In a tough labor market, it is imperative to deploy business strategies to add value to your employer. If you do not make valuable contributions on a regular basis, you could potentially be laid off long before others who are deemed to be more valuable to the organization are let go, or you may be passed over for great promotions. If you’ve been racking your brain in an attempt to find ways to improve your value to your company try some or all of these thoughtful ideas to help you achieve your professional goal.

Improve Your Knowledge and Skills

While your company hired you based on your existing skills and education level, you should not remain stagnant in your competence and abilities. For example, you could learn a foreign language or pursue SQL training to enhance your resume and to increase your ability to contribute positively to the company. You may also obtain new certifications or even earn a higher-level degree. When your new knowledge and skills are highly relevant to your position, you add to your ability to contribute positively to your company, and you thereby become more valuable in the process.

Volunteer for a Related Organization

Another way to obtain improved knowledge and skills is through volunteer activities. If possible, choose an organization that supports your business or is relevant in some way. Become as active as possible in this organization so that you can add unique insight and draw from different experiences when working in your position. In addition to obtaining great skills and knowledge that you can convey to your position at work, you could also establish great professional relationships with others in your local community. This may help you to earn business for your company, to gain insight to help your company strategically position itself for growth and more.

Attend Networking Events

In many fields and various positions, networking tops the list of business strategies and is critical to overall success. You must establish excellent relationships with customers, clients and others. When you regularly attend networking events, you become more valuable to your organization through the relationships that you have. Networking opportunities may be happy hour or luncheon events for a professional organization that you belong to, open houses, seminars, exhibitions, trade shows and more. Remember to nurture your most valuable relationships by setting up business lunch dates, remembering birthdays and more.

Offer Thoughtful Suggestions

Many employees, unfortunately, feel as though their great ideas to improve processes or to innovate new features or products would fall on deaf ears, but this is not the case in many businesses. You may regularly or periodically have thoughtful suggestions that could benefit the company tremendously, and you should not sit on those ideas out of fear of rejection. Think about a thoughtful way to propose them to a manager or to your company’s president. Do not be disappointed if your idea is not accepted because your company may still see the value of your contribution, and your next great idea may be eagerly accepted and appreciated.

Leveraging Simple Business Strategies

Some employees simply put in enough effort to cover their required responsibilities, and they may only be moderately valuable to the company. Others, however, go the extra mile to be truly valuable in various ways. Each of these professional ideas could help you to increase your worth in your organization, and they could enhance job security or even help you to climb the corporate ladder at a faster pace. If you are concerned that you are not valuable enough to your company or if you are trying to improve your contributions to enhance upward mobility in your career, consider putting each of these simple business strategies into action in relevant ways to your position to begin enjoying the rewards.