How do you get people talking positively about you? Establishing a reputation is crucial for career success. You want to be known as someone who is easy to work with and incredibly determined, and you want others to be the ones talking about it.

Here a few tips on how to establish a reputation for excellence:

1.    Respond to emails quickly and thoroughly
Be prompt with responses, but it isn’t all about speed, writing thorough emails that answer the question, explain why, and anticipate further questions makes you appear not only knowledgeable, but very attuned to the needs of others. This is also a huge time-saver because, when done correctly, it eliminates a lot of the back and forth that can make checking emails so time consuming.

2.    Always have a plan B
Be reliable and show that you are prepared to complete a task, even if there are some road bumps along the way. Deadlines are set for a reason, so try to plan on completing a task a week or so ahead to give yourself time to adjust if any complications arise. Like with email, try to predict where a problem might occur in order to help find an alternate solution. This shows initiative, control, and time management. There are, however, times when meeting the deadline just cannot happen. If you find yourself in this type of situation, always talk to the client or manager a few days before the deadline so that everyone is in the know, and further progress and resources aren’t mishandled. It’s never a good idea to blame someone else for a missed deadline. If it was your responsibility, you have to take the blame for something that doesn’t get done on time. People admire someone who will shoulder responsibility.

3.    Take initiative
Don’t wait to be asked. If you see something that needs to be done, go ahead and do it. This shows those around you that you are a hard worker who doesn’t need constant direction.

4.    Speak up
If you are in a position to give your opinion on a project, do so. Don’t be afraid, but always give your opinion respectfully so that you don’t come off as arrogant or rude if your opinion differs from those around you. Companies love having a wide array of ideas and opinions, so don’t keep quiet if you have a good idea.

Having a strong reputation can strengthen all of your personal and professional relationships. The best way to build a reputation that will create a successful career is to have people saying good things about you when you are not in the room. It’s a wonderful thing when you hear that someone has made a great remark about you behind your back. 

December might be the busiest month for networking events with the holidays bringing office parties, and events sponsored by trade associations, vendors, and civic groups. It’s important to network, but it’s really easy to fall into the trap of overdoing it. So how do you decide when to go and when to stay home?

Here are a few questions to help you decide:

1. Let’s start here- answer this question: Are you exhausted? If the answer is yes, and you have an event scheduled that evening, put yourself first and stay home. Being over tired at a gathering never makes a good impression and chances are you won’t be enthusiastic about chatting with people.
2. Have you attended more than three networking holiday parties this week and it’s only Thursday? If so, you are on the way to overload. Being out the majority of the week for networking events starts to show diminishing returns. “ I feel like I see you everywhere” can be code for, “ don’t you have a personal life?” When people are seen at just about every event it begins to look like they don’t value their own time.
3.  Are you really getting good connections and building relationships with the events that you go to? After each one write down the names of people you met that you actually plan to follow up with and get to know better. If you find yourself leaving parties feeling like you talked to everyone but connected with no one, it’s time to think about whether you are spreading yourself too thin.
4.  And finally are you finding yourself frequently cancelling at the last minute because you just can’t face one more lunch, dinner or cocktail party? Before RSVP’ing, take time to REALLY consider if you want to go to whatever it is you’re committing to. It’s far better to say you can’t attend in advance than to cancel or, even worse, to not show up. People who are frequent no-shows tend to eventually get a reputation for not being reliable, and run the risk of being dropped from future guest lists.