Building Your Future: Why Personal Branding Matters to Office Support Professionals

In your life and your career, your personal brand defines what you stand for, your values, and who you are.

In any role in an organization, employees can tailor their personal brand to differentiate themselves, showcase their skills, and pave their way to success. 

In an administrative role, this remains true. Curious how branding can impact the optics of your role and what you are capable of? Keep reading for everything you need to know about personal branding and how it can improve your career as an office support professional. 

How to Build Your Personal Brand in an Administrative Role

Think about your personal brand as your public image — how people view you as a person and an employee based on the information you provide. You can either cultivate this image or let it be defined for you. Executives control their branding, so why can’t you do the same? Let’s explore how you can write your brand story in professional office settings.

Start with Your Behavior at Work

How you carry yourself at work is one of the most critical facets of your personal brand. The people you interact with regularly know more about your brand than you realize, and it’s based simply on how you behave and communicate with others. 

If you easily build rapport with others, collaborate in a productive way, and speak respectfully, these will become key components of your personal brand. If you lose your cool under pressure or have trouble working with others, these qualities will also be tied to your personal brand.

Contribute Your Knowledge and Skills

To share your brand with your organization, clients, and partners, you have to be clear on what you bring to the table. What are your skills? What departments can benefit from your knowledge and collaboration? 

Knowing these answers will help you get involved with projects, tasks, and teams that you can support, thrive within, and help to grow. As your colleagues and senior leaders experience your skills and talents firsthand, they will understand the value you bring. 

Dress the Part

While appearances aren’t the most important part of your personal brand, you should be dressing for success. Taking care of your physical appearance and dressing appropriately shows you are a professional who shows up in more ways than one.

Level Up Your Personal Brand By Doing

Crafting and cultivating a personal brand takes intention, time, and consistency, and it may not be at the forefront of your thoughts every day. 

Remember that every interaction you have is part of the evolution of your brand and how people perceive you. Consider the following for some actionable ways to control your personal brand and narrative.

Network at Work

As an office support professional, you may interact with people from all different departments during the day. Use this to your advantage! Reach out, offer support, be friendly and helpful, and build relationships over time with people throughout the organization.  

Ask Questions

Whether in meetings or casual conversations, ask questions and show your eagerness to learn. Curiosity is appealing, as it can often lead to knowledge sharing and value adds in the form of new initiatives and solutions.

Find Relevant Opportunities 

Say you’re an administrative assistant, but you’d like to learn the ropes of what an EA does for your next potential role. 

If the opportunity presents itself to help an executive with a meeting or join a special marketing project, jump at the chance. In the process, you’re advocating for yourself and your career, one step at a time. This growth mindset shows your persistence and commitment to hard work.  

Build a Powerful Brand Presence with ASAP

Build your own executive presence confidently with the help of ASAP. We provide tools to help executive assistants and administrative professionals enhance their skill sets and advance their careers. Start exploring our free resources today!