Spreading Your Wings

As always, one of my goals in this blog is to help young professionals either avoid pitfalls or give advice that will make things a little easier for them. This entry is more about that aspect of this blog. One of the things that wasn’t completely obvious to me when entering the workplace was that I have to do a lot of legwork OUTSIDE of my job and company in order to even begin becoming a leader in my profession and industry. That isn’t always easy to do, as many companies do not see the value in sending younger or less experienced employees to professional conferences or events. That’s where the work falls onto you.

I have a few pieces of advice on how to do this that doesn’t require backing from your company, but it is important that you make it clear to your boss or the decision makers that being considered to attend certain events is important to you and that it will add value to the organization. One way to do this is to create business cases for why you should attend something. For example, I wanted to attend a conference that was not well known within my company so I wrote up a simple 5 paragraph type-essay making points of how the attendance would help the company and my personal development. Also, don’t give up if your company doesn’t agree with your business case or cases at first. Keep trying! It will result in something good! At the very least, your superiors will see your initiative and business mindedness. 

Another piece of advice is to find out if there are professional clubs or groups within your area. Find out when they meet, what they typically discuss, etc. In addition to keeping up with the current trends, the people that attend these types of meetings are integral to get to know. I’ve found that many of the people that I meet at these types of things are the most influential in my career, decision making and my biggest champions. Also, be sure to not pigeon-hole yourself into just one type of professional group. For example, I’m a member of my local Industrial Organizational Psychology group, a local Social Media group, a Human Resources group, a Women’s Leadership group, a generic young professionals group and a group that focuses on restaurant industry trends. While I don’t necessarily touch on all of this in my current role, it will be important for me to know as I navigate upward in my company and industry. 

The last piece of advice I have is to really develop your “personal brand.” Many marketing professionals talk about this all the time, but it isn’t the easiest thing to know how to do. Basically a personal brand is what you want other professionals or individuals to think about you when they see your name or picture. So, as Belinda Smith, I want people to think of Human Resources, Social Media, Digital Marketing, a leader and an all around fun person. Nowadays, it’s much easier to develop these brands. You can utilize social media and blogging to do this. The articles and blogs that I post on Twitter are in line with my personal brand. I also want to make it clear that your personal brand does not need to be “flat” and only business –related.  I want people to see me as who I am, which is a very complex and dynamic person. I have a lot of professional interests, but I want to share my personal interests as well. I love dancing, cheerleading, painting, NFL and college football and cooking! I want people to see me as a person and not just an expert on a few things. I think that helps to differentiate yourself from other professionals in your area even more than just being the best at it.

In other news: I’m thinking of starting a video blog in conjunction with this page! Let me know what you think and what things you want to SEE me talk about!