I used to think that when you work for a big corporate company, feeling "invisible" was unavoidable.

For the first 7 years of my career (in manufacturing), I suffered in silence.

I'm an introvert: talking about how "I'm so good at what I do" made me feel cocky. And so, I relied on my work to communicate my value to the company. However, for 3 years in a row, I was getting the minimum salary raise.

Interpretation: my value to the company is not increasing.

My leaders did not see the same potential I see in me. Unable to change their perspective, I left. The same problem showed itself again.

I was unemployed for 9 months.

For 6 months straight, I applied for jobs 4x a week. But that only landed me 2 interviews. No job offers. Meanwhile, my savings were running out.

Desperate, I decided to try a different approach: use LinkedIn.

I cold-DM'd a job recruiter. We hopped on a call two days later to discuss my resume. But the conversation did not go as I imagined.

He went on and on about how basic my resume was. Thinking I could get interviews from it was delusional. He said, "You have a good set of skills and experience…but your resume did not show any of that."

Again, I failed to communicate my potential value.

That’s when my mistake became more clear: I’ve taken zero responsibility for helping others see my potential value.

In other words, I wasn't doing anything to communicate that I'm more than a name in the organization chart or a candidate worth-taking-a-risk on.

Here's a set of bad frameworks I (unconsciously) acquired that proves that:

- No criticism means I’m doing great. - Not making mistakes means I’m a valuable employee. - If other people don't wanna bother figuring out my potential value, then it's their loss, not mine.

None of these frameworks pushed me to improve or take on new challenges.

7 years later, I returned to the same company that made me feel invisible.

Today, I’m known as the "Electrical Guy" and the "Macro Guy" in my department. I may have the same title as everybody else, but my tasks and responsibilities are unique. Why?

I was given opportunities to prove to them that I was more capable. Why?

I’ve gotten better at helping others see my potential value.

Here's the lesson the younger me failed to understand:

Our potential value is the overlap between how we value ourselves and how others value us.