We all know what it’s like to be the new kid on the block. It can be particularly daunting when that block is a work environment, particularly a culture that feels foreign to you. There’s a lot of advice out there, including feeling out coworkers and supervisors to learn more about the culture. But how do you know who to ask? Work environments break down into two types of groups, formal and informal. Formal groups are clearly defined, whether by team or organizational chart structure, with established levels of leadership and support. Informal groups are more elusive, yet, they can……
In the last two installments of this series, we discussed some of the basics of establishing a personal brand online: blogging, making connections in your online community and reinforcing them with strategic use of social media. Part III is about taking it the extra mile by writing articles for online and offline news sources. Busy professionals may be wondering whether this is really necessary. After all, they’re already spending time blogging, commenting and interacting on social media sites, all of which takes up precious time. But consider this: Nothing communicates authority like being published in print. The Internet is a……
In Part I of this series on achieving professional success through personal branding, we talked about the importance of establishing a blog as an online “home” for your personal brand. In Part II, the focus is exclusively on social media as a tool for professional branding. Social media is so popular that it’s an unavoidable part of personal branding. It can also be powerful, offering more ways to communicate your brand, connect with your professional community and build strong search engine results. But like personal branding as a whole, using social media should be approached with thought and care for……
No matter what your profession, it pays to stand out. In fact, standing out is absolutely vital for small businesspeople and solo professionals like lawyers and doctors, because these professionals live and die by their ability to attract customers. Without a way to stand out, they would be out of a job. But even those who work for larger companies need to stand out in order to get ahead — to compete effectively for promotions, plum opportunities and new jobs. That’s why the relatively new concept of personal branding is a winning strategy for climbing the ladder in any field…….