Struggling to land a promotion in your WFH job? Here are 7 ways to get noticed – according to career experts

“In an office, so much of our visibility happens without us trying,” says Penny Newton-Hurley, founder of CommPassion and author of The Human Language. “People see you arrive, catch you at the coffee machine and notice the conversation you had with your manager in the corridor. At home, all of that disappears. Unless you deliberately make yourself heard, your work can become invisible, however good it is.”

How can you get noticed when your only interactions are through a screen? Stylist spoke to three career experts to find out.

For Hannah Williams, careers expert and author of Start Now: The Essential Guide To Jobs, Money And Making It Happen (out January), this is the most important way to stand out remotely.

“I can’t emphasise this enough,” Williams urges. “Building relationships is one of the most important things you can do for your career, and it’s also one of the things that can suffer most when you’re working remotely.

“When you work in an office, networking often happens without you even realising it – a conversation with someone from another department in the kitchen, an introduction to a senior colleague or overhearing something about a project you’d love to be involved in. When you work from home, you have to create those opportunities yourself. Reach out to people beyond your immediate team, ask someone whose work interests you for a virtual coffee or put yourself forward for projects that will bring you into contact with people you wouldn’t otherwise meet.”

Don’t let working remotely mean that all your professional relationships become remote too. Even if you can’t work in an office, you can put some face-time into advancing your career.

“Depending on where you live and your circumstances, getting out may be harder, but if you can, make an effort to get into rooms with people you don’t already know. Go to a work-related talk, after-work drinks, an industry event or a local meet-up. You don’t need to work a room or come away with 20 new contacts. One interesting conversation can lead to a new relationship, an introduction, an idea or an opportunity you simply wouldn’t have come across sitting at home.”

Just imagine you’re in Sex And The City, sipping your martini and working the room. 

As women, we’re often deterred from celebrating our own work. We find it far easier to cheerlead others than ourselves. But if we don’t talk about our work, there’s a high chance no one else will do it for us.

“One of the challenges of working from home is that a lot of what you do can go unnoticed,” Williams says. “In an office, people see you helping colleagues, solving problems or staying late to get something finished. At home, much of that work is invisible.

“That means you need to be more intentional about communicating your contribution. Don’t assume your colleagues all know what you’ve done – if you’ve completed an important piece of work, let the relevant people know. And when you’re talking to your manager, focus on the difference your work has made, rather than simply listing everything you’ve been busy doing.

“There’s a big difference between doing good work and making sure people understand the value of that work.” 

Resist the urge to be modest. Don’t feel like you’re bragging. You’re just sharing what you’ve achieved. 

Too often, we avoid speaking up because we’re still organising our thoughts or unsure about our ideas. Meanwhile, colleagues are filling up the time and getting noticed. Jo Irving, an entrepreneur and career coach, has noticed that women tend to do this more than men. 

“In virtual meetings, it’s easy to stay muted while you polish your thoughts, then find the conversation has moved on,” Irving says. “You can contribute by asking a useful question, identifying something others have missed or offering to take the next step. You don’t have to be the loudest person to be memorable.”

You know what they say about assuming? Well, this applies to your manager as much as your partner. Stop assuming they know your career goals.

“Doing a good job doesn’t automatically tell your manager that you want more responsibility,” Irving adds. “Say what you’re interested in and ask, ‘What would you need to see from me to consider me for that opportunity?’ It gives you something concrete to work towards, instead of hoping someone notices you’re ready.”

Speaking up is easier said than done, we know that. So if you work with loud voices and can’t manage to be heard over them, consider sliding in to those Slack DMs beforehand. 

Newton-Hurley is a big fan of this method. “If you struggle to break into a busy video call, share your thoughts with the meeting lead beforehand and ask them to create space for you,” she says. “It isn’t cheating; it’s setting yourself up to be heard. Once you’ve been heard once, it becomes much easier the next time.”

Enough of what we should do, how about the mistakes to avoid? Here are Newton-Hurley’s biggest things to avoid:

1. “Don’t assume the worst,” she urges. “If you’ve been left out of something, ask with genuine curiosity rather than accusation. In my experience, the reason is usually far more ordinary than our minds suggest: someone was overloaded or they thought they were saving you time.”

2. “Don’t complain about it to other colleagues first,” she says. “It’s tempting to vent, but it can shift how others see the person involved, and it rarely gets you what you need. Go to the source.”

3. “Don’t be hard on yourself,” she adds. “If you notice thoughts like ‘I’m not good enough’ or ‘I’ve got nothing of value to offer,’ meet them with self-compassion rather than more criticism. Feeling invisible is a very human experience, not proof that you don’t matter.”