Raising your profile covers a wide range of activities both within and outside of the firm, from external networking events to creating articles such as these. Whilst it may be difficult to take proactive steps for external marketing as a trainee (although as Adriana's excellent article points out, Howard Kennedy presents you with great external networking opportunities too!), your internal marketing should be a fundamental part of your training contract.
Personally, I don't find that internal networking comes naturally. It is one thing to sell yourself to people you don't know, but it can sometimes be very uncomfortable to do the same thing to your colleagues. However, it is as a trainee that you are handed the once in a career opportunity to move departments every six months; never again will you get the opportunity to interact with such a wide range of people within the firm.
Fostering these relationships is the hard but crucial bit. There are many ways to keep yourself at the front of peoples' minds, here's a few examples that are encouraged at Howard Kennedy:
- attending firm wide social events
- publishing articles or blogs on the Intranet; and
- just meeting for a catch up over coffee or lunch.
Some of these are easier to do than others - I find attending social events organised by the firm to be the best for me (and the most fun!). Such events at Howard Kennedy give you the opportunity to spend time with people who you may not know well enough for a one-on-one, but would still like to have a chat with (and remind them that you are great).
Howard Kennedy have a great range of social events ranging from Cheese and wine tasting to Poker nights to Yoga. There is also the opportunity to attend firm wide training sessions, for those of you who don't enjoy group social activities. It is important to find the method that works best for you.
Whatever your preference, building and maintaining relationships made during your training contact is an invaluable skill to raise your profile and your personal brand within the firm.
My top tips whichever method you chose are:
- be your friendliest self
- make an effort, show that you want to connect with people and are willing to go out of your way to do so; and
- be yourself, have faith in your attributes and others will too!
You never know, you might meet some really great people in the process - I know I certainly have!
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