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We have discussed a number of entry-level strategies and tactics to improve our career prospects in Part I, such as preparing the two-page snapshot CV and registering with quality career-related business sites such as ExecutiveSurf and Linked IN.

Now we move on to a deeper and more complex series of strategies that will require quite a degree of thought and discipline.


Building Career-defining Relationships

This can be the most challenging of all the strategies to enhance your career prospects. Most high-performers, ironically enough, are poor at communicating their achievements effectively.

Many of us hold on to old-fashioned notions that if we are good enough, we will be recognised and selected for greater responsibilities in the fullness of time. Fifty years ago that may certainly have been the case, because everyone within each discrete industry knew of each other; they were usually of very similar educational, professional and even cultural and social backgrounds; and communications were limited to a closed field of people.

Information relating to strong performance and bad behaviours alike were kept within the fold, and outsiders had little chance of breaking in.

Everything has irrevocably now changed, and if we wish to develop our careers, then we must quickly learn to market ourselves effectively. Our first audience for this career marketing campaign are those colleagues with whom we have had strong working relationships.

Think back through your career, right to the beginning, of all of the people with whom you have worked in the past, and make a list of them:

- Former clients and customers

- Former bosses, colleagues and subordinates

- Former suppliers or external business partners who have access to the broader industry

- Respected executive search head-hunters from whom you have had calls or have engaged in the past, or who are specialists in your industry
- Former classmates from university, business schools and professional associations.

Where are they now? Try to focus only on those people with whom you would welcome a future working relationship or upon whom you could rely on for a strong referral should the right opportunity arise.

Prioritise a maximum ten former colleagues against their potential to help you to develop your future career. We are now going to create a Relationship Management Campaign around these people, and here is why:

- They know us and are aware of our strengths and weaknesses*

- They know of the industry challenges where we have performed at our best

- We have had a number of positive working relationships with them

- While we have developed our careers, it is likely that they also have developed their careers in parallel.

Among this group of people there will exist career opportunities. But we will only unlock these opportunities by rediscovering our relationships with these people.

Collate each person's contact information and make a tick-list of which communications medium you intend using to maintain contact:

- Email

- Telephone call

- Regular post (cards, letters, etc)

- Video Calls (skype, gmail, etc)

- Instant Messaging (IM)

- Face-to-Face meetings (drinks, coffee, lunch, dinner, etc)

- SMS !

Or better yet, a mix of these.

Make a contact calendar note for each of these people, with more regular contact, say up to six times a year, for people with whom you have stronger relationships, and through whom a stronger sense of support is likely to come for opportunities in their sphere of influence. Fewer contacts are required for people who are more distant, are who are in very senior roles and where more regular contact is just not credible.

When you communicate with one of your Influential People, have something meaningful to discuss. Don¡¯t just call to gossip or to provide a narrative of your own developments. Make the call purposeful and of some value to them, so they welcome your regular contacts instead of avoiding them.


How can you make yourself an attractive network to your Influential People?

- By tapping into the local business news and sharing relevant pieces of news

- By sharing key career developments, for example a change of role or an increase in responsibilities

- By keeping them up to date on key people that you may know in common, while preferably avoiding gossip or personal anecdotes

- By sending quality journal or press articles in which they may have an interest. Hard copies via regular post are a valuable medium, but soft copies are okay

- By asking for their advice on a professional or career matter with which they may have some expertise

- By referring them to selective business or career opportunities that you hear of through your own networks.

In theory, you should maintain a balanced relationship with each of the Influential People in your professional sphere, but do not be surprised if an old colleague wants to develop the relationship in different directions, or if a close former colleague wishes to maintain a distance. This is all part of the experience of maintaining a larger number of professional networks.

Finally, it is inevitable that you will make the mistakes or faux pas when adapting to new disciplines that have at their centre the development of human relationships. You will be undertaking an endeavour that very few people, even the brightest and best among us, effectively manage.

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* Never be afraid of people you trust discussing your weaknesses as well as your strengths. Be confident that you are successful because you are competent at what you do. No-one gets the perfect reference. A rounded and informed reference or referral is a 360 degree version of you, rather than just the two-dimensions of a CV.