Personal branding is not just for job seekers. If you want to position yourself for future success, it’s only logical to continue building and maintaining your personal brand on the job, too.
Josh Hyatt, a writer for Forbes, once wrote, “successful employees working at large companies desperately need to create a ‘brand within a brand,’ a professional passport that travels with them from place to place.”
Growing one’s personal brand needs to be about developing yourself, not promoting yourself. You can do so by highlighting special strengths and being a team player — adding value to your current company while simultaneously letting you transition into the next one, Hyatt says.
Adding value
Become an intrapreneur. Diving into intrapreneurship is a great way to build your brand, and, possibly, create something amazing in the process. Intrapreneurship allows you to be creative and pursue an idea from within your current company, often using the company’s resources to do so. Did you know that many of today’s great ideas came from intrapreneurship? Among them: Post-It Notes, Sony Playstation, and customer frequency cards.
Take the lead on a project. Volunteering to head up a major task or new project not only helps position you as a leader within the organization, but also allows you to work with the individuals within your department in a small group setting. Help to delegate responsibilities and keep the project moving forward.
Help others in times of need. Good karma is something that you should always aim for in your career. You have special strengths and skills that others may not possess—use those to help others out when they need it: if they’re struggling on a task, need to miss work for personal reasons, etc. It’s likely their special skills and strengths will eventually be something you’re in need of, so start the good karma rolling and get ahead of the game.
Pipe up with fresh ideas. Sometimes, especially in large workplaces, it can be difficult to share your thoughts and ideas with your team or department. You may not have time to do so, or you may feel like your idea isn’t worthy of sharing. However, because each person perceives situations and tasks slightly differently from others, your ideas may be just what is necessary to move forward with a project—so don’t silence yourself before anyone has a chance to hear them!
Strive to impress. Sometimes, when you get comfortable in a job, it can be easy to settle into a routine and forget about thinking outside of it. But it’s important – for your brand’s and the company’s sake – to always strive to do more. Come up with new ideas, implement a better way of doing something, etc. People will notice, and your brand will thank you!
