We live or die professionally by our contacts, brand and
knowledge. If you need to find work tomorrow, how many people can
you reach - how many would help?
With holidays coming up and some free time on your hands, here
are some useful things to do so that you come back from the break
skilled-up, marketable, informed and better connected. These
actions will see you:
1. Skilled - with the essential tech strategies you need to get
to grips with
2. Styled - seeing you as cool as a summer cucumber
3. Branded - making sure you stand out from the crowd
4. Marketable - ensuring your resume will get you that
interview
5. Informed - keyed into what's going on and who's making the
weather
6. Networked - expanding the outer reaches of your personal
galaxy
1. Maintain your skills
One definition of a successful IT consultant is someone who has
read one more page of the manual than you, so don't get left behind
in the battle for work. Three key skills to get up to speed with
are: wireless, Web 2.0 and virtualisation. But take care of how
much you learn. One of our human "tells" (a give away) is when we
know a subject too well - we are all too conscious of what we don't
know and try to hide shortcomings. So get a basic grounding in the
subject and don't dive too deep. Check out these one-stop-shops for
all you need to bluff your way through any situation:
• Wireless
• Web 2.0
• Virtualization
• Microsoft's virtualisation plans.
2. Be a style guru
Take some time to check out cool websites and get up-to-date
with trends. Hunt for shining examples of next-generation sites
offering new ways to inform and entertain. Look for web presence
with cutting-edge tools to create, consume, share or discuss all
manners of media, from blog posts to video clips. Here is list of a
few I like - there's no accounting for taste.•
Eminem.com - Detroit rapper's memorable website •Craig's List - a portal to a thousand other sites
unique to your city • Scobilizer - feel the pulse of
the Web 2.0 generation, Robert has it all •
StumbleUpon - a bunch of useful bookmarks. Needs a
download • How Stuff Works - tutorials that explain
pretty much everything • Top Walls - great wallpaper
artwork • The Subservient Chicken - he really
will do what you say
3. Build a winning brand
Remember, virtue is NOT its own reward. So take control of your
destiny. Develop your professional character and know how to put on
a good performance. Promote yourself unashamedly to the widest
possible audience by creating your personal brand online and
developing successful reputation management skills. Build up a
simple but comprehensive strategy to manage your virtual presence.
Chris Brogan has written an article that says it
all. You can also use services like Twitter to
build an online reputation.
4. Sell yourself
Use the lazy days of summer to tailor your CV to your next
career move. Make sure it is concise. Two pages max - it's a
résumé! Cut out any resume
'3100">'clichés about being a self-starter etc it
will look like you have been to an outplacement agency and are
trying too hard. Let the employer work out if you are brilliant
from what you have actually done. The average first view of a CV is
five seconds. You need to get across where you worked and what you
done - include any international experience. Refer in your CV to
any online presence - it adds value. Certain sites will
review your resumé for free and there are plenty of
templates to download and customise.
5. Be well informed
"Nice to have so much free time," is a comment you get when you
tell people you read blogs. They think of them as public diaries
kept by egotists or wannabe journalists. Among the 20 million blogs
out there are plenty of those. However, find the blogs that aren't
written by, or for, fools. Make reading them an entertaining but
essential part of your job. Subscribe to ones that deliver easily
digestible bite-sized chunks of the info you need to get on. Seek
different point of view, find the voices that skewer the
falsehoods. Use a feed reader or aggregator to maintain your
subscriptions to. It will check them for updates, and display
content in a readable format. Try Blog Lines or
Google Reader. Some of the top technology blogs are
listed on the Weblog awards page.
My favorites are:
• Slashdot
• Techdirt
• Gizmodo
Or to see what everyone else likes, go to
ComputerWeekly.com's UK Blog Awards.
Three excellent non-tech blogs are:
• Bryan Appleyard
• Stumbling and Mumbling
• Guido Fawkes' blog of plots rumours and
conspiracies
• Railway Eye - the railway blog.
6. Work your network
Your network is everyone who doesn't actively hate you, and if
your network is not expanding, it is probably contracting. Spend a
few minutes each day cultivating new relationships. Keep it
expanding by finding other professionals in your field through
reading and learning. Connect with old friends and business
colleagues. Participate on social networks, attend events and go to
every party you know about.
Often those at the periphery may be the most useful. Sign on to
or revisit key network sites. Watch the news streams on LinkedIn or
the updates on Facebook and other social networks. Twenty minutes
spent on these often gives up interesting information and might
prompt a posting out to people in your network. Try out
LinkedIn for professional networking,
Facebook for social circles, and
Twitter for everyday conversation and
networking.
Make relationships with others before you need them so you build
up a credit balance when you need help. And never ask for a favour
as people will feel obliged and avoid you. Ask for advice instead -
it flatters people and makes them feel good. Importantly, don't act
like a sales organisation by phoning everyone every two months.
Times change
Technology is now just a commodity and the IT professional's
worth is dropping down the value chain (particularly as IT is
increasingly under the FD's remit - it'll soon be at book-keeping
level). Mr. Benz (1895) had his head under the bonnet of the car he
invented its successor is managed by a technician. Mr Benz (2008)
is now in the boardroom. Where are you going?
Read more from Michael Pincher on the Collaboration
2.0 blog >>