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Building a profile at work is an important part of establishing your career. These days, it can be as important as doing your job well, in terms of how you will be seen by others in the organisation or industry.
What do we mean by building profile? In effect, it’s about marketing yourself and building relationships. And the reason it’s important is that it will generally assist you to get your job done more effectively, in a more timely manner and with more support from others. The other outcome can be more likely promotions or being headhunted (when someone from another place or work contacts you directly to try and recruit you. That is, you haven’t applied for a job there, but they want to offer you one anyway!)
Take opportunities to meet staff at social and networking events. Tell them about what it is you do in the organisation. Be confident that the work you do is an important part of the overall running of the place; it will not ever be useful to say things like ‘I’m just the admin assistant’ or ‘I’m a graduate’.
When you’re having informal chats with people at work, tell them what you’re working on. Tell them about the kinds of work or projects you’d be interested in working on. Do this in a way that is not pushy or too much focussed on yourself, but in the flow of conversation.
Also tell your boss the same things. It may be that your boss knows exactly what you’re working on and interested in, or it may not. If it’s a large workplace or if many other people report to your boss, you may need to remind them about you.
Put your hand up to be involved in activities that go beyond your daily tasks. For a large organisation this could be about volunteering on committees, taking care of social events as part of a team, or working on a particular project with another department. For smaller workplaces it could be something like volunteering to develop a website for the business, or attending networking functions on the company’s behalf in order to attract new clients.
