Cultivating Your Career

See also: 17 Ways You Undermine Your Own Career

Dress for Success  

Where the Jobs Are Now

Career outlooks have gone through a great deal of turbulence in the past year—and there’s more to come. But one thing that’s certain is that the old rules of career management no longer apply. Instead of passively letting things happen to your career, you must take action.

Though there’s a lot of advice available about how to “recession-proof” a job, you’ll be in a much better position if you keep the following three ideas as part of your career strategy.

1 Expand your network. Most jobs are found through networking. By continually in-creasing your network, you’ll ensure that you always have contacts to reach out to when you’re looking for new opportunities. Successful business-people always reach beyond their circle to form meaningful relationships.

If you are building an online network on a social media site such as LinkedIn, focus on the quality of your contacts instead of the quantity. You want to connect with people who will be sources of information and who can introduce you to additional contacts and leads. In addition, in order to be a master networker, you should be willing to reciprocate and share information and introductions when that’s appropriate.