Create a Professional Image

Whether Casual or Formal,
a Professional Image is Essential

Your professional image is an essential part of your military to civilian transition career search - and your subsequent career. Even in an era of largely informal business settings - coffee shop meetings and video conferences - and informal business dress codes - "business casual" and casual friday - a professional image is still expected. So if it's not the dress code, what forms the basis of a professional image? Harvard Business School professor, Laura Morgan Roberts, defines professional image as:

the set of qualities and characteristics that represent perceptions of your competence and character as judged by your key constituents (i.e., clients, superiors, subordinates, colleagues)

Simply put, Ms. Roberts is describing an ability to exceed expectations, hit deadlines, and be an overall positive contribution to your office. In some ways it's more difficult to create an maintain a professional image today, but there are also more opportunities to shape your image as well. In reality, your professional image is the entire set of impressions that people in the workplace have of you, so you can treat most interactions as an opportunity to build on your reputation.

White Paper
Creating a Professional Image in a Changing Workplace: Advice and Tips

Maintaining a professional image in an informal work environment can be tricky. Use the advice and straightforward tips in this white paper to set yourself apart from other applicants and coworkers. Click here to access the Toolbox.

Extra Resources
Personal Image and the Dress Code: Why it Matters
Dress Code: It's About respect and your Future