Career 2.0: Upgrading your career

Introduction

As a CodeProject reader you are continually on the forefront of the latest technology and software development information.  Are your long-term career goals on the technology forefront, too? Are you prepared for all the twists and turns your employers and co-workers will put you through? 

Career 2.0 is a series that will share success tips, tricks and strategies to help you upgrade your career. Catherine Burk and Andi Levin are experienced career guides and senior technical recruiters who will offer in-depth concrete steps and proven career strategies to help you reach your career milestones:

• There are job opportunities today, but employers draw candidates from a larger and stronger pool than in recent years.  How can you prevent losing out on your dream job, and not think "I e-mailed company X my resume for a job I’m 100% qualified for, but it went into a black hole?
• What strategies and skills do you need to receive a job offer that you want today? 
• Which skills must you add to, or improve, in order to ensure long-term career growth and future job opportunities?
• Are you currently able to identify and resolve workplace conflicts from company financial and organizational health issues; office politics; individual personalities, and with management?

You solve technical challenges through a series of logical steps or other contacts here on the boards.  You define the problem, analyze business needs, then consider and test multiple possibilities to create the best solution.  And, no matter how successful the first release is, you always evaluate that solution to develop improvements for V.2

Conducting a successful career search and utilizing on-the-job strategies for career advancement follows this same framework.  We will cover each of these sections in depth in future articles.

Step One:  Lay the foundation.

Program in terms of the problem - what problem do you want to solve? What is your goal? Where does your job search process fall in the black hole?  Do you ever hear back from a live person once you’ve emailed your resume?  If so, what are the results of your interview(s)?  Do you receive a job offer from the company? If you received a job offer that you did not accept, how should you fine tune your search model to better target your efforts to receive offers that you will accept?

Step Two:  Requirements Gathering

What job responsibilities are you looking for?  Do your experiences and existing skills match the requirements for this type of job?  If not, what will it take for you to meet those requirements?  What best describes your “employer of choice?”  

Who is the best person at the company to approach?  What is the best way to approach that person?  Do your interview skills reflect your professional experience and abilities?   What is the company’s hiring bar?  How can you improve your skills to exceed that bar? 

Step Three: Construct a Successful Routine.

Knowing what solution you seek; now you determine which job search skills to obtain or to polish:

• Do you have strong professional networking skills in order to hear about potential or currently open jobs? 
• Are hiring managers actually seeing your resume?
• Does your current resume generate interviews? 
• Do your interview strategies result in offers? 

Step Four:  Test and Fine-tune Routine.

Debug as appropriate. Repeat as necessary through offer receipt and acceptance. 

Step Five:  Evaluate Solution for Future Improvements.

There will always be ongoing skill and performance improvements as you grow in your new job; when you seek new job opportunities within your company; or when you begin a job search with another company. 

Now – how do you get there from here (wherever here is)?

Job opportunities are out there, even in today’s market.  Where are the bugs in your job search process? 

Problem:

Resume and application go into a black hole; you are not contacted to interview for the job. 

Next...

Our next column focuses on tips to help ensure your resume is read by the hiring manager.

Now, it’s your turn.  This is your column; please e-mail us with career and job-search questions or post your comments or discussion ideas here. We can help.

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