5 Smart Things to Do for Your Executive Career This Spring
March is the beginning of the spring-cleaning season. It can also have relevance to your executive career. Could you use a little ‘spring forward’ when it comes to your professional life?
Reset your Schedule
There’s not enough time in a day to do everything. Prioritize within your list of priorities. Some tough handling may be needed. It’s helpful to list the top five professional priorities you want to focus your energy on. Then use ‘time blocking’- setting aside specific hours on your calendar for distinct tasks- to ensure that you always get to them. If one of your goals is to get a promotion this year, include some serious strategy planning.
Improve your CV
Spring is the time of new beginnings, reorganizing and purging. The same principle can be applied to improving your CV: ‘Seasonal’ updates are far more effective than putting the task off until you’re ready to jump ship.
It will help when a shiny new opportunity suddenly presents itself and also prepare you for a self-promoting elevator pitch at a networking event. Updating your CV at least once a year also helps you keep track of your accomplishments and wins.
Think about the format of how to update your CV. The idea that a CV must be reasonably short is outdated and puts you at disadvantage. A strong CV is a long as it needs to be to tell your story. It’s worth to incorporate graphic elements into your CV as this will help you to stand out.
Energize Your LinkedIn Profile
There’s no excuse for a musty and outdated LinkedIn profile. It’s just one hour of work to make it enticing and up to date. It’s all about making yourself searchable.
Use your professional headline not only to list your current Executive position, it’s 120 characters, use it more strategically by incorporating keywords.
Bonus Tip: avoid discrepancies between the job titles on your CV and your LinkedIn profile.
Breathe some Fresh Air into your Executive Role
Many executives get so caught up in the day-to-day planning and execution of their jobs that they lose touch with current events within their industry—but this knowledge is essential to long term career success. This is what we learnt with our long experience of executive career coaching.
This can be achieved by joining a professional society to expand your network. It’s advisable to attend at least one industry conference. Keep your finger on the pulse and stay as current as possible. If you feel you are behind get down to work.
Dust Off Your Networking List
Nurture your relationships. Effort and consistency are the key words. Take the time to reconnect with your contacts—not because you’re pushing for a specific favor, but simply to let them know you still value them.
Reach out to people who may be able to drive forward your career but don’t ask them for anything. A quick note to say hello and see how they are doing goes a long way.
