Career Maintenance Matters: Things You Should Always be doing to Stay Ready.
Too often, I think people wait until it’s too late to put any time or energy into preparing for a career change. Even if that change might be years from now, it’s never too soon to start positioning yourself.
Your career is an evolving creature and one that should be nurtured and developed in an ongoing manner for the best opportunities to find you, or to be best poised to make the move when the right opportunity presents itself.
What does that look like in real tangible things?
Here are the things I would be doing, regardless of whether I was miserable in my role, content but wanting to keep options open, or if I was happy as a clam.
Resume Up-to-date
You never know when a great opportunity might find you, or when you'll find yourself the victim of a downsizing or layoff. So having your resume up to date is crucial. Most of us don't do this but it's a good idea.
Even if it's not formalized, take 10 minutes twice a year to jot down a few notes on your resume of key accomplishments or impactful things you've done. Then when the time comes that you do need your resume, you won't be racking your brain to think of things you did 3 years ago, you'll have some notes right there that you can tweak and polish into meaningful bullet points
LinkedIn Up-to-date
I continue to be surprised by how many people don't update their LinkedIn or worse, completely deactivate it when they aren't actively looking for a position. Such a miss! Sure, deactivating, it might mean that you get less cold outreach from the salesy AI scum and scammers of the world, but it also means that you're missing out on great opportunities!
I have quite a few candidates in my database/network who I have great notes about, but when I go to pull their LinkedIn profile, I see they've deactivated it. If we hadn't spoken in the past, I wouldn't even know they exist. Is there ever a downside to having someone in your industry presenting you with great opportunities? I would rather have the chance to say no thanks than not know about them at all. In many cases, the best opportunities find YOU - not the other way around
Education and Designations
I've said it before - if you've been in the insurance industry for 10 or 15 years and don't have a single designation, hiring managers are asking why. Most of us can find the time to take one course each year. Set aside one hour per week to study and get one class under your belt each year. Your career (and your paycheck) will thank you.
Build a Network Before You Need It
Staying in touch with former colleagues who have moved on. Having some great recruiter connections. Grabbing lunch with a former boss or mentor every now and again…
These things can pay dividends when you need it, and will also keep you top of mind with industry connections or run in similar circles. Hiring is often about word of mouth or referral. “Who do you know that’s great?” is a question that gets asked – and when the right person endorses you, sometimes that’s all it takes!
“Staying in front of and connected with the right people and putting a professional presence out into the world will have your name coming up in rooms and conversations where it counts and can make all the difference! ”
