Holiday Professionalism

A Happy Thanksgiving for US-readers if you celebrated this weekend. We are at the beginning of a holiday season. The holidays are not, contrary to common belief, a career development wasteland. In fact, December & January can be a powerful time. One of the types of career development actions we can take in December and January is to meaningfully connect with the people that matter in our professional life.

How

Consider how you can leverage these three types of connection opp…

Getting Executive Attention With a Credible Reputation

As a leader who cares about the health of their career, you need relationships with reputable executive recruiters (aka headhunters). The executive search or recruiting firms looking for management-level to executive-level talent can be an important channel of opportunity. Here are 12 ways to demonstrate credibility and build a relationship with a headhunter.

First, search professionals come in a lot of shapes and sizes. One thing they ALL hav…

Whether you are job search networking or business networking, one sure fire way to slow yourself down is to be boring. Boring isn’t memorable. Boring doesn’t entice someone to want to follow-up. Which is not to say that you should be obnoxious, or outrageous.

Some ways to Increase Interest

Be Yourself

What is it about job search and networking? So many people try and morph themselves into what they think they are supposed to be - and that is transparent.

Be Your Best Self

Not only am I suggesting to …

Remember back in Tip #3 - Mine your Inbox for Contacts, I talked about working through your email archives to keep track of your contacts. Well, here is the follow-on. It applies, of course, to your universe of contacts, not just those people hanging out in your Inbox.

1. Make a list of your best relationships

These aren’t necessarily your best friends mind you. I am talking about professional relationships. Those people who know you and who have the power to help your career along. Like who? Wel…

There is no getting around it. Building and nurturing the relationships in your professional network are key career boosting activities.

If you are like me, your email inbox receives a constant flood of emails from all kinds of people. One of the things I find is that I have significant email interactions with some people during the year, but they don’t make it into my contact management system. I have a process for doing so, but it isn’t foolproof. Not only do you not want to lose the details of…

Of course, during the Holidays, you have competing demands for your time and attention. Parties to attend. If you celebrate Christmas, shopping and preparation to do. The lead-up to Christmas is a natural time for socializing. While your schedule may be crammed, there is a career development opportunity.

1. Build Ties within your organization

The Holidays are a natural time to solidify ties within your place of work. Let’s face it. The bonds between colleagues can get stretched. Difficult decision…