New Year, Boost Your Career! 9 Strategies For A Successful 2017

Yahoo!!! (iStock.com)

It's the end of 2016. And what an interesting year it's been – please join me in welcoming 2017!

Many people use the new calendar year to mark a new beginning. If boosting your career is part of your agenda, here are X strategies you can use to position yourself for a promotion, or get that new job you've wanted.

1. Maximize Your Annual Performance Appraisal. Most employers do performance evaluations in the beginning of the year. Come prepared with your list of accomplishments. Quantify the value you've brought the company. If you're angling for a promotion, a strong performance appraisal is essential. Go in with your eyes open - if you're surprised by what you hear from your manager during your review, you haven't truly been paying attention to feedback throughout the year. If there are any development opportunities identified during the review, own them and discuss how you have worked to overcome them and plan to correct them going forward.

2. Create An Individual Development Plan (IDP). An IDP is a tool to help you in your personal development. Prepared in conjunction with your manager, it documents your strengths, your weaknesses, and your career goals, explores career possibilities, identifies training opportunities, and provides you with a road map how you plan to get there. Preparing and adhering to an IDP also serves the critical function of reinforcing to your organization's leadership your commitment to your professional development. It's also a good opportunity to ask yourself if you really want a promotion and all the headaches which accompany it. Also, here some specific strategies you can follow to prepare yourself for that promotion.

3. Find A Mentor. It can be helpful to find somebody inside or outside your company who has achieved career-wise what you are looking to do. A good mentor is helpful because they aren't typically your manager (so you can be freer to discuss concerns and personal areas of development) and they can provide you an outside perspective as well as helpful guidance.

4. Benchmark Your Skill Set. It's helpful to know what the job market looks like for professionals such as yourself. Check out the job listings on LinkedIn and Indeed. Take a look at what you could earn with another employer by using salary data on Salary.com or Paysa. You might find out that your current employer is compensating you quite well and above market averages; or, not so much. Do you know some agency recruiters (i.e., headhunters) who work in your field? Pick their brains about the job market, too.

5. Get Your Resume In Shape. It doesn't matter whether or not you're planning to leave your current company. Even if you're applying for an internal opportunity at your employer, or you've been tapped to interview for a promotion, you'll need a resume which reflects your accomplishments and personal growth, and is strategically targeted for the job you're hoping to get. Here are 6 things you can do to strengthen your resume today.

6. Polish Your Interviewing Skills. Again, even if you have no intention of leaving your company, it's become increasingly common to have employees interview with their own organization's leaders if they're being considered for an internal move or a promotion. Learn as much as you can about behavioral interviewing - that's when an interviewer asks you about how you've dealt with a difficult situation in the past to get an idea about how you would handle it in the future. Here are some additional ways to make the interview work for you.

7. Network. Your reputation is only as good as what people hear, and if they're not hearing anything about you, then you really don't have a reputation to speak of. Join the board of the local chapter of your professional trade group. Volunteer with a nonprofit. Attend those college alumni events. You don't necessarily need to work a room to get noticed, either. Often, familiarity breeds awareness of your career and your skills, and you'll often find that people will keep you in mind and recommend you if they hear of any appropriate job opportunities. And yes, connecting and engaging with your peers on LinkedIn certainly counts as networking. Want to get noticed on LinkedIn? Here are some tips.

8. Keep Learning. Considering how quickly the required skills are changing due to technological advances, it's lethal to stop upgrading your skills. Take classes through your trade group. Go back for your Master's degree. Take a course on Coursera or LinkedIn Learning. If you don't know the essential emerging technology in your field, it's guaranteed that somebody else will know it – and they'll be a more desirable job candidate. All other factors being equal, skills trump all.

9. Dress The Part. Your appearance speaks volumes. People perceive your professionalism through your attire. Take the opportunity to upgrade your wardrobe, and reinforce your manager's and your peers' positive impression of you. It might be time to put the jeans away, and wear a nice pair of slacks.

Here's to a prosperous 2017!

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Have I Stayed in My Job Too Long?

Is this day over? (iStock.com)

When I worked as a recruiter on the staffing agency side of things, we were told not to reach out to potential candidates about jobs who had been in their jobs for seven years or longer. Apparently, that was the perceived shelf life of a job - anything beyond that, the candidate was perceived as "stale." They were too stuck in the corporate culture to make a move, or too ingrained in their current corporate culture to appear dynamic or appealing to another employer.

This is all debatable, of course - it's opinion. While there is no hard and fast rule about job tenure, it is entirely possible to overstay your welcome at an employer.

Likewise, loyalty is a funny thing. Companies expect it from you – until they don't want it. I've seen employees who believed they held the company's best interests at heart by sticking around through thick and thin, and who were then selected for the first round of layoffs when times turned tough.

You may love your job (or you may not, who am I to say), but some movement in your career can be a positive thing. Here are some risks of staying with an employer or in a particular role for too long.

• You've Become Part of the Scenery: You've consistently gotten things done. You've completed every chore that's asked of you, and you've done it well. But you're so ingrained in the routine of things that there's little to help your work stick out or get noticed. Your tenure tells your boss that you've been here a while, and you're not planning on leaving, so why change things up?
• It's a New Regime: The department has new leadership, and the recently-hired Director is bringing in her own people who think like she does. You've been doing things the way your last Director told you to, and while it's not wrong, your thinking isn't completely in line with the leader. Simply put, she wants a new team.
• Your Skills are Getting Stale: Different companies do things differently, whether its office dynamics, or the technical applications they use, or the day-to-day work you're doing. Maybe you're a COBOL guy, and it's VB world out there. A new position will teach you new skills.
• There's Nowhere to Go: You don't have the skills to move up. Or the organization is too small for you to grow and develop. Or, they won't provide you with training to make yourself more marketable. Either way, dead end. Boring.

This isn't to say that you need to make a job change for the sake of a job change - there are many reasons to stay in a role, from salary to commute to job satisfaction. But it may be worth keeping an eye on the job market. I'm not advocating job hopping; that comes with its own ups and downs.

Here are some suggestions if you're concerned you've been in your current job too long.

• Have a Development Conversation With Your Manager. Get an honest opinion about your career path and your skills. Try to find out how to make the best of your current job. You may not have maximized your opportunities.
• Talk to That Recruiter. Sometimes you'll get a call out of the blue from a headhunter about a potential job opportunity. Take the call, make some time to talk, and ask plenty of questions about your background and the job opportunity. This might not be the job you want, but if you make a good impression, they'll keep you in mind for the future.
• Look at the Job Postings. Comb the job boards to look at positions which may be a good match for you. Try to benchmark your skills and experience to the roles. Perhaps there is a better fit out there, or you can develop your skills internally to improve your current situation.

Tired of working for other people? Pondering the life of an entrepreneur? Find out if it works for you here.

Want to get noticed when applying for jobs online? Learn more here.

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Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Sick Of Working For Other People? Are You Wired To Be An Entrepreneur?

This article originally appeared on Recruiter.com: https://www.recruiter.com/i/sick-of-working-for-other-people-are-you-wired-to-be-an-entrepreneur/

Your boss is a jerk (and that's putting it nicely). Your commute sucks. Getting a 2% annual raise feels more like an insult than a reward.

In other words, you're getting fed up with being an employee, and you're starting to wonder whether it make sense to branch out on your own and start your own company. Be your own boss. Call the shots. BECOME THE MASTER OF YOUR OWN DESTINY!

The freedom of getting out of the workaday job, running your own company, and being an entrepreneur is a pretty sexy lure.

I made the transition myself in 2015 from corporate recruiter to running a resume writing and career coaching business – it's been fun, exciting, and rewarding.

But it's still a job. Which means that there's still work to be done. At the end of the day, the goal is to provide value to customers, translating this into a paycheck.

If you're thinking about making the transition from employee to self-employed, it's important to approach your thinking as if you are considering a career move. Because you are considering a career move - one in which you are the company.

Here are some factors to consider if you're considering a shift toward becoming your own employer.

THE POSITIVES:

• Flexibility. You call the shots. Rather spend the day playing tiddlywinks or swigging down Guinness? No problem. You don't even need to call in sick while faking a hacking cough - just take the day off.
• Control. It's up to you to make your own business decisions. Want to spend money on advertising? Prefer to charge more or less for your products? Go for it. No need to run a concept up the flagpole, socialize your idea, or gain acceptance for your initiative in the workplace. It's all you, dude.
• You'll see your accomplishments in black and white (or black and red). As an entrepreneur, any deal you close is the result of your own efforts. How you're doing in operating your business is as clear as looking at your gross and and net revenues.

THE NEGATIVES (Okay, let's be politically correct and call them "Challenges"):

• There are very few boundaries. What I mean is that as an entrepreneur, you need to be available to provide services to your clients when they are available. If you are running a B2B business, this may be a bit easier since your clients might generally operate Monday through Friday, from 9am to 5pm. But if you service businesses who operate 24/7, or if your target clientele is individual consumers, you need to be available when they are. This may mean evenings or weekends.
• Uneven workflow. See the boundaries bullet above, this is its kissing cousin. Clients are usually either lining up to hand you their money, or it's like a ghost town and the phone isn't ringing. When the rushes occur, it's all about making time to take on those clients who may walk away (with their money) if you don't provide them service. Working evenings and weekends is pretty common when there's a need to stay on top of work, much less try to get ahead.
• You don't just have one boss. It's true that you don't have a manager anymore. But every client you take on expects to be listened to and satisfied. And not everybody will be happy with your work the first time (or any time) around, so you will need to work that much harder to meet or exceed their expectations. Keep in mind, clients who love you will provide you with repeat business and referrals; clients who hate you will (at best) fume in silence or (at worst) tell the world they wish you a hot death.
• Good luck with budgeting. Even the best business rolling on all cylinders has both good months and lean months. Sometimes the issue is not enough new business coming in. Other times it's trouble collecting from your existing clientele. I personally have found it challenging to allocate consistently for retirement and savings due to the inherent variability - even with the most conservative personal budget.
• It's all on you. Unless you can afford to pay staff or service providers to help you with your work, you will need to find a way to get all the work done. Administrative, strategic, marketing, you name it.

REQUIRED SKILLS & COMPETENCIES TO START UP AND RUN A BUSINESS:

• Resources to live on while you start and grow the business. You're not going to stop eating or paying rent when you start a new business, and that means the meter is running from the moment you wake up. You'll need a substantial nest egg, a financially supportive partner, or lotto winnings to keep paying for the basics in life.
• Customer Service. The customer may not always be right, but they're damn close. They always have a right to be heard, and you need to listen because quite often they are giving you information about what they really want, and whether their needs are being met. Providing a customer-centric experience can be a game changer.
• Marketing. It's fair to say that you can easily spend as much time getting the word out about your business to generate customers as you do on the service you providing service. In the beginning, it's completely about marketing. And implementing a marketing plan can grow rather complicated. Where do you advertise? Who is your target demographic? What should you spend? Do you have a website? How's your SEO?
• Networking. I have a confession - I don't love the networking aspect of running a business, but I've learned to embrace it because it's essential to growing your brand. You need to always be networking. Keep those relationships alive with past coworkers, chambers of commerce, nonprofit organizations, fellow PTA parents – you name it. It will surprise you when a few folks you network with end up becoming some of your biggest apostles, sharing your business message on your behalf (REWARD THESE PEOPLE!).
• Multitasking & Organization. Business comes in when it comes in. You can't plan it. You need to be able to juggle various deadlines and provide service promptly. But you also need to be able to switch between your core work that customers are paying you to do and taking (or making) marketing calls. Have organization systems in place to keep track of the progress of all your open items.
• Endurance. Long hours. Crazy, inconsistent schedules. You need stamina to keep rolling.
• A thick skin. I've had clients end our business relationship. I've had individuals who have criticized my fees, my marketing, and other aspects of my business. It's critical to learn to take the feedback, gather the important nuggets of wisdom from these, and move forward. No time for sulking (okay, maybe a few minutes of sulking).
• Adaptability. Find that the way you've been advertising isn't attracting clients like you thought it would? Don't be afraid to try something new. Also, always be learning more about your craft - try to identify a mentor who's been through what you're experiencing, so they can help you identify solutions. Join associations that provide continuing education. Whether it's your core business or your marketing, things are rapidly changing and you'll need to adjust if you wish to stay profitable. You'll need to consistently look at your business and tweak accordingly.
• Financial Acumen. You don't need to be an accountant, but it's a good idea to understand the basics of bookkeeping and reporting so that you have an up-to-the-minute sense of how your investment of time and money is paying off. Try to look at the return on investment of any activities you conduct; if that sponsorship you made last year didn't translate into any clients, then your money may be better spent elsewhere.

Bottom line: Leaving the structured world of the corporate workplace isn't all ducks and bunnies and rainbows, but it can be absolutely rewarding. Make sure that if you're getting ready to resign and run that yak farm in Montana, that you know what you're getting into.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. He is a Human Resources professional and staffing expert with almost two decades of in-house corporate HR and staffing firm experience, and is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).

Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.