The whiff of a new year is when many of us begin to breathe in plans and visions of new beginnings, whether we’re talking personally or professionally. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2016 is the year of the monkey – the animal most aligned with smart people. Maybe this signals the year of shrewdness when it comes to career advancement – turning your steps into professional strides.
Whether you’re running a business or working for someone else, below are four professional advancement avenues that are worth considering as part of your new year’s resolution:
- Take advantage of LinkedIn’s burgeoning membership.
The last time I wrote about LinkedIn, the statistics clearly showed that this online professional forum is ‘going places’. A keyword optimised, fully utilised LinkedIn profile will expose your brand to an inestimable amount of career opportunities, both via recruiters and network connections. If you’re running a business, a streamlined LinkedIn company page that aligns with staff members’ LinkedIn profiles will further enhance your global brand presence.
- Maintain an up-to-date, job customised resume.
In addition to a professionally written LinkedIn profile to attract career opportunities, it’s advisable that you keep a current version of your resume handy. While your LinkedIn profile provides a synopsis of your professional and personal strengths, your resume drills down further into job specific capabilities. See my earlier blog on the benefits of maintaining a job customised resume – most recruiters will expect a resume, even if they’ve contacted you via your LinkedIn profile.
- Amplify and innovate your brand interactions.
Blogs, articles and other social media postings are an ideal way to promote your business knowledge and increase your brand exposure. Consider setting up a marketing schedule that involves regular blogs and articles across your website and other online profiles. Also start to share and post regularly on the most popular, brand relevant sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Although be careful not to mix the personal with professional, as discussed in a recent blog.
- Build your networks and connections far and wide.
Whether it’s someone you went to college with 20+ years ago, or a colleague you haven’t been in touch with since you were a fresh-faced grad, reach out and connect via social media. The more connections and interactions you have on LinkedIn in particular, the better you’ll rank. And who knows what career opportunities could arise – beyond what you imagined. Always personalise connection requests and engage regularly to enhance your brand presence.
Walton’s Words has extensive experience in establishing online profiles and other professional documentation that build and advance career opportunities. Whether it’s your LinkedIn profile that could do with a tweak, or a resume that needs a 20-year overhaul, we can help. Whether it’s website content that needs to lure in more customers or a blog routine that is yet to happen, we can help. Drop us a line or phone us if you’d like to discuss your professional advancement plans for 2016.
