I was just looking at one of the people in my volunteer group on LinkedIn. She has a full profile with her career highlights and education but only a few links and most of them are for our group not professional peer links.
This concerns me because if there is one thing I have heard over and over again, it’s that you can’t leave your career to chance.
It used to be that if you graduated from a good program, got into a good company and worked hard, the opportunities to grow would just happen. They just appeared, ripe for the picking.
Not anymore. I talk to people everyday who followed this path. They worked really hard, and did everything that was asked of them. They were always too busy to look for new jobs or do anything else to manage their career. Now, they have all the time in the world and they don’t know where to begin.
Managing your career is like to going to the gym: no one likes to do it, but you feel good when it’s done. Your career needs 20 minutes three times per week just like your body.
It can be finding connections on LinkedIn or surfing for interesting job ads or just going to a meeting or conference and talking to someone new or reviewing your resume. It all counts.
These activities should not stop once you get to your new gig either. No matter how immersed you are in your new organization, make the time update your profiles, join new associations and add your new responsibilities to your C.V.