10 tips for boosting your career in 2011

1. Look out for number 1

Take responsibility for your own career growth. Many big organizations have scaled back on training and development a regular outcome of the economic downturn and small companies can rarely provide significant support.

2: Be strategic

Have a long-term career strategy, or at the very least, a sense of where you’re headed. Ask yourself, “What do I actually want to do?” or “Where do I see myself in 5 to 10 years?” Seek people in similar roles and ask for their advice.

3: Work in step with your company’s goals

Connect the dots from your role to your company’s vision and key objectives. How does your work align with the organization’s aims? What can you do to maximize your contributions?

4: Be customer centric

Whether your clients are internal or external, know their wants and needs and be fervent about meeting them. Bring the voice of the customer into your day-to-day job and let it enhance your decisions and deliverables.

5: Collaborate

Working with and through others is requisite to innovating, creating, and producing business results. Adopt a mindset for teaming and collaborating and put it into every day practice.

6: Hone your communication skills

Communication skills can make or break careers. Pick one part that needs your attention considering skills such as listening, presenting, influencing, persuading, or distilling messages and commit to development. Take a class, practice with a trusted friend or colleague, or join a group such as Toastmasters.

7: Cross over functionally

Many winning executives have risen through the ranks by taking cross-functional roles, such as moving from finance to sales or from marketing to IT. Follow their lead and you can develop your skills, your network, and your political capital.

8: Expand your experience

Volunteer for special projects or assignments that are outside your daily role. Discuss your aims with your boss, an HR representative, or a senior leader and ask for help in finding opportunities to broaden your experience base.

9: Find a guide

Mentors can serve as influential role models and provide important guidance for your career. Reach out to a potential mentor within your company or industry and see if he or she would be open to mentoring you for a particular purpose and timeframe.

10: Network now

The best time to raise your network is today. Starting at the present, get involved in groups such as professional associations, charitable organizations, or even sports leagues. Step into leadership roles and make your expertise known.

10 tips to improve your interview skills

1. Know the job, and know the company. "If I've got a place open for a nuclear engineer," told Laura Paddock, talent acquisition manager at TVA, "do they understand that I'm a utility. Do they understand what TVA does? We're always surprised to hear public say, 'I don't know a lot about you, other than that you make electricity.' "

2. Be willing to do what it takes. Brad Pope, vice president of human resources at Memorial Health Care System, told knowing that a candidate has the willingness to do the job for which he or she is interviewing is the No. 1 thing he looks for during a conference.

3. Be on time. Or early. And if you're kept waiting, be gracious about it. "We've had candidates who have complained," told Kathy Reid-Papson, talent acquisition manager at BlueCross Blue Shield of Tennessee.

4. Be honest about your experience. "Don't lie, either on your resume or during the interview," Paddock said. "Don't oversell yourself." Speak accurately to the roles you had in previous jobs.

5. Turn off the cell phone, or better yet, leave it in the car. You want to focus on the interview, not on what is ringing or vibrating in your pocket.

6. Address the interviewer by the right name. "It seems like many candidates don't go to the trouble, when setting up an interview, of listening to hear with whom they'll be speaking," told Reid-Papson. "Maybe it's one person, maybe it's three, but they need to know who they are and what their titles are, so ask that when the interview is being set up."

7. Look and act the part. Be professional in dress and demeanor. "Can they articulate?" said Paddock. "Do they provide professional responses, regardless of the position?"

8. Don't talk to the interviewer about your personal problems. "If a person's looking for a job, obviously they need and want to work," told Reid-Papson. "But if they start getting into too many details about not liking their former boss or their husband doesn't want them to go to work, anything that's personal can become a turnoff pretty fast."

9. Don't ask about salary out of the gate. "That's a bit of a red flag," said Paddock, "because it sends the message that the person is only interested in the salary and not in the bigger picture."

10. Be specific. Employers are interested in hearing examples of your successes and failures. Rather than just saying, "Yes, I have management skills," tell the recruiter about a project you led and what you learned.

3 Tips for better job-searching

Move away from the traditional resume.

You were taught in college to create a resume out of a Microsoft Word document. Times have changed, and you need to create a virtual resume instead. First, complete your LinkedIn profile by filling out each field and asking for recommendations. Then, turn your profile into a resume by going to www.resume.linkedinlabs.com.

Brush up on your soft skills.

A fresh Kelly Services research study of 100,000 people identified verbal communication as the most important skill for professionals. I also recommend having a strong work ethic, a positive attitude, problem-solving skills, team building skills and the ability to be flexible in work environments.

Network online — the right way.

Using social networks to get a job is a great idea only if you invest time in connecting with the right people instead of updating your status with the final meal you ate. Forty-four percent of people said that they unfollow in Twitter because they get too many updates, a SmartBrief.com report told.

Here are five tips to refresh your job hunt

• Reconsider the chronological resume. Using a format that highlights skills instead of employment history may be more productive

• Invest in latest packaging. Look outside the particular industry or field you’ve focused on. It’s possible the skills that make marketable in that field can be transferred to another

• Switch up your networking. Look for different groups to join and fresh ways to meet people outside your usual circle

• Get a second opinion. Ask a friend with good professional judgment to give you comment on your interview performance and have a recruiter or friend give you ideas for your resume and

• Expand your reach. If you can’t find what you’re looking for locally, explore options outside your present city.

Job Hunting Tips For The New Year

•Narrow your search. You are wasting your time applying for jobs that you're not qualified for or don't truly want. Instead, focus on the jobs you're well-qualified for.

•Do something to stand out from the competition. If you come across a job you want, send the hiring manager an email directly. Chances are the data can be found online.

•Check out your online reputation. That HR manager will. Better you take control of what the search of your name will bring up before that happens.

•It may help to start a Websites. It's a fine way to showcase your skills and talents. Websites aren't as expensive or difficult as you might think.

•Stay current. Keep in touch with what is going on within your industry. It may help you when that job interview comes.

5 smartphone tips for job hunting

1. Launch your Facebook app and remove damaging images of yourself. If you don't consider this is necessary, guess what — it is. Recruiters are getting savvier, and Google and Facebook searches are becoming the norm, so get embarrassing pics out of your photo album. Oh, and don't forget to parse pictures that your friends have tagged of you. (Your pics might be pristine, but you know some doofus uploaded that image of you and your ex doing body shots last month.) If your app doesn't support that, try it in your cell phone browser, or leave yourself an audio note, email or other reminder to do it when you're at your desktop, so you don't forget.

2. Access Linked In via an app or browser and accept EVERYONE (well, maybe not that high school chum with the criminal record and school listing of "Graduate of F.U.!" Yeah, him you can leave off). This will widen your networking pool, which is accurately what you want when job searching. And don't forget to message earlier supervisors and ask if they'll write you online recommendations. If you're actually into the Linked In thing, then joining industry groups for your desired field is also another way of connecting with new contacts and potential employers.

3. Keep a copy of your resume and a cover letter on hand — like in an app like DropBox, for example. I'm a big fan of DropBox, since there are Android, iPhone and BlackBerry apps for this, in addition to desktop and online access to free accounts. All that stays in sync, so there's no worry over sending the wrong version, no issue which you use. Of course, it's better to tailor each cover letter for the particular opening — not to mention that typos are notorious on handsets — but if you happen to come upon an opportunity that needs urgent response (and you're nowhere near your computer), at least you'll be prepared.

4. Keep your own professional contact info in your own addressbook (complete with URL to your online resume). I've actually had amazing conversations with people at parties, social outings and random venues that lead to incredible opportunities. With your own info on hand, you can mail it to the contact on the spot, or better yet — if they're carting around the Bump iPhone or Android application, you can knock devices to share your 411, all while looking like a savvy, hip, techno-forward professional they'd just love to have.

5. Use job search apps. In truth, some are excellent, some aren't. You'll have to do a little research to see which offer the best opportunities in your area. Generally speaking, for the iPhone, there's Monster.com's app. For Android users, there's Job Search. Both are must-haves on any job seeker's device, but feel free to bookmark the online classifieds in your cell phone browser of choice as well.