Today I want to talk to you about your professional reputation.

You may not realize it or think about it very often, but your professional reputation makes a major difference in the long term of your career.

This is especially true when it comes to hiring, promotions, or if you've ever been back-channeled during an interview process.

Back-channeling is when someone on the hiring team contacts your past colleagues to get their thoughts on you, unsolicited.

It happens more often than you think (I've been on both sides of back-channeling), so you gotta be ready.

Newsflash: People talk about you when you are not in the room, and what they say about you can either hurt or help your career.

My tip:
Play the long game in your career and keep in mind how you start, end and maintain your professional relationships.

Read on.

You know I'm a broken record about building your network and social capital.

We'll that's becuase your professional relationships have the biggest impact on your future job search and ability to get jobs down the line.

So it's worth being strategic about building your network and minding your professional reputation.

Ask yourself:
What skills do you want to be known for?
What kinds of opportunities do you want people to think of you for?
How do you want people to describe your professional qualities?
What professional circles do you want to be in?

Over time your reputation essentially becomes your professional brand.

And that brand will precede you, whether you like it or not.

You never know who people will become or how you will cross paths with them again in the future.

Leading with kindness and thinking about how you could help others is always a good strategy.

TBH, helping others is the best networking strategy that exists. 

When you truly give to others without expecting anything in return, people feel will it and they'll want to reciprocate. 

People can also tell when you're being ingenuine and doing something out of self-interest.

You're typically not fooling anyone.

It may sound basic, but how you make people feel will impact your career at one point or another because people remember that ish forever.

As I once read in a recruiter's profile:
"It's easier to just be nice to everyone all the time."

It's pretty much on point.

Every interaction is either helping or hurting you.

And what people say about you when you are not there matters af.

Do whatever it takes to build a habit of creating value for others. Help others and the rewards will be endless.

Because at the end of the day all this business stuff is just about people.