According to Money Magazine, Medical Equipment Repairer came in #2 of the 5 Best jobs you never heard of. According to the article,due to the increasing demand for health care services, there is a projected job growth rate of 30% through 2022.
That’s good news and bad news! The good news is that your job is certainly not going anywhere. The bad news is, there will be more competition for your job. So how can you make sure you shine above the others and not only keep your job, but become a vital top performer? Keeping your technical skills sharp, including troubleshooting, dexterity, and analytical thinking is important, but these are the types of skills the new workforce will no doubt be acquiring in their programs at school. So if you want to take it to the next level, you need to create opportunities for yourself to go beyond the basic technical skills everyone else has. Don’t shy away from the difficult or problem cases. Take them on, and take them on with gusto. Ask for more responsibility.
I always encourage people to remember why they were hired. Think about it. You were hired by your boss to help him or her get the job done; to make your department more productive and to satisfy the end users of the equipment. The better you do your job, the less noise they hear and the more they can focus on their responsibilities as a manager. So doesn’t it make sense to approach your job that way? You should always be asking yourself, how is this helping my manager and/or my department? We may like to do things a certain way, but if that is not what our manager wants, we are not going to win the battle.
When you have an idea, present a business case. Think about how it will improve productivity, response time, customer satisfaction, or reduce expenses. Those are the things that your manager is responsible for, so start there, and then get into the details. Think about the way your manager likes to receive information. Do they like it in writing? Can you hold their attention better face to face? Are they a bullets guy, or does she like all the details? Whatever it is, make sure that’s the way you communicate. You will be more successful if you keep that in mind.
You also have to be ready to go in a different direction if the boss doesn’t like your idea. I will tell you, from a manager’s perspective, nothing says team player and valuable employee more than when you know someone didn’t agree with your decision, but got right on board with it anyway. So don’t spend time digging in your heels. It will be easier for your boss to change his mind later and move closer to your idea, if there wasn’t such contention on the topic in the first place.
Be the resource your boss can’t do without, not the guy he has to argue every point with.
Thoughts…….. Contact me at abbe@TECResourceCenter.com