What Are You Known For at Work?

Most people have a reputation at work.

The interesting part is that they don't always know what it is.

Ask somebody to describe themselves professionally and you'll usually hear things like hardworking, reliable, ambitious, organised or good with people. Those are perfectly reasonable descriptions, but they aren't necessarily the words their colleagues would use if you weren't in the room.

That is where things become more interesting.

What happens when a problem appears and somebody says, “Speak to them, they'll know what to do”? Who gets asked to calm a difficult customer? Who is trusted with the complicated project? Who gets pulled into a meeting because they can explain something clearly? Who do people turn to when they need an honest answer?

Equally, who has developed a reputation for making every problem bigger? Who never quite finishes what they promise? Who complains before trying to find a solution? Who disappears when things become difficult?

Over time, those small impressions become a professional reputation.

And your reputation can become one of the most valuable things you carry through your career.

Your Reputation Is Bigger Than Your Job Title

Job titles tell people what you are employed to do.

Reputation tells them what you're actually like to work with.

Two people can have exactly the same title, similar qualifications and comparable experience, yet be viewed completely differently by the people around them.

One becomes known as the person who can be trusted with difficult situations. The other becomes somebody colleagues avoid involving unless absolutely necessary.

One is known for helping people find solutions. Another is known for explaining all the reasons something probably won't work.

One manager creates calm when things become difficult. Another adds more pressure to an already difficult situation.

Those reputations matter because careers don't develop purely through formal qualifications and annual appraisals. They develop through hundreds of ordinary interactions with colleagues, customers, clients, suppliers and managers.

People gradually form an opinion about you.

The question is whether the reputation you're building is the one you actually want.

Ask Yourself the Slightly Uncomfortable Question

Imagine somebody from work is talking about you when you're not there.

What do you hope they say?

Not what you think they should say because of your job title or responsibilities. What would they genuinely say based on the experience of working with you?

“They always come back with an answer.”

“They're brilliant with difficult customers.”

“If something goes wrong, they're the person you want involved.”

“They really know their subject.”

“They make complicated things easier to understand.”

“They're great at developing people.”

“They never panic.”

Those are powerful professional reputations because they are specific.

Now consider the less comfortable alternatives.

“They're good, but you have to chase them.”

“They know their stuff, but they're difficult to work with.”

“They always find a problem with everything.”

“They're great when things are going well.”

“They talk a lot but don't always deliver.”

Most professional reputations aren't created by one dramatic incident. They grow from patterns.

That is why they can be changed as well.

Reliability May Be More Valuable Than You Think

If I had to choose one reputation that helps people throughout almost every type of career, reliability would be very high on the list.

Being the person who does what they say they're going to do sounds incredibly basic.

That is partly why it is so valuable.

If you say you'll send something on Thursday, send it on Thursday. If you promise to call somebody back, call them back. If you don't know an answer, say you'll find out and then actually return with the answer.

People notice.

They may not congratulate you every time because reliability is often quiet. But over months and years, a pattern develops.

People trust you.

And once people trust you, they start giving you bigger responsibilities.

A manager is far more likely to involve somebody in an important project when they already know they won't need to chase them constantly. A client is more likely to rely on somebody who has repeatedly done what they promised.

Being reliable doesn't sound as exciting as being visionary, innovative or inspirational.

But plenty of careers are built on it.

Become Known for Solutions, Not Just Problems

There are people in almost every organisation who can spot what is wrong.

Sometimes they are very good at it.

The difficulty is that they stop there.

A new idea appears and their immediate response is why it won't work. Somebody suggests a change and they provide a detailed history of every previous attempt that failed.

There is value in sensible caution. Businesses need people who can identify risks and prevent bad decisions.

But there is a significant difference between being thoughtful and becoming the person who always explains why nothing can be done.

A stronger reputation is to become somebody who can identify a problem and then help move the conversation forward.

“This could create an issue because of X. What if we approached it this way instead?”

That is a very different contribution.

You're not pretending difficulties don't exist. You're helping solve them.

Over time, people begin to notice the difference.

What Happens When Things Go Wrong?

Reputations become particularly visible when circumstances are difficult.

Anybody can appear calm when everything is going well.

What happens when the deadline changes, the client complains, the figures are disappointing or the project suddenly develops a problem nobody expected?

Some people immediately look for somebody to blame.

Others become visibly stressed and spread that stress around the team.

Then there are people who acknowledge the problem, work out what needs to happen next and help everyone move forward.

That does not mean they don't feel pressure.

They simply don't allow pressure to decide how they behave.

A reputation for staying calm under pressure can become incredibly valuable, particularly as somebody progresses into management and leadership.

People remember who made difficult situations easier.

They also remember who made them harder.

Expertise Is a Reputation You Can Build

Some people become known as the person who really understands a particular subject.

They may be the technical expert, the person who knows the customer best, the strongest salesperson or the colleague everybody approaches when a particular problem appears.

That reputation rarely develops accidentally.

It comes from curiosity.

They read. They ask questions. They stay interested in developments within their sector. They keep learning after they become competent.

You don't need to know everything.

In fact, people with genuine expertise are often comfortable saying when they don't know something because they aren't trying to protect an image of knowing everything.

If there is an area that could become valuable to your career, consider deliberately becoming better at it.

Six months of focused learning can change how people see you.

A few years of it can shape an entire career.

Be Known for Making Other People Better

One of the most powerful professional reputations is not about what somebody personally achieves.

It is about what happens to the people around them.

Some managers become known for developing good people.

Employees who work for them become more confident, take on greater responsibility and progress.

That reputation travels.

Talented people want to work with them because they know they will learn.

You don't need to be a manager to develop this reputation either.

Perhaps you're the colleague who explains something rather than making somebody feel foolish for asking. Maybe you share useful information, introduce people or help somebody prepare for an important meeting.

There is a big difference between being the smartest person in a room and being somebody who makes the room smarter.

The second reputation can take you a long way.

The Way You Communicate Becomes Part of Your Reputation

Communication is another area where small behaviours accumulate.

Do people know they can have a difficult conversation with you without it becoming an argument?

Do you listen?

Can you explain something clearly without making it unnecessarily complicated?

Do people leave conversations with you understanding what happens next?

Over time, communication style becomes part of professional identity.

Somebody becomes known as direct but fair. Someone else is warm and approachable. Another person is brilliant at presenting complicated ideas.

Unfortunately, negative communication habits create reputations too.

Interrupting people, avoiding difficult conversations, sending unnecessarily aggressive emails or making every meeting longer than required can all become part of how somebody is perceived.

You may forget an individual conversation five minutes later.

The person on the other side may remember how you made them feel for considerably longer.

Your Reputation Exists Outside Your Own Team

It is easy to think only about the people you work with every day.

But careers are often influenced by people outside your immediate circle.

How do you treat reception staff, administrators, junior colleagues, suppliers or people in departments you don't particularly need anything from today?

Do you only become helpful when somebody senior is watching?

People notice inconsistency.

Some of the strongest professional reputations are surprisingly simple: somebody is decent to everyone.

That creates goodwill.

Years later, the person you helped without expecting anything in return may be working for another company, recruiting for a role or recommending somebody for an opportunity.

You cannot build genuine relationships by constantly calculating what somebody might do for you.

Treat people well because that is how you choose to work.

The reputation tends to follow.

Don't Try to Build a Personal Brand Before You've Built a Reputation

There is a lot of discussion about personal branding, particularly online.

There is nothing wrong with thinking about how you present yourself professionally. LinkedIn can be useful and sharing your expertise can create opportunities.

But your reputation needs to work offline too.

If your LinkedIn profile describes you as a collaborative leader but the people who work with you describe something very different, the problem isn't your LinkedIn profile.

Professional reputation begins with behaviour.

What you post may influence what strangers think about you.

What you repeatedly do influences what colleagues know about you.

Ideally, the two tell the same story.

Reputation Follows You When You Change Jobs

One of the reasons reputation matters so much is that careers are increasingly connected.

People move.

The colleague sitting next to you today may be running another company five years from now. A client could become an employer. Someone you managed may later become a customer.

This is especially noticeable within specialist sectors where professional networks can be surprisingly small.

At Inspired Recruitment, our consultants regularly speak with candidates and employers whose careers have crossed multiple times. Somebody may be a candidate during one stage of their career and later become the hiring manager looking for their own team.

That is why professional relationships matter.

Your CV tells an employer what you've done.

Your reputation can help confirm what you're like when you do it.

References Start Years Before You Ask for One

When people think about references, they often think about them at the end of a recruitment process.

In reality, you're creating future references throughout your career.

Every manager you work for is forming an opinion about your contribution. Every colleague is building a picture of how you operate.

If somebody called your current manager tomorrow and asked about you, what would you want them to say?

Reliable?

Commercial?

Knowledgeable?

Excellent with customers?

A strong leader?

Great with people?

Calm under pressure?

Then ask yourself whether your behaviour is giving them enough evidence to say it.

You cannot control everything somebody thinks about you.

But you can influence the evidence they are working with.

Your Reputation Can Become Outdated

There is another interesting problem.

Sometimes somebody improves but their old reputation hangs around.

Perhaps early in your career you were disorganised. Maybe you lacked confidence or avoided speaking in meetings. You may have been known for being technically good but not particularly commercial.

You can change.

But simply deciding that you've changed doesn't automatically update everybody else's opinion.

You have to create enough new evidence.

If you want to become known as more organised, consistently become more organised. If you want to develop a reputation as a leader, start behaving like one before somebody changes your job title.

Over time, the new pattern becomes stronger than the old one.

Reputation is not permanent.

But changing it usually requires consistency rather than one big gesture.

Don't Become Obsessed With What Everybody Thinks

There is an important balance here.

Thinking about your professional reputation does not mean spending every working day trying to win everybody's approval.

You won't.

Some people will misunderstand you. Others simply won't particularly like your style. You may occasionally make decisions that people disagree with, especially if you are leading others.

Professional reputation isn't popularity.

You can be respected without being universally liked.

The objective is to behave consistently enough that the people who work with you understand what you stand for and what they can expect from you.

Trying to please everybody can actually damage that consistency.

Ask for Honest Feedback

If you genuinely don't know what you're known for, ask somebody you trust.

Not, “Do you think I'm good at my job?”

That question doesn't give them many useful places to go.

Ask something more specific.

“What do you think people rely on me for?”

“What do you think I'm best at?”

“What do I do that sometimes makes working with me harder than it should be?”

“What do you think I need to become better known for if I want to progress?”

Those conversations can be uncomfortable.

They can also be extremely useful.

Other people sometimes see patterns in our behaviour long before we do.

Decide What You Want to Be Known For

You cannot completely manufacture a professional reputation.

If you decide tomorrow that you want to be known as the greatest strategist in the company, simply announcing it won't achieve much.

You have to build evidence.

But there is nothing wrong with being deliberate about the qualities you want to develop.

Perhaps you want to become known as someone who gets things done.

Maybe you want to be recognised for developing people, solving difficult problems or bringing calm to pressured situations.

Choose something that genuinely matters to your role and future career.

Then think about the behaviours that would support that reputation.

If you want to be known for reliability, keep promises.

If you want to be known for expertise, keep learning.

If you want to be known for leadership, help people succeed.

If you want to be known as a problem solver, stop at fewer problems and look for more solutions.

Reputation isn't created by deciding what you want people to think.

It is created by giving them repeated reasons to think it.

What Would People Say If You Left Tomorrow?

Here's another useful question.

If you resigned tomorrow, what would people miss?

Perhaps you're the person who keeps everybody organised. Maybe you maintain an important client relationship. Perhaps you're the one who brings energy into the team or knows how to solve the complicated problems nobody else wants.

If you're struggling to answer, don't view that as criticism.

View it as an opportunity.

What could you begin contributing that would make your presence more valuable?

This isn't about making yourself indispensable in an unhealthy way or refusing to share knowledge so nobody can survive without you.

In fact, some of the best leaders are missed precisely because they shared knowledge and made everybody around them stronger.

The question is simply asking what difference you make.

Your Reputation May Open the Door Before Your CV Does

Over the course of a career, not every opportunity arrives through a formal application.

Somebody remembers you.

A former colleague recommends you.

A client thinks you'd be perfect for a position.

A manager who moved companies calls and asks whether you'd consider joining them.

Those opportunities often begin with reputation.

Someone has experienced working with you and would like to experience it again.

At Inspired Recruitment, we believe recruitment is personal because careers are built through people as much as they are through job descriptions. Skills and experience matter enormously, but employers are also thinking about trust, personality, potential and what somebody will be like to have within the organisation.

That is difficult to capture completely on a CV.

Your reputation helps fill in the gaps.

So, What Are You Known For?

You already have an answer.

Even if you have never consciously thought about it, the people around you have gradually formed an impression.

Perhaps it is exactly the reputation you want.

If so, keep building it.

Perhaps there are parts you'd like to change.

You can do that too.

You don't need to announce a new professional identity on Monday morning. You simply need to behave differently often enough that people's experience of working with you begins to change.

Be the person who comes back with the answer.

Be the person who keeps their word.

Be the person who stays useful when things become difficult.

Keep learning until people naturally start asking for your opinion.

Help other people become better at what they do.

And remember that your professional reputation is rarely built during the big moments when you know everybody is watching.

It is usually built during the ordinary ones.

The email you said you'd send.

The colleague who needed some help.

The customer who had a problem.

The mistake you had to deal with.

The meeting where somebody needed an honest opinion.

Those moments gradually answer the question.

What are you known for at work?

Make sure the answer is something that helps take your career where you want it to go.