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Your Reputation Is More Important Than Ever

Featured Author:

Alexandra Levit

A current columnist for the Wall Street Journal and Metro US, Alexandra has authored several books, including the popular They Don't Teach Corporate in College (Career Press 2004 and 2009), How'd You Score That Gig? (Random House/Ballantine, 2008), Success for Hire (ASTD Press, 2008), MillennialTweet (SuperStar, 2009), and New Job, New You (Random House/Ballantine, 2010). Her book on the top myths of business success is due out from Penguin/Berkley in spring 2011. Alexandra is a member of the Business Roundtable's Springboard Project, which is advising the Obama administration on current workplace issues. She is a frequent national media spokesperson and has been featured in thousands of outlets including the New York Times, USA Today, National Public Radio, ABC News, Fox News, CNBC, the Associated Press, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Fortune, and her articles regularly appear on the home pages of MSN and Yahoo!. Known as one of the premiere spokespeople of her generation, Alexandra regularly speaks at conferences, universities, and corporations including Campbell's Soup, CIGNA, the Federal Reserve Bank, McDonalds, and Whirlpool — on issues facing modern employees. Alexandra is also a global spokesperson for Microsoft’s program for new hires and has recently been called upon to speak to executives and managers about how to most strategically leverage the talent of the Millennial generation. Please learn more at AlexandraLevit.com.

More articles from this author:

• How to Get Feedback at Your Job
• Five Ways to Conquer Self-Doubt
• Change Your Career While at Work Today

In life, we get many chances to reinvent ourselves. Remember when you first arrived on campus for your freshman year of college?

The most exciting thing about it was that no one knew what a (insert negative adjective of choice here) you were in high school. You taught yourself new habits and hobbies, and you bought yourself a new wardrobe. Maybe you even picked a new nickname.

You had the chance to start over, as if your previous life had never been.

Your Corporate Persona

Your twenty and even thirty-something years present a similar opportunity, and, understandably, you probably want to spend them figuring out who you are and what you want out of life. Should you decide to pursue a career in business, however, developing a corporate persona will unquestionably serve you well.

By corporate persona, I mean the mature, professional, and competent face you project to the work world. It doesn’t matter what type of person you are in real life, just think of yourself as an actor playing a role while you are at work. So what if you still play drinking games on Friday nights or prefer a book to human company? You can still have a corporate persona.

Doesn’t matter what you do on your time off, you’re corporate persona is important

How will this help you? Quite simply, a marketable persona positively influences people’s perceptions of you so that you can ultimately succeed in the corporate world.

I’m sure you’ve heard of big-time publicists who get paid megabucks to promote celebrities and make them look like the coolest people on earth. You can be just like those PR folks, only you have just one client to promote—you.