Time is your most important resource. Relative to your ‘employment,’ how you spend your time determines how much money you have and much more. How you spend your time impacts everything in your life including your finances, career, family, and health. Time is also a more limited resource.

As you begin the New Year, take a few minutes to reflect on how you spent your time last year and how you might better spend your time this year. Ask yourself if you really think working harder or more hours is the best solution for you.

For some, working harder may be the solution. The simple addition of practice time, devoted to developing your verbal skills may produce strong dividends.  Another gift to your career would be a commitment to regular—but, REGULATED—time spent developing your network through LinkedIn… a “painless plus” to the net worth of your network.

Some clearly need to put more effort into their work, but for most to reach a higher level of performance, they need to get out of the comfort of doing the same thing they’ve been doing. They need to elevate their skills and knowledge. They need to change their approach. They need to change their mindset, get out of their own way, and employ new practices if they truly expect to be more productive and effective.

If you remain unconvinced, consider this simple test. How many people in your circle of influence would pick you to be on their “dream team” of top performers based on your proven performance? Who would you pick to be on your dream team? Would you or others be first-round draft picks based on what you’ve been doing? If so, congratulations. Keep doing it.

If not, let this be your wake-up call to focus on your personal and professional development in the New Year.   Many find it useful to have a partner in this process… an ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER who can “hold your feet to the fire…” and be willing to tickle their toes in the flames as well.

CRITICAL is the development of your personal sense of accountability to accomplishing your goals!

As a career consultant who is privileged to work with many terrific professionals, leaders in their chosen field of endeavor, and other successful people, I find few people who simply need to do more of what they’ve been doing in order to improve their performance. For most people, they need to step out of their current habits, adopt a new way of thinking, increase their knowledge in new areas, and develop their skills. They need to be more strategic and invest more time in themselves.

TIME, my friends, marches on…

Will you be joining in the parade or viewing from the sidelines?  Accountability facilitates success.  YOUR choice.  Happy New Year.

NETWORKING: A Career Strategy

We network effectively in our daily life to find trusted auto mechanics, the best doctors, the least expensive grocery store—we ask our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers… THAT is networking!  And what makes it work for us is the interaction involved, we are communicating with others in its most basic form.

So why panic and freeze during career transition?  Simply begin where ever you find yourself right now… and build from there for the rest of your career.  Technology is your friend, here.  Technology is the best way to leverage the time that you have available for productive and efficient networking.  Technology provides you the tools; but remember, technology is not a replacement for your #1 task… it is up to you to identify and develop those relationships that will get you the results you seek… for the rest of your career.

 Networking is a contact sport!

 WHERE To Start

 As a contact sport, networking is about interaction between sender and receiver, buyer and seller… job seeker and potential employers.  The great news is that you get to start from YOUR ‘sweet spot’ or middle ground where all this interaction occurs the easiest!  You start with people that you already know or have some connection to.

If your ‘natural network’ doesn’t have a regular meeting—most do not, by their very diverse nature—groups of like minded people are easy to identify and attend.  As you begin to reach out and broaden your ‘sweet spot,’ be selective in your attempt to create a supportive ‘community’ grouping close to your targeted marketplace.

 Enjoy this day of thanks…

Between Thanksgiving and early January 2014, there will be no pre-scheduled Events at the Egg and I Restaurant.  In their place I am offering to meet with any ACCOUNTABILITY PAIRS (or TEAMS) to facilitate their activity… requests to schedule must be emailed to me at least two days prior to your accountability meeting.  Thanks, and enjoy this holiday season.

NEXT EVENT… Thursday, January 2nd at The Egg and I  Topic? Embracing The OTHER Job Market… an overview of DFWCareerpilot’s ‘new curriculum… a can’t miss meeting for you regulars and new comers alike.

 This week, the focus is on YOU, the regular participants of DFWCareerpilot.  For those who have already scheduled, please be sure that I have your current resume draft and a notion of the topics you’d like to cover–so I can be prepared for you.

Each scheduled time will be roughly 1/2 hour and FREE to you… HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The coveted “BREAKFAST TIME Slot” is still available to the first person who confirms this full hour time slot from 8:30 to 9:25 AM.  First come first served!

Confirmation can be via email or phone: 214.563.2865

Cheers!

Hope y’all are enjoying your holidays.  There will be no session this week, but please anticipate ramping up for the New Year… You can schedule some FREE personal consulting time on January Third, 25 minutes per person… starting at 9 AM… topic of YOUR choice.  The first person who schedules with me for some extra time will get the 8:30-9:25 AM time slot for the mere cost of our breakfast together.

You can email The Careerpilot at bob@careerpilot.com or call me on my cell to schedule your time.

One hour time slots will be available to ACCOUNTABILITY PAIRS.

I look forward to serving y’all in the New Year.

I need your input… which do you prefer and why…?

1. Continue regular workshops through the holidaze into the New Year.
2. Shift to ACCOUNTABILITY PAIRS with scheduled times.

ACTION REQUESTED: Please email me directly, bob@careerpilot.com with your thoughts, THX!

Simply call or email me before Wednesday noon to schedule your time slot.

The article linked below was written in a different context but applies to job seekers as well…

http://www.clicknewz.com/3491/accountability-partner/

Both regular participants and new comers are encouraged to partner up with at least one other person… then call or email Bob to schedule a block of time for some personalized attention tomorrow morning.

If you don’t have a partner but would like one… start a DISCUSSION in our LinkedIn Group and request one or COMMENT on anyone else’s request.

As an alternative, you could also ‘leave a comment’ or REPLY to this posting by scrolling down to the bottom of THIS PAGE.

Remember, the drop dead deadline is 6 PM tonight!

Call or email Bob to schedule your personal block of time…for you and your ‘accountability partner’ to meet with YOUR Careerpilot regarding…

• Acountability Teaming, or…
• Practice of specific skills, or…
• Resolving specific implementation issues, or…
• Personal Market Plan Development

Any or all of the above is fair game, but you must schedule with at least a partner (2-4 person teams will be scheduled).  Your partner can be a guest or other new comer… FIRST Timers are encouraged to participate!

Looking for a partner or team member?

Simply make your request as a new discussion item in our LinkedIn Group:  DFWCareerpilot … or as a COMMENT to another individual request.  Remember, this is all about INTERACTION as a focal point of your career transition efforts!

NEXT ACTUAL WORKSHOP is Thursday, July 5th: LinkedIn Task#2, with a focus on developing your network.

The notion of an “unpublished or hidden” job market is far from new.  However, knowledge of “The OTHER” job market, and your ability to execute your Personal Market Plan in it, will create both focus and productivity in your career transition. 

The definition, strategies and tactics of this other market go well beyond those of the “unpublished or hidden” job market … You see, in every marketplace, there are buyers and sellers.  In the traditional job market, the one that our Department of Labor “analyzes,” job seekers are the sellers and their potential employers are the buyers.  The commodity is JOBS and the competition is fierce.

In the OTHER Job Market, buyers and sellers hold equal responsibility for the recruitment process.  When employers have a need for someone to fulfill a specific role, often the most desired candidates are employed individuals with the credentials they seek.  Thus the employer must sell their Company to potential employees in the marketplace in order to attract the best of the lot.  Once identified, they simply select their choice and buy their services. 

In other words, the commodity is productive WORK being assigned to the most qualified individual who ‘fits’ the employers needs.  Often, this WORK has not been clearly defined yet and the employer has not approved an open job requisition.  Timing is everything in the OTHER job market…

Participation in the Other Marketplace of work is most effective when executed as a career strategy, making the whole process a part of what you do within your career… NOT just a job search methodology.

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