the person who panics, be the one who sits down and explore the possible solutions. Even if you are still an intern and your boss is in panic mode, be that encouraging person and try to focus on different solutions instead of thinking about how you could have avoided the problem which has happened and you cannot change anyway.
BE CURIOUS – ASK QUESTIONS
Especially when you are at the beginning of your career in fashion, don’t be the know-it-all person, but the learn-it-all. Be curious, ask questions, show your interest. Of course, make sure to ask questions at the right time, not when your boss is very busy, especially if it isn’t anything urgent. Valuate if the questions you have need an answer right now because it’s for your job, or if it’s something you are curious about that you want to learn that you can chat during lunch.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO OTHER PEOPLE FROM OTHER TEAM
You know I’ve said so many times that networking is crucial for your career in fashion as most of the jobs are assigned through word of mouth. Take advantage of your job to network with as many people as possible, including those outside your team. You can chat with them during a coffee break, lunch, or the office breakfast. Or if you have time, you can even ask if you can help them with anything at work so you network and learn something new at the same time.
MAKE YOUR WORK INDISPENSABLE
The best reason why a company wants you to stay is that your work has become indispensable, so they cannot let you go easily as you are a core part of the team. Think about this in advance and not just the last 2 days before your contract or internship expires. From the day you get into the office to when you become familiar with your tasks, perform them at your best and over the time ask for more so you take in charge of key activities. It doesn’t matter if you are an intern, even those practical tasks are important and can become indispensable. Stretching yourself helps you build experience and increases your value within the company.
WORK HARD
Of course, the #1 rule to get noticed in a fashion office is to work hard. Be a hard worker, give 101% in every task they give you, never be the person with nothing to do, when you are done, ask for more, ask different people of different teams. Make sure you are always busy with something and if no one gives you something to do, as I suggested before, work on something on your own: analyze competitors, see if you can propose a new project beneficial for the company, if you think there is a process that can be automated or improved, clean up spaces, organize the closet… Don’t procrastinate and deliver always the best results as quickly as possible!
LEARN, GROW and ASK FOR MORE!
Having multiple skills is essential if you want to thrive! If there is anything this pandemic has taught us is that things can change very quickly and those who have been able to survive are the ones who are able to adapt and be flexible. If you want to grow and be flexible you need to be an ongoing avid learner. Never stop learning something new. If you want to take on more responsibilities you need more skills and you develop more skills by learning something new every day. Learning new things makes us immediately more confident so you can ask for more at work. Don’t wait for your boss to ask you to take on additional responsibilities. Have you taken a course in User Experience? Ask your boss if you can look at it even if it’s not your project. Have you taken a course and learned something new that the company is not doing and that can help? Don’t be afraid to propose it to your boss.
Set the goal to take one new online course every month to keep learning, stay inspired and grow your skills! Even if you think it is something you don’t necessarily need now, everything you learn contributes to you as a person and sooner or later you apply everything you learn.
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