You got the job, now how do you keep or further build your personal brand within the company? When it comes to personal branding most people struggle with how to promote themselves within their workplace without being considered as narcissists or aggressive. On that account, there are specific practices you can apply to stand out from your colleagues and capture your boss’s eye.
1. Ask for feedback
The first step that will help you build a successful personal brand within your workplace is to care about your job and always ask your supervisor for feedback on your performance. In this way, you will show your boss that you never give up and you always want to improve yourself. In addition, you will learn from your weaknesses and develop them into strengths. Besides, being honest and making an effort are the right policies when it comes to personal branding regardless of the industry.
2. Be proactive and offer your help
Furthermore, it is important to show your competencies and effectiveness to your boss. But avoid being too extravagant. Always be helpful and proactive with some limits. No one wants you to ask them every time if you can help, because they will then feel that you do not think they are capable of doing their task. Nevertheless, they will certainly appreciate some help when they have an overflow of tasks, or when they face difficulties.
On top of that, within a company, everyone has a specific position and specific tasks to undertake. However, there are always additional ways that you can offer to help in, and so contribute further to the company. This is how you can stand out from your colleagues. Exploit your strengths and talents and incorporate them into your job to become a valuable and irreplaceable employee. For example, one suggestion will be to volunteer to train the new employees or interns. When your supervisor realizes that you are interested in the success of the company, he or she is likely to give you more responsibilities and later on, a promotion.
3. Give credits to colleagues
Give to receive: as it happens in life, the same goes within the workplace. Spend time to praise your colleagues for their performance and achievements, to create solid relationships and a pleasant atmosphere in your workplace. In this way, they will be less likely to consider you as an arrogant self-promoter, and they will probably do the same for you in the future. Besides, the development of your personal branding is significantly dependant on the opinion that people have created for you and can promote it within the company.
4. Become the company expert
Another suggestion to enhance your personal branding within your workplace is to position yourself as an expert at the company. Your boss or supervisor will probably receive numerous requests to represent the company in media interviews or professional conferences. This is the chance to show your loyalty and commitment and become an alternative spokesperson of the company. On that account, your boss will appreciate your offer and will consider you for this position in the future.
Furthermore, once you have established your reputation as the company expert within the industry, more people will contact you when they need to talk with an employee, as your name will be highly synonymous with the company. In fact, when employees achieve branding themselves as experts of the company in their respective industry, then both employees and employers will benefit from such success.
To conclude with, pursuing a strong personal brand within a company has benefits along with difficulties. Some employers do appreciate proactive employees that can stand out of a crowd and are confident of their competencies without becoming extravagant and arrogant, especially if they reference the company when talking about their professional career. Therefore, throughout the development of your personal brand within the workplace, it is advised to be as committed to the company’s goals and development as to your own, in order not to be considered as selfish, but as a loyal member of the team.
Myrto Koulama