Establishing a reputation as a great employee
By Ken Pelczarski, Contributing Editor | TLT Career Coach March 2023
Review these critical components and questions to determine important areas in your career path.
When you begin searching actively for a new career opportunity, you will want to have a stellar industry reputation already established.
Whether it pertains to your career situation or your personal life, it is obvious that a good reputation will help you achieve your goals, and a bad reputation may stand in the way of you achieving your goals.
So how does your industry reputation figure into a job search? Well, you may not be searching for a new job right now. However, when you begin searching actively for a new career opportunity, you will want to have a stellar industry reputation already established.
Let us look first at the main items you need to tackle to be fully prepared for a job search.
1.
Define your career goals.
2.
Develop a job search action plan.
3.
Write a resume.
4.
Compose a cover letter.
5.
Organize your professional networking contacts.
6.
Prepare for telephone, video and in-person interviews.
7.
Be ready to discuss compensation.
8.
Update your reference list.
Point #9 on this list could easily be “build your industry reputation.” However, an excellent reputation will not be bestowed upon you overnight. You can accomplish this goal by paying attention over the long haul to how your actions affect your reputation.
It can take years to build a strong enough industry reputation where that alone can get your foot in the door for a job interview. Your reputation may even end up being the primary reason you get hired for an outstanding career opportunity.
A person’s solid industry reputation is usually comprised of many of the critical components listed here. Building a great reputation is a constant work in progress, and none of us would score 100% in all areas. Ask yourself the questions in each component category here to determine areas that are important to your career path in which you would like to show improvement.
Goals, motivation and passion
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Do you display love for your job and career?
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Do you promote your job and career to others?
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Are you excited about your accomplishments?
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Do you show enthusiasm during the workday?
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Are you strategic in setting goals for your career path?
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Do you focus on the big picture?
Attitude
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Are you optimistic with a positive outlook?
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Are you confident and resilient?
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Are you encouraging and considerate?
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Are you tolerant and understanding?
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Are you grateful and forgiving?
Integrity
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Do you avoid cutting corners to get the job done?
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Are you careful not to bad-mouth employers or individuals?
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Do you avoid exaggerating your accomplishments?
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Do you refrain from lying on your resume?
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Do you adhere to safety protocols?
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Are you a trustworthy colleague?
Work ethic
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Do you always put forth your best effort?
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Do you go the extra mile to surpass a project goal?
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Do you stick with a project to the end?
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Do you refrain from giving up when a task is not going well?
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Do you have a nose-to-the-grindstone mentality?
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Do you push hard through adversity?
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Do you believe that hard work equals success?
Communication
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Are you genuine and transparent?
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Do you respond quickly to others when they reach out?
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Do you express information clearly to superiors, peers and subordinates?
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Do you provide feedback clearly to customers and vendors?
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Do you keep management properly informed of important task updates?
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Do you make impactful presentations?
Personal growth and learning
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Are you always striving to improve yourself?
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Do you regularly attend seminars and/or formal education courses?
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Do you take on projects outside your primary role?
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Have you made lateral moves with your employer for new learning?
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Are you careful not to be set in your ways?
Dependability and commitment
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Do you have a solid track record of work attendance?
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Do you show loyalty to your employer?
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Are you dependable when leading a crucial project?
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Do you agree to take on projects in a pinch?
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Do you stay late at work when necessary?
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Do you always follow through when giving your word?
Stability
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Have you limited your job changes?
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Do you have solid reasons for job moves?
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Do you have a history of making good career decisions?
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Do you take only carefully calculated risks?
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Do you avoid being emotionally too high or too low?
Team emphasis
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Do you give others credit they deserve?
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Are you fine with sharing the spotlight?
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Do you stress team goals versus individual goals?
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Do you encourage and foster the success of others?
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Do you promote team accomplishments to others?
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Have you organized project management teams successfully?
Leadership
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Have you managed direct reports?
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Do you freely delegate important responsibilities to others?
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Do you have a history of hiring top talent?
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Are you able to make tough personnel decisions?
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Have you facilitated virtual meetings?
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Do you effectively convey goals and missions to others?
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Do you enjoy mentoring others?
Industry visibility
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Have you made industry presentations?
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Have you been published?
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Have you led or participated in online group discussions?
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Do you contribute to industry articles?
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Do you regularly attend industry meetings and conferences?
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Do you maintain an updated professional LinkedIn profile?
Volunteering
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Have you been an officer in a local section of a technical society such as STLE?
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Have you chaired or co-chaired a local section committee in a technical society?
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Have you chaired or co-chaired an annual conference committee?
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Have you served on the STLE Board of Directors?
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Have you volunteered for special STLE projects?
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Have you volunteered in a community or charitable organization?
Success
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Do you strive for success in everything you do?
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Have you been successful in most of your endeavors?
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Have you moved on to succeed after failure?
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Do you consistently meet project deadlines?
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Has your work resulted in increased company sales?
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Have you closed a deal with a large customer?
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Have you been instrumental in developing and/or launching new products?
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Have you consistently earned promotions throughout your career?
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Have you earned company or industry awards?
Many items listed, but not all, will be relevant to the potential betterment of your career status. These are action items meant to show various ways to monitor your career progress and reputation.
Amid our busy lives, we all need to take a frequent look at ourselves to better know our strengths that will help us achieve our career goals. We also need to recognize our weaker areas and try to make them stronger. Select the items here that require attention and take action to make improvements that will enhance your industry reputation.
No employers will expect you to check all of these boxes. You are doing extremely well if you only see a handful of areas that could use minor improvements. If you do see multiple areas where major improvements are necessary, the good news is that it is never too late to earn a great reputation. When employers are searching to hire someone, they will not worry as much about what happened in your career 10 or 20 years ago but will be looking primarily at your current industry reputation.
You will be in an enviable position in your field when you are known as a person who employers would love to add to their team. I wish you success someday in being hired primarily based on your industry reputation.
Ken Pelczarski is owner and founder of Pelichem Associates, a Chicago-based search firm established in 1985 and specializing in the lubricants industry. You can reach Ken at (630) 960-1940 or at pelichem@aol.com.