Don’t hit send…yet! The impression you leave could be a long and lasting one. Do you want to brand yourself as professional, intelligent, mature, patient, considerate and understanding? Although those managing an executive career would share a resounding “yes” too many are taking a high risk with online comments which could be construed as arrogant, antagonistic or lacking compassion and professionalism.

There are few investments any of us will make without giving careful consideration to the ROI (Return On Investment). Of the many investments to consider when managing a successful executive career, some will be long term, some short term and others may never present a clear or definitive return. The cost of furthering education such as that of acquiring an EMBA will likely take years before the ROI is fully recognized and even then it may be difficult to measure depending on

Over 800 million people have established profiles on Facebook and are actively engaged in networking. In Canada, that includes more than 50% of the population! In the past 3 months the largest growth in Facebook users was aged 45-54 followed by 55-64, 35-44, 25-34 and 65-0! In the past 6 months, Canadian Facebook users increased by 590, 960! Visit  socialbakers.com for further statistics.

Do you have a Facebook account? Are you a follower or a leader? If you have access to the Internet, it is simply a matter of time before you will decide to follow the other 800 million people and join Facebook. There is no doubt that for many it is the natural resistance to change that could be holding them back so if the numbers are convincing enough, it should be noted that Facebook was launched almost 8 years ago!

Managing an executive career successfully requires a conscious awareness of personal branding, career industry trends, economic conditions, an online presence and what it all means in 2012. Choosing to embrace or at a minimum accept change will certainly assist in moving your executive career forward in a positive direction. As inevitable as it is to bring in the New Year, so too is it to recognize the changes that must be incorporated to

It’s that time of year again! Santa has his professional resume perfected, (click on picture to view), and is looking forward to flying out to his next assignment.

Ho Ho Ho!

The next step for most would be a job interview but Santa will be able to skip this step in the process as his expertise eliminates any potential competition. Even the Grinch was no match for Santa. And so it is with full confidence that Santa is

The infinite number of job search resources available can be overwhelming! Recognizing those that will be of benefit will save you a significant amount time and help you to succeed in driving your career in the right direction. A financial investment for  professional services and memberships, provided you’ve done your due diligence to ensure the company or organization is reputable will most certainly provide positive results throughout your career. However, there are also many free resources available that also warrant your attention!

Please take a look at your resume and ensure you have provided the necessary contact information. If you are not sure what the contact information should consist of, please consult a Certified Professional Resume Writer, (CPRW) before sending out your resume!

Establishing an online visibility utilizing social media is a basic requirement in managing a career or business. Once you have created your profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin as a professional or business or both, the next step is to enhance your presence and personal brand with a blog. Wikipedia provides further details regarding a blog, the name which is “a blend of the term web log”.

Your professional resume must be a fact-based, historical account of accomplishments. As the years pass, so should your qualifications continue to be enhanced by additional experiences, achievements and education. Your resume should clearly identify these ever increasing details which contribute to enhancing your qualifications and the ability to present an impressive resume.

Managing a successful executive career requires a continuous and conscious effort to seek out those initiatives that will contribute to enhancing your qualifications, maintaining a competitive edge as a potential candidate. Each position you hold will offer the opportunity to achieve results. Be sure to document all details of quantifiable accomplishments upon completion of tasks or projects. Do not wait until you need your resume written years down the road to test your ability to recall events! Reducing costs or increasing sales will not impress without corroborative numeric details.

professional@email.com

Are you using a professional email address for your job search? An email address that is not outdated? One which identifies who you are? An email address that is easily deciphered even when hand written?

I’m sure we can all agree that an email address such as sexykitten@, beerking@ or gonefishing@ lacks the professionalism expected from anyone who is serious about managing their career. Get rid of them or use them exclusively for the singles sites.

Dots, dashes, underscores: Unless you are an extremely neat printer, it is possible that you’ve added your email address to a list in the hopes of receiving some important correspondence that will never be sent. Is it a dash or an underscore or maybe that line was supposed to represent a dot? Don’t leave anyone struggling to decipher your email address. For those of us who require reading glasses, a neatly typed email could still present a problem with the use of symbols which are smaller than letters.