Starting out with a clean slate.

Picture yourself in a couple of years, you have completed your business diploma at successfully and joined the workforce.  You have secured yourself an entry level position for a large corporation.  Sure, your position is at the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak, but you are ambitious.  You have drive.  With a little hard work, and some time and effort you plan to make your way up to executive status. You are starting at the company with a clean slate, however,  regardless of your work ethic and skill level, there are still certain things that can hold you back from achieving your goals.

Your professional image is very important and can affect your professional reputation.  Your reputation is important because it can affect such things as whether your coworkers want to work with you on group projects, whether your boss can trust you, or whether clients will choose to give you their business.

Please read on for some examples things that can be detrimental to your professional image, whether you realize it or not.

Communicate Professionally!

Work can be frustrating. On any given day in any given job one will encounter frustrating situations and sometimes come across customers or coworkers who are downright rude and annoying. How we handle ourselves in these types of situations is key in developing our professional reputation.

First and foremost one must control their temper. There is no place for an angry hot head in the office. Shouting and losing your temper are never effective communication skills and you will be judged accordingly when dealing with coworkers. Being rude or angry with a customer could result in immediate loss of business. One must be capable of maintaining control of their emotions in a variety of stressful situations.

Do not participate in office gossip. Bad mouthing solves nothing and often ends up in a vicious circle. If you have a conflict or disagreement with somebody at work, deal with them directly or their immediate supervisor. Do not involve other coworkers or speak negatively of that person behind their back. Take a step back and try to find a solution to the problem, then communicate your proposed solution to the individual in a calm and rational manner. Even if the person does not agree with you, at least you are taking an active role in conflict resolution and you and your coworker can continue a respectful working relationship.

Ensure that your emails and letters are worded in an appropriate tone for the sender. An email inviting your peer for lunch should not have the same tone as an email to your boss requesting funds to attend a conference. Make sure that you use spell check, that you include all relevant information and that your writing has proper grammar. These kind of errors may seem negligible, but your boss will be thinking "what if this was for a customer?' or "Doesn't she know how to use spell check?"

Being mindful of how what you are communicating may be perceived. Put yourself in the shoes of the other person and ask how you would perceive what is communicated. Be aware of your tone and always proof read letters and emails.

Dress Appropriately!

Depending on where your work and what your role is there is a certain expectation for you to dress accordingly.  The first thing one should do is take a look around at their peers.  Are they dressed very casually such as in jeans, t-shirts and sneakers?  Are they dressed business casual such as dress pants or skirt and dress shirt?  Or are they dressed formally in ties and jackets?  The chances are, you are expected by your superiors to dress in a similar manner to your peers.  Also, observe the culture in your office.  What is appropriate for one environment may not be for another.

Top job site Monster.ca states that "it would be nice to think that the outside package should be irrelivent to hireability but the reality of the work place is this:  without a makeover some very qualified employees may not get the promotions they deserve.  Others may not get hired at all."

One mistake that can be made is dressing too casually.  You may appear sloppy or as though you do not care enough to dress up.  Another mistake that could me made by women is dressing in a manner that is too revealing for the office such as short skirts or low cut tops which can be very distracting and cause one not to be taken seriously.  Finally there is over dressing.  If it is casual friday, don't show up in your suit and tie.  Know your environment and you will maintain your professional image.

Please see below for some appropriate office attire for both men and women.

Forget Facebook!

From my own personal experience working in a Proposal Management role, I have found that Facebook really has no appropriate place in a formal corporate environment.  Furthermore, as one of the youngest team members at the time my Facebook was probably full of the more questionable content than my co-workers.  But, one day I was faced with the dilemma that one of my superiors at work had 'friended' me.  Reluctantly, I added her, which slowly led to my having to add other coworkers and eventually to my own professional demise.

Facebook was developed as a social networking tool, where as LinkedIn was developed as a business networking tool.  One would not use a hammer in place of a screwdriver, so why would one replace one tool with another completely different tool in the business world.  After adding my coworkers each time I would go to a party that had pictures on facebook, they would know.  If I sneaked online during work to talk to a friend, they would know.  But mostly what they found out is that I wasn't like them at all and spent most of my time out of work enjoying myself and having fun.  This put me in a very vulnerable position where I could be judged on my behaviour outside of work, which is not necessarily fair, but it is what happens.

My advice to anybody starting out in the corporate world would be to start a LinkedIn account and use that primarily for business networking.  Keep Facebook for friends and social networking.  I'm not saying that one should never ever acquire a new Facebook friend or even social acquaintance at work, but just to always exercise proper caution and judgment.

Protect yourself.

Thinking about your professional image and your reputation before it has developed is key in developing the type of image you want to project. How do you want to be seen? What parts of your personality and your life do you want to show at work? It is all in your hands. You have the ability to tell coworkers that you prefer to use LinkedIn to communicate professionally and decline to have them on Facebook. You can make sure that you show up for your job each day well rested, clean and professionally dressed, and you can keep your cool in tough situations.


You have the ability to censor or show what you like. Now that you are more informed on how certain communication may be received, you may use more discretion.