Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Job Searching vs Career Management

Jason wrote a great article about changing the way we approach job searching and career management:

I frequently think about how we think of our job transitions - we are supposed to have lots of them during our career.

I’m completely intrigued by the people who have forgotten what a forced transition is like, or by those that feel totally secure in their job (or their ability to find a new job) - and their reactions to a “job search.”
I'm finding that Career Management was easier when I was looking for work. Now that I'm working, it's harder and harder for me to stay in that mindset. I'm spending more time thinking about projects at work than my own career management.

But I try to do a little bit every day to manage my career, whether it's setting up a lunch appointment with a friend, or use my LinkedIn URL as I comment on this and many other posts. I also maintain a portfolio blog. I also look for other ways to share what I'm learning about career management.

I don't want to be misled into a false sense of job security. Right now work is going strong, but I still need to keep my eyes on the big picture.

What practical things do you do every day to manage your career?

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Friday, March 23, 2007

Twitter got her a job!

"Twitter got me a freelance job." -- Karina Longworth
Karina Longworth, who writes on her blog Vidiocy, sent that message to folks following her on Twitter. Read more about the details at her blog post: Vidiocy >> Twitter Got Me A Job

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Thursday, March 22, 2007

Make a Personal Connection!

Chris at LifeHack.org recently shared some thoughts on effective networking ("Meet People NOT Business Cards - lifehack.org"). If you're like me, you've tended to use these events as opportunities to amass a big collection of business cards. But that's not the point of the meeting, really, is it? Here are my comments to the article:

I hear you, Chris. I just read something along the same lines in Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. If you collect a bunch of business cards without making a personal connection, you're left with a phone list from which to make cold calls.

Now, let's transfer these thoughts into collecting contacts on internet social networks, okay?
I see people blindly adding friends on social networking sites like MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others, the same way people collect business cards. There are various reasons to do this; the most obvious is to make themselves look important, which is something that motivates some people. If people see someone with lots of contacts, they will begin to think of them as an expert in their field. I'm a bit torn on this myself, to be honest.

Just remember that the personal connection is what matters. What are you doing right now to make and reinforce the personal connection with your contacts? What are your thoughts on the effectiveness of amassing large numbers of contacts?

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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

For Victory You Need Many Advisers

Proverbs 24:5-7 (New International Version)

5 A wise man has great power,
and a man of knowledge increases strength;

6 for waging war you need guidance,
and for victory many advisers.

7 Wisdom is too high for a fool;
in the assembly at the gate he has nothing to say.
Where am I going with this, you might ask? Check out LinkedIn: Answers You can search the vast wisdom of people in your network and across the LinkedIn userbase for answers to questions you have, and you can ask questions of your network.

So go assure yourself a victory and seek out advice from others who can help you.

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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

How to Write a Better Resume

Jason at the JibberJobber blog is doing an experiment. He has asked some experts in the field to weigh-in with comments about a certain resume. Follow and join the conversation, starting here: JibberJobber Blog >> Blog Archive >> The Resume Experiment: Day 1 of 5

Related posts: Get That Job!: resumes

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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Lots of government job openings coming

Clark Howard reports that a huge wave of people will be retiring from government jobs soon. Check out usajobs.gov for more information.

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Thursday, March 01, 2007

How To Write A Resume Cover Letter

From the One Minute How-To podcast, hosted by George Smyth, Patrick Fogarty explains how you can maximize the chances of getting that interview with a properly written cover letter.


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