Sarah Kaminski | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer

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Hungry to supercharge your career and leave the competition eating your digital dust? It’s all about staying dynamic, innovative, and a step ahead in today’s fast-paced business arena. Let’s explore six game-changing strategies to boost your career prospects, from upskilling and networking to branding and side hustling. Time to shift your career into overdrive!

Start Upskilling

In our snappy, constantly-evolving business world, it’s adapt or perish. The modern workforce demands employees who can juggle tasks, concepts, and yes, even languages. So, maybe it’s time to brush up on your Spanish or dive into data analytics.

Identifying the right skills to beef up could be the difference between getting stuck in career quicksand or scaling the corporate ladder. Do some industry recon – see what skills are trending in your sector.

Scour job postings, talk to mentors, and stalk LinkedIn profiles (in a totally professional way, of course). Pinpoint those skills that could polish your professional profile to a high shine, and get learning!

Upskilling should be more than catching up: it’s about getting ahead. So go ahead and add that “polyglot” or “data wizard” badge to your repertoire. Your career will thank you for it.

Level up to Networking 2.0

Please don’t roll your eyes! We’re not talking about those snooze-fest business mixers. We’re living in a digital era where networking has gone from handshakes to hashtags, from conference rooms to chat rooms. And LinkedIn isn’t just a pretty resume spot – it’s a gold mine of opportunities.

Start by connecting with colleagues, both past and present. Tap into industry groups, participate in relevant discussions, and make your thoughts and insights heard. But remember, networking isn’t a one-way street – it’s all about give and take. Share knowledge, provide help where you can, and when you least expect it – bam! – an opportunity might just land in your inbox.

Networking 2.0 is about creating valuable, meaningful connections that could open doors you didn’t even know existed. So get out there and start mingling (digitally, of course)!

Learn How to Sell Yourself

What’s the superpower that separates you from the crowd? Is it your knack for negotiating tough deals, your coding wizardry, or your killer PowerPoint designs? Your personal brand is the unique cocktail of skills, experiences, and personality traits that make you, well, you.

But a secret sauce isn’t so secret if no one knows about it. Your personal brand should be consistent, clear, and splashed across your professional platforms. Think of it as your professional highlight reel. Showcase your achievements, tout your unique skills, and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through a little.

Your personal brand isn’t just about impressing future employers but more about setting the stage for your entire career. Let the professional world know why you’re a one-of-a-kind catch!

Hack Your Growth

A career is not a sprint but a marathon (with hurdles, detours, and the occasional water break). What if you could have a seasoned marathoner coaching you, pointing out those hidden potholes before you tumble? That’s mentorship in a nutshell.

Finding a mentor is like scoring the ultimate cheat sheet for your career. They’ve been there, done that, and their T-shirt is faded from experience. They can offer you guidance, help you devise killer strategies, and even introduce you to their own network of contacts. The best part is that most mentors are just a LinkedIn message away.

Don’t shy away from reaching out to professionals you admire. Offer to buy them a virtual coffee, and who knows, you might just find your Yoda in the corporate world. Remember, every Jedi used to be a Padawan at first!

Test Your Side-Hustling Potential

Dipping your toes into the bustling gig economy can do wonders for your career. Don’t freak out! We’re not suggesting you quit your day job but more of test-driving a career move, honing a new skill, or simply shaking things up a bit.

Intrigued by graphic design? Try some freelance work. Got a passion for penning catchy content? Start a blog or pitch a guest post. A side hustle not only diversifies your skills but also gives you real-world proof of your proficiency. Who knows, it might even turn into your next full-time gig.

Navigating the gig economy is a balancing act, but the rewards? They’re priceless. You’ll gain confidence, expand your portfolio, and might even rake in some extra cash.

Become Tech Savvy

Once upon a time, being tech-savvy was a nice-to-have, a cherry on top of your professional cake. Fast forward to now, and it’s not just the cherry – it’s the whole darn cake. Today, being techno-dexterous is a must, even for the non-techies among us.

Don’t sweat; we’re not saying you need to code like a Silicon Valley pro. But understanding the basics of things like data analysis, cloud computing, or even just becoming a whiz at collaborative tools can catapult your career prospects.

There’s a trove of online resources to turn you from tech-timid to tech-terrific. Coursera, Udemy, or even YouTube are there for your self-teaching pleasure. So go ahead, get a little geeky!

Wrapping Up

That’s our six-step guide to career domination! Upskill, network, brand, mentor, hustle, and geek out. Embrace these tactics, and you won’t just survive the career game. You’ll own it.

So, get proactive – your dream career is waiting for you!

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As an employer, you are going to gather a lot of employee data. How you choose to store and use it is incredibly important. Doing it wrong can not only lead you to violate all kinds of laws and regulations but also make your employees feel unsafe and unprotected at work.

Here is how to responsibly use all the different types of employee data you collect.

Let Employees See Their Own Data

Allow your employees to access all of their own data on demand. If they want to see a performance review, a note in their file, security camera footage aimed at their desk, and so on, make it possible for them to do that.

This will ensure transparency and encourage the people handling sensitive data to be more careful, as they’ll know that they can be asked to demonstrate their professionalism at any time.

It will also mean you need to come up with a data storage system that is easy to access and exceptionally well organized. Determine how long you need to hold on to different types of data and when employees can check in on it. Otherwise, you may end up handling a lot of arbitrary requests at the least convenient times.

Assign Responsibility

Make a top-level executive responsible for data privacy. You can either hire specifically for the role (if you are dealing with a large number of employees) or make it a part of someone else’s job.

While HR is usually the department that handles this data, a higher-level executive will ensure there is more oversight and prove to your staff that you are determined to protect their data and use it responsibly.

Write a Clear Policy

You’ll also want to ensure your staff knows how their data is being handled and for what purposes it is gathered in the first place. The best way to achieve that is to write a company policy.

If you need some help with it, you can use a policy generator. Termsfeed is a good one, and you can read this review to see if it can do what you need it to.

You can also check out how other companies have done it or consult a specialist who can offer insight based on the specifics of your organization.

Make the policy available to all staff members at all times. Write it in clear language that leaves no room for doubt about your intentions and why you gather different types of data. Also, make it perfectly clear what data is confidential and what can be made public company-wide.

Share Relevant Data

Speaking of confidentiality, make it very clear to your staff if there are certain parts of their contract, tasks, or performance that they should never share with their colleagues. For example, if salaries are confidential, make it clear what a breach will entail.

Also be clear about the type of data you want to share with everyone. This gives you an opportunity to praise and incentivize your staff. For instance, if someone achieves much better results than last month, you can put it in the company newsletter or take the time to praise them publicly. This will boost staff morale and prove that you care about your employees.

Never publicly share negative data, though. If you need to reprimand an employee, do it in private. Also make sure to be perfectly clear that sharing personal information about others is prohibited.

Use Data Positively

Aim to use all employee data to improve their productivity and skills, not to punish them. Employees often fear that using a time tracking tool, for example, means that you are looking for a way to penalize them when they are late or slow. They will be resistant to data gathering and can feel unduly stressed at work.

Instead, show them how you use their data positively. For instance, if you discover too much time is spent on unproductive meetings, eliminate them. If you notice some staff members are least productive in the first hour, ask them if they would like to start work a bit later in the morning.

The more of these instances you can demonstrate, the more comfortable your staff will become with data collection. You can also go the extra mile and check in with a staff member if you notice anything is amiss. For example, if they are late to work on several occasions, ask them if they need time off instead of just accusing them of being late.

Wrapping Up

Using employee data responsibly does not mean you have to have hundreds of different policies and teach everyone a lot of rules. You can make everything simple and straightforward by writing one policy that details all the relevant information and ensuring your staff adheres to it.