Do you have your eye on an upcoming promotion however uncertain how to position yourself as a worthy contender? Are you considering a career change to a more senior level position, though realise you need to do some work on building your profile as a thought leader, but confused how to go about this? With rapid advancements in technologies that now have people competing on a global playing field, an aspiring executive, thought leader or senior-level professional has to be far more proactive in her career management strategies if she wants to position herself as a must-hire candidate.

Here are five must-do career management strategies that everyone should be implementing, especially executives and professionals.

1. Strive for expert (thought leader) status: identify your strengths

While you may demonstrate general skills across a number of areas, to gain expert and thought leader status among your peers you’ll want to avoid being labelled as ‘the jack of all trades and the master of none’.

Instead, try focusing on one of your areas of strength (one that you have a motivated interest in too) and continue to expand your profile and your reputation within this area. After you’ve mastered this and built a solid reputation of success in this domain you can continue to expand your profile in other value-added areas.

To uncover your strengths and motivated interests, consider the following questions:

• What are you truly passionate about?
• What topics of conversation do you typically become involved in?
• What motivates you to action?
• What activities do you participate in and lose all track of time, because you become so engrossed in what you’re doing?
• What successes have you been integral in achieving that your peers often struggle with? Another helpful exercise is to question people around you (including colleagues, friends, suppliers, clients etc.) to see what strengths and talents they believe you possess. Quite often people around us recognise things we don’t readily identify ourselves and which we can often take for granted.

2. Elevate your reputation (brand): become visible both in the market and your workplace

To strengthen your credibility and recognition as an expert and thought leader in your field of interest, it’s important that the work that you’re doing, along with your in-depth knowledge, is visible both within your workplace and out in the marketplace. This could include the following:

• Write a whitepaper to showcase your expertise
• Develop your own website, which can showcase your achievements and other contributions
• Author regular blog posts (which can be incorporated into your website) allowing you to communicate up-to-date information to your followers
• Develop a presentation and share this on your website or other social network sites such as Slideshare Within the workplace:
• Write articles or stories of interest in your corporate newsletter
• Become involved in cutting-edge projects
• Put your hand up for more difficult assignments, particularly where colleagues can see your strengths in action
• Become a mentor for less experienced colleagues

These are just a few things you should be doing to start elevating your reputation within your field of interest. Whatever you choose, it’s important for you to be consistent in your activities. If you can’t see yourself writing a minimum of 3 blog posts a month, then this is probably not going to be the best option for you.

3. Maintain your ‘expert’ or ‘thought leader’ status: don’t let your skills become stagnant

Once you have achieved credibility and expert status, it’s important to keep up with what’s happening in your field. Consider the following:

• Regularly read online/offline publications to keep at the forefront of the industry
• Subscribe to newsletters on the internet or RSS feeds, industry blogs
• Attend ongoing professional development courses.

Constantly-evolving technologies and changes within the market mean that continuing education, knowledge and skill expansion is a must.

 4. Continue to build and nurture your circle of influence

You’ve heard me say it once and no doubt you’ll hear me say it again – your circle of influence and the connections you have are vital to your overall career management plan. Don’t neglect to maintain contact with them on a regular basis.

• Connect with them on LinkedIn and write a recommendation for someone you’ve had the pleasure of working with
• Send someone a link to an article of interest
• Make a pleasant comment on someone’s LinkedIn status
• Contact someone in your network who you haven’t seen in a while and invite them to catch up for a coffee

The list on how to maintain your relationships is endless. So what are you going to do to reach out to someone in your network?

5. Sustain your ‘expert’ or ‘thought leader’ status through key on-brand communication strategies

Your words, actions, the activities you are involved in that have the potential to be read, heard or seen by other people must always be on-brand – otherwise you run the risk of tarnishing your reputation. If you wouldn’t want a prospective boss, client or stakeholder to read or hear it – don’t write or speak about it. Remember, be on-brand with all your brand communication strategies. So, which of the above 5 strategies will you implement today to begin building your reputation and your brand as an expert?