Friday, September 14, 2012

13 Reasons to Attend Professional Conferences

Why attend professional conferences? It’s a legitimate and important question to ask, given that most working professionals are blessed by a veritable cornucopia of events in their fields that are dedicated to addressing critical issues from a range of perspectives. More importantly, the costs associated with attending, including travel, lodging, and conference registration, not to mention the investment of time, make the decision to attend any one or more events a significant one.

While criteria for attending specific events will vary, I see 13 solid reasons why you should commit to attending one or more conferences as part of your personal career and professional development program. Here’s a summary of those reasons:

1.To learn about key issues in the industry as a whole (and your area of interest in particular) as articulated by practitioners.

2.To meet people and organizations addressing these same key issues.

3.To meet people with whom you’ve established a relationship on social media.

4.To initiate relationships with others that you can continue by social media and/or meetings in person.

5.To learn about job, internship, project and other work-based possibilities.

6.To learn about fellowship and grant opportunities relevant to your area(s) of interest.

7.To gain insight into the experiences of others who face challenges similar to yours.

8.To learn about publications and other resources relevant to your area(s) of interest.

9.To generate ideas for articles, books, and/or other media that you might produce to address key issues in your field and in the process establish you as a valuable resource for others.

10.To forge partnerships with colleagues who address key common issues/concerns.

11.To identify opportunities for service within the profession as a whole, and possibly through the professional association (if any) that is sponsoring the conference.

12.To demonstrate your commitment to the profession and organization sponsoring the conference.

13.To become familiar with the city and/or culture where the conference is held.

Need guidance in selecting events to attend that mesh with your professional development and career goals? Contact me to discuss the challenges you face.

Monday, September 10, 2012

It's Time to End the Tyranny of the Resume

I meet with many graduate students and other professionals to discuss job search and career development challenges. I am struck at how most of these individuals initiate such conversations with some variation of the phrase "I'd like some feedback on my resume."

On the one hand, this approach makes perfect sense. The resume has been the focal point of job search efforts for time immemorial, and seemingly maintains this standing as even a breezy perusal of employment opportunities would suggest. The vast majority of postings I've viewed over the last several years request a resume, making it on one level an essential component in a job seeker's toolkit.

That said, ongoing transformations in the world of work and concomitant technology seem to relegate the resume (and even its younger social media cousins) to a far less distinguished place than it once had. This continued tyranny of the resume, moreover, threatens to distract job seeker from ever more critical objectives that are increasingly likely to serve short and longer term career development goals.

Let's consider three key developments that cry out for a radical rethinking of the resume's role, and how professionals at all stages of their careers should adjust accordingly.

1. The increasing importance of ongoing and informal job searching -- i.e., discovering opportunities by networking -- trumps the formal job search process in terms of its value in finding work. This process places a premium on skills such as connecting with others, relationship building, and employing technology effectively -- not to mention personal attributes such as persistence, resilience, and the like. A resume MAY come into play here, but only at a certain point in the process after the groundwork has been laid over time.

2. The primacy of LinkedIn. This social network's 24 hour availability and widespread use by professionals seeking employees, contractors, and business partners makes it much more useful than any resume ever could be. That makes the need to create and maintain a LinkedIn profile, build a network, and reach out to contacts to build relationships here potentially far more lucrative than the effort put forth to develop a resume.

3. The need for skills in personal storytelling. Social media has ushered in an emphasis on the importance of personal storytelling. In terms of career development and job search, that means the ability to articulate – orally and in writing -- your interests, professional history, and career aspirations with clarity and passion. It takes considerable effort and skill to be able to do so effectively in myriad contexts, as I’ve learned over the course of my own career. A resume, at best, should grow out of this personal story as it relates to career and work—but it’s no substitute for it. So one’s time would better be spent in crafting and sharing this personal narrative rather than in developing a resume.

In short, resumes still have a place in job search and career development but lag in importance behind other critical more critical competencies in today’s networked world. It’s therefore time to end the tyranny of resumes and redirect our efforts to more substantive activities better geared to achieve short and long-term goals.