The Retrospector

For the last couple years I’ve been getting a bunch of magazines delivered to my work address. The IT Publications banner to the right is a link to where I ordered them all. Having a stack of publications related to your line of work, even if it’s just somewhat related can benefit you in a number of ways, and I’m going to share with you the few things I think benefit me.

If you want to give one or two of them a try, know that I’ve gotten zero spam whatsoever from ordering them other than renewal notices each year. This year I think I’ve signed up for about 7-8 of them, and though I don’t read them all every time they show up I manage to leave the latest copies out for all to see.

Benefits of publications with your name on them

The first benefit that comes to mind when having publications around the office whether it be on your desk or on a periodicals rack where everyone shares them is having your name on the address field. It’s not always the first thing everyone looks at when picking up a magazine, but it’s very common for management to take a look at where this magazine is coming from.

You not only get credit for having ordered relevant material for others to check out or peruse between meetings, but your name is associated with being up to date having been delivered recent news and being interested in keeping up with relevant case studies or articles in your field.

Having a few relevant cover pages visible on your desk

As with having your name on the address label, simply having the publications lying around will allow others around you to make some simple assumptions.

1. You take the initiative to keep up with news in your niche. Even if you don’t read the entire articles, you still get to see what’s catching the interest of the market lately by scanning headlines.
2. You’re seen as someone “in the know” on market-level topics. Someone who sees beyond that little widget you’re trying to complete this week.
3. You read. (even if only once a month, with periodicals around they can easily assume you read more than you do)
4. You’re genuinely interested in what you do at your job. If you’ve got magazines related to what you do at work for your “free time” reading in addition to your workload, you probably enjoy what you do.

Now, even though a lot of these assumptions are probably true anyway, just having the magazines in sight on your desk or linked to your name gives the good impression anyway. (even if the assumptions aren’t true)

Cool ads in the magazine to cut out and post on the wall

I’ll tell you one thing. There are some amusing advertisements in some of these publications. I like to skim through them right away and tear out some of the really funny or eye-catching-point-makers and pin them on the outside of my cube wall for people to read as they walk by.

It can make for a nice ice-breaker or conversation filler for those looking to fill the void of conversation when they’re waiting on something. It can also tie you back to being associated with the latest material when you say you got it out of some related magazine.

Heck, even if it’s just good for a laugh it was worth it.

Conclusion

I’m not saying having periodicals around is a replacement or cover-up to keeping up with things. In fact, most of what you learn and manage news-wise you should probably do on the Internet. Management doesn’t always realize that, and are sometimes more likely to notice the periodicals as they are your Internet surfing habits on technology news sites.

   

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