Don’t even think of writing off the month of December for advancing your career. You know all that time you spend sneaking in some on line shopping? Or how about the quick trip to the mall at lunchtime?
You can use some of that holiday flex time to update your resume too. There is always some time to kill before the group lunch or while you wait for your kids Christmas concert to start.
Break the activities into little chunks. For example, adding the latest courses, certificates or training courses can be done in 20 minutes or so. Adding a few bullets to describe your latest project is also a 10-15 minute job.
Setting up job alerts on eluta.ca, indeed.ca or linkedin.com also takes only a few minutes.
Calling former colleagues to see if they want to have lunch – ten minutes each.
Taking time to eat your sandwich in the kitchen or cafeteria does not take any extra time and has the added benefit of built in networking. You never know – you might find yourself having lunch with the President.
Make sure you have some positive things to say about your work. When someone from another department asks how things are going, they do not want you to roll your eyes and sigh. They want to hear to that you are involved in some really cool projects and learning a lot. That’s how to make a solid impression.
So don’t write off December before it has even started. Put some of these ideas in your calendar and tackle them one by one. It will make those New Year’s resolutions a lot easier!