In This Issue

As a CFO at five different companies, Sue Salvesen observed what worked and what failed in regards to how individuals advance their careers. One obvious differentiator exercised by those who were consistently promoted and not by those who were boxed-in, was the development and commitment to a career plan. An active career plan is the absolute foundation in building your career.

Without a plan, people tend to job hop and sometimes follow the money without understanding how their choices impact their careers. When you develop and commit to a career plan, you identify the experiences and knowledge necessary to achieve your long-term goals. Bottom line is that career advancement is directly dependent upon proper career planning. Always remember, success in planning is planning for success!

Here are some helpful tips for successful career planning:

1. Identify Your Long-Term Career Goal.
   Did you know that you literally advance your career just by answering the question Where do you see yourself ten years from now? Identifying your ideal job is a giant first step towards creating a career plan and successfully reaching your goals! The next step is acquiring the skills and experiences necessary to get the job. Lastly, remain committed to your plan until you reach your goal. (See Tip #5 if you have trouble pinpointing your ideal job.)
2. Be proactive in advancing your career.
   Being proactive will accelerate the advancement of your career. Let your manager know what you're interested in learning and how you want to shape your career. Do this and you may find yourself getting promoted into jobs before they become public and available. Only consider opportunities that are in line with your goals.
3. Give priority to advancing your career.
   Pass on the temptation to accept a job offer that boasts more money, but lacks growth opportunity. Select companies that give preference to promoting their best employees, rather than searching outside the company for new recruits. One way to do this is by asking if the position that you are interviewing for is open due to a promotion or an internal transfer.
4. Consider contract and temporary assignments.
   Contract and temporary assignments are excellent ways to broaden your experience, skills and network of associates. If you're looking to change industries, for example, moving from banking to high tech, consider a contract assignment. And as an added bonus, these assignments often offer flexibility in your personal life.
5. Seek help.
   Where do you see yourself ten years from now? is a question that can elicit a deer response and has people feeling like they are without purpose and vision if they don't have an answer. Seek out a mentor in your desired field, hire a career coach, network with others in your industry or work with a recruiter who offers to assess your long-term career goals as part of their service. A great recruiter will keep your goals in mind and will only present positions that match these goals.

Our highest priority at STRe Solutions is building long-term relationships with both jobseekers and hiring managers. Our newsletter will offer ongoing tips to help you maximize your experience with a recruiter, regardless of whether you're seeking top talent to seamlessly join your team or searching for the ideal job.

Candidate Tip #101
Select a recruiter who invests the time to meet the hiring manager and the candidate. Recruiters who meet with hiring managers and candidates are committed to strong personal relationships, honest communications and long-term success for both the client and candidate. In case you're wondering why you should care, let us illustrate how this directly benefits you.

• Considering a new job means taking time to interview. The more time you need to interview, the more excuses you need to explain your absence from the office, which can be stressful in itself! You can only have so many doctors' appointments, right? You want to be sure that your time is used efficiently interviewing only for positions that are ideal for you.
• A stellar recruiter saves the candidate time, not only by sending them to interviews that fit their talents, personality and career objectives, but also by matching them to the job's requirements, company culture and environment. They can do this because they have met both the candidate and the hiring manager. They never waste anyone's time by just sending resumes over the transom without first concluding that a productive interview is likely for both parties. This discernment ultimately increases the chance of job satisfaction and career advancement.

  Make sure that you ask your recruiter about their business practices to get comfortable with the probability of your success.

Hiring Manager Tip #101
Develop a strong relationship with one or two good recruiters and work primarily with them. Carefully select the recruiters that you work with to ensure that your jobs receive top priority in their firm. This is especially critical in today's job market where a lengthy hiring process increases the risk of missing out on the best candidates. Enlisting too many recruiters often results in the position not being filled in a timely manner because priority is given to job orders that are exclusive to them.

Most recruiters work almost 100% on commission, so they spend their time and send their best candidates to the positions that they know can be filled successfully and quickly. If you have engaged too many recruiters, if the salary isn't one of their key clients, they will often presume that another firm will fill your job.

A close relationship with one or two primary recruiting firms also ensures that you consistently secure top talent that fits each position and your company culture with minimal effort from you, since the recruiter already thoroughly understands exactly what you need from previous searches.

Stay tuned for more tips in our upcoming issues.

Top five ways that you know you have been in corporate life a while:

5. You leave for a party and instinctively bring your ID badge.

4. You celebrate your wedding anniversary by conducting a performance review.

3. At your last family reunion, you decide to re-org your family into a team-based organization.

2. You end every argument by saying let's talk about this off-line.

1. You start to feel sorry for Dilbert's boss.