FEBRUARY 17, 2005

Courtesy of ExecutiveAgent.com

TOP TIPS

10 Tips for Career Success
By Alvah Parker

  1. Find ways to learn continuously.
  2. Find ways to improve whatever you do. Be willing to incorporate the new ideas that you learn in #1.
  3. Do your work completely and with pride.
  4. Be true to your own values.
  5. Clear up those irritations (energy drains) so that you can devote your energy to your work.
  6. Practice self-care so that you feel good about yourself.
  7. Keep work in perspective so that you have time for other parts of your life (family, friends, hobbies, volunteer work).
  8. Listen carefully to everyone. Managers need to walk around and talk to employees and customers.
  9. Network within your company and outside.
  10. Delegate tasks when appropriate and empwer those doing the work to do it their own way.

Alvah Parker is publisher of Road to Success and Parker's Points, e-newsletters providing strategies to advance your business and career goals. Click here to subscribe. Alvah is a Work/life coach, who can be reached at asparker@asparker.com, or visited on the web at www.asparker.com.


COMPLIMENTARY RESUME CRITIQUE

In today's competitive environment, a well-written resume is critical if you want to get noticed. If your current resume isn't generating interest among executive recruiters and potential employers, you may want to consider hiring a professional resume writer.

Kennedy Information, the publisher of Career Tips and Tactics, has partnered with a leading resume-writing firm that specializes in helping executives and career-minded professionals get noticed. You're invited to receive a free critique - conducted via the telephone - of your current resume. If you choose, you can also ask the professional resume writer to provide you with a price quote if you determine that your resume could benefit from an overhaul.

To receive your risk-free telephone consultation please email a copy of your resume to resumecritique@executiveagent.com


© 2005 Kennedy Information, Inc., a BNA Company.

Networking has taken two big steps forward in the information age. LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is a networking website that leverages one's existing network to connect with others. Members invite friends and colleagues to become part of their LinkedIn network, resulting in a searchable web of trusted contacts connected by personal relationships. Since the most helpful networking contacts are often on the periphery of our own network, LinkedIn can help bridge the gap. A new online networking resource is CareerJournal.com's Executive Locator (http://eliyon.careerjournal.com). For a modest fee, the service enables you to search Eliyon Technologies' database of over 24 million individual profiles to find professionals in the industries, regions, and/or organizations you are targeting in your job search. One way to test out Eliyon's search capabilities: search for your own name at www.eliyon.com. The focus of this issue of Career Tips and Tactics is on the results of two recent surveys - one of executive search firms and one of U.S. companies - that both indicate increased hiring activity in the first half of 2005. Read on for details!

-- Jennifer Zaslow, Editor, Career Tips and Tactics


Optimistic Outlook for Management and Executive Hiring

The Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) surveyed 274 search firm executives worldwide in January 2005. More than three-quarters (77%) of surveyed search consultants are positive about their industry's outlook for the next six months, and 82% hold a positive outlook for their own search practice for the same time frame.

The AESC six-month outlook survey also found that search activity is currently strong or very strong and predicted to remain so in several industries. Nearly half (47.4%) of surveyed search firm executives expect increased hiring in the banking/financial services sector, followed by information technology (38.3%), pharmaceuticals/biotech (34.6%) and manufacturing (33.5%). Executive search consultants expect the least growth in the hotels/tourism, transportation, education and publishing industries.

In a January 2005 Management Recruiters International (MRI) survey of more than 500 executives responsible for the hiring of middle management and professional staff at their organizations, 59.3% of the participants reported intending to make new hires in the first half of 2005. This represents an 11.7 point increase over January 2004 levels.

The MRI survey spanned U.S. geographic regions, industries, and company sizes. Hiring for management and professional positions was expected across the board. Certain industries are planning significant additions in the first half of 2005. Nearly 80% of firms surveyed in the construction industry plan to increase staff levels. Increased hiring is also expected among companies in the consumer goods/products (69.0%), aerospace/aviation (62.5%), manufacturing/production (57.2%), healthcare (54.2%) and automotive (47.5%) industries.

"Companies that have been very cautious about making new hires now seem to be gearing up for expansion," said Allen Salikof, president and CEO of MRI. "They are willing to make an investment in their businesses by adding the staff they need to increase market share. This rise in the number of companies planning to add new hires started during the last half of 2004, and the trend appears to be gaining momentum. We have not seen these kinds of numbers since 2001."

As the hiring economy continues to ramp up and activity in search firms increases, it is important to maintain your connections with recruiters and executive search professionals working in your region and industry. Visit ExecutiveAgent.com to learn how you can connect with search consultants who can open doors for you with hiring companies.

 

 
 
Career Tips and Tactics is provided courtesy of ExecutiveAgent.com. Written in a brief, executive-style format, each issue contains executive-only career strategies and tactics.

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