The etiquette required in connecting/contacting people on LinkedIn can make even senior executives anxious. The thing to recognize is that people who look at your profile are usually there for a reason. While some may be recruiters, others could be friends, or former co-workers trying to reconnect. So, what do you do when a recruiter has viewed your profile on LinkedIn? This question came up in a LinkedIn Group discussion r...

As I’ve noted several times, including recently, I’m a fan of LinkedIn recommendations, both in an active job search and in ongoing career management. They help you leverage your career success based on the value you have contributed throughout your career and beef up the strength of your LinkedIn profile. Because LinkedIn keeps changing a lot of its features, I decided to investigate what the process of requesting and...

Relationships don’t just happen–at least, the ones that matter don’t. And in my book, those are the only ones worth spending much time and energy on. Whether it’s in relation to your ongoing career success or to your non-work-related life, you can’t afford to ignore the value and importance of building and nurturing strong relationships. That’s true whether or not they produce any short-term benefits for you personally....

The employment trend for years has been to encourage (urge?) everyone to go for a college degree focused on a non-trades career. In fact, skilled trades stopped being even considered as a career path by many people, and those individuals who did choose such a goal have often been looked-down-on. However, that view could need to change drastically and sooner than you might think. Should Everyone Target Senior Management? A r...

At least once or twice in the past I’ve written about some aspect of career sabotage–that is, when you have sabotaged your own career, not when someone else has done it to you. The topic came to mind again today when I read an article called “5 Ways You’re Sabotaging Your Career Success” by Avery Augustine. The thing is, you’re probably more likely to spot it when someone is doing it to you than you are when you are the...

Here we are at the beginning of October, with the end-of-the-year holiday period not quite staring us in the face but close enough to inspire some thought about what’s next for us. If someone said to you now, “You should consider leaving your current job in the near future,” would your reaction be “Leave my job now? Are you crazy?!!!” Mind you, I’m not exactly advocating that you should leap into the unknown and chuck your...

If you view your career as something that only needs attention when you’re about to be pushed into a job search by circumstances beyond your control, you’re indulging in fuzzy career thinking. More than likely, that will lead to poor career results. It’s basically true that you can’t get more out of something than you’re able–and willing–to put into it. Career progress definitely falls into that category. 5 Tips to Avoid Fu...

Whether it’s a case of being one of 100 people receiving the dreaded pink slip or just one poor soul who ran afoul of management and was shown the door, your job has gone and it’s not coming back. What do you do now? Of course, the exact circumstances can and probably do have some bearing on the actions you take. Being caught in a group layoff–even a small one–has a different tone than being fired for not meeting management...

When you attend so-called networking events, you most likely don’t have a chance to gen-up on the other attendees ahead of time or give them an opportunity to do the same about you. That’s what I’ve labeled cold-call networking. On the other hand, when you schedule a conversation with someone you haven’t met before, you do have a chance to pave the way–and you should. Warm networking offers much greater potential value...

As I’ve said before, it’s great when you land that new job you’ve been after, and you’re entitled to enjoy at least a brief celebration. However–and this is critical–you cannot rest on your laurels. You need to turn your successful job search into on-the-job success. Some things are fairly obvious in that regard. You need to show up at work every day, on time and ready to go. You need to pay attention to what’s going on aro...