Whether you’re looking to breathe life into a dead-end career or just starting out, these 10 career improvement tips can help you set a new course for your career:
- Evaluate how you got to where your are – Look back at your schooling, speak with supervisors and friends and get a sense for the decisions you’ve made and how they’ve impacted your career over time. This is a great way to prepare for your next performance review.
- Seek out a career mentor -Places like LinkedIn and industry networking events are great places to meet potential mentors that can help you in your career. But don’t scare them away!
- Update your LinkedIn profile – What do recruiters see when they view your profile? Make the most of the opportunity by optimizing your LinkedIn profile so that it really stands out!
- Write a blog and contribute regularly – Want to be recognized in your industry by your peers online? Create your own footprint. A blog is a great way to generate a captive audience that’s interested in your ideas about things in your field. Not sure how to begin? Check out a great HR blog by Steve Boese for ideas
- Engage in social media – Join a Twitter chat or two, follow key thought-leaders in your field and don’t forget to say something that matters! One of the best to do it is Mark Babbitt (@YouTernMark) over at YouTern. Connect with him first!
- Network face to face – Still, in my opinion, one of the best ways to do business even if it may be the most intimidating. If you need help with how to network, grab a copy of my book Never Miss the Mark: Career Search Strategies Provided by HR Pros on Amazon Kindle, Apple iTunes, Barnes and Nobles Nook and Sony Reader!
- Attend a class to learn new skills (coursera or community college or online) – The world is full of ways to pick up new skills for a very low cost and even for free. If you’ve never checked out Coursera, please do. It offers college courses from 33 different colleges and university for free in many key professional areas!
- Get a professional résumé redone – Odds are, your resume could stand a bit of Spring Cleaning. Not just because you need to add new accomplishments but also because you need to include the top tricks of resume writing that have evolved in the last year or two. Get help and see your job prospects improve!
- Set goals for yourself – Are you going through your career without any direction? If so, you want to get your career back on track by setting goals for yourself. Sometimes, you can’t rely on your boss to give you this kind of feedback so you have to learn to do it on your own.
- Be persistent and resilient – Life is all about adjusting to feedback and improving based on what comes next. Sometimes you can’t control everything and so the secret sauce to career success is really about being open to what comes next!
Ready to begin a new path for your career? Visit Jumpstart:HR’s career page and learn more about our resume, LinkedIn and career coaching services.
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