Be the Go-To Guy

Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Ways to Stay Employed by Patrick Erwin at CareerBuilder.com offers these four approaches, which are based on the book Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out on Top at Work by Stephen Viscusi, for being valuable to an employer:

Be Visible - Simply, be noticed by one's management by taking certain actions. In addition to his examples, I would add "write summaries, proposals, and recommendations."

Be Easy - Don't cause trouble for one's boss. In my opinion, a time tested principle that many poor performers don't follow.

Be Useful - Take on additional work and consistently over deliver. If I had to give one factor credit for my mid-career success it would be this element.

Be Ready - To deal with any circumstance, including change. I would add to make "success" the only option.

Overall, I thought the points were good. Based on my career experience, I could simplify to one factor, "Be the go-to guy" for the high priority and crisis work. Looking back on my experience, I realize that I was the go-to guy for a number of important projects in our business in the middle of my career. It was during that time that I advanced significantly and quickly, both in level and compensation.

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This is not financial or career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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