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I go through a lot of phases. This is true from a social stance and from a personal development stance as well.
Often, I need a good kick in the pants to get me motivated to work out, read more, write more or actually wash the laundry that’s been sitting in the hamper for the past three days.
Inspiration is now manufactured, packaged and sold in many different styles and sizes, but the ones that get me off the couch are suggestions from respected friends and peers.
You might be firing on all four cylinders right now; if so, then that’s great! If you’re like me, then consider these few tips for personal/professional advancement.
You never know how or when a new opportunity will present itself, but you can be waiting for it by ensuring your resume is trimmed and polished.
I recently had the privilege of helping someone compose their resume. Boy, do I remember the anxiety of piecing together my own resume for the first time. Heck–I still get anxious when I show someone my resume because I’m terrified of the possibility of an older version somehow slipping in and contaminating my updated resume.
You might have everything up-to-date, but that document just looks staler than a bag of leftover BCS National Championship Fritos. Take a look at Mashable’s list of fresh, new resume designs to shake things up a bit.
Who knows? You might mess around and draft up a killer resume.
Make your own online portfolio.
Designing and publishing a personalized online portfolio sounds very daunting at first, but it really is the next step in professional development after you’ve tweaked that resume.
Thanks to the encouragement of one of my APR faculty instructors, I built an online portfolio and it was a lot easier than I initially anticipated; a lot more gratifying, too.
Weebly.com is a great place to get started and it makes publishing, editing and even purchasing a permanent, personalized domain name easy.
Feature things that you invested time and pride in, then refine what portfolio pieces make the cut as time goes on. You might start out with a few pieces that make you feel inferior compared to others (I still feel this way), but you’ll only get better if you’re pushing yourself to create and be more creative.
In closing: keep yourself open to new things and new ways to promote yourself. These aren’t trendy or fleeting fads. Rather, they are ways to keep writing, creating and progressing in personal and professional development.
Roll Tide!
-Jus
