1. Be your own PR consultant. One of the easiest ways is to write articles for trade journals. (You'd be surprised at how easy it is to get published in a trade journal. Most have very small editorial budgets, and are delighted to receive any article that is in any way publishable.) Once you get a few articles published, you'll find that reporters working for the trade journals will seek you out for comments. Be cooperative. As long as you're not compromising privileged company information, nobody is going to mind. Still another way of generating your PR is to write letters to the editors of various papers. Finally, assuming you are at an executive level, make sure that your local paper, if you live in a suburban area, knows that you've been hired for a new job, and has a photograph to run.
2. Be a joiner. In case you weren't before, remember? Get active in trade and social organizations. You don't have to go to all the meetings, but make sure you get around enough so that you know what's going on. Keep informed. Stay on top of things.
3. Try to get listed. If it's possible and with your boss's per-mission, see if you can get your name listed under your company's name in major directories like D &B, Standard & Poor, and so on.
4. Become an authority. You become an authority by becoming a specialist. If you're a CPA, for instance, get on a committee, like a tax committee for your local community. If you have another specialty, offer to give a course in it at your neighborhood school or Y. (Incidentally, you'll be amazed at how much more you yourself will learn about your specialty once you start to teach it)
Keeping Your Own Personnel File
While you're maintaining this high profile, make sure you keep an open and active file: think of it as your contingency file. Into this file should go names and addresses of contacts, tear sheets or copies of any articles you may have written or any published letters of yours, and any memos or letters written to you that indicate some accomplishment of yours?
Update the file every month. Set aside a half hour or so and make your own contribution to it-a page or two that lists and describes what you accomplished that month on your job. If you keep this up to date and remember to maintain a running account of your accomplishments, you will be that much further ahead of the game the next time you launch a job search (whether because you want to or because you have to). In any case, even if you never have to use the file for finding a new job, it will help you when the time comes to talk about a raise or a promotion. And in the event you want to change jobs, getting a resume' together will be all the easier.
