20 Things You Can Do To Help Your Career (In Under 5 Minutes)

20 Things You Can Do To Help Your Career (In Under 5 Minutes) Help Your Career By Doing These 20 Things Are you ready to make a career change or begin your hunt for a new job? Then these 20 quick yet  high-impact actions will give you a boost! In case you dont know where to start, this list of quick and easy ideas will get you on your way to building your brand, nurturing your network and re-energizing your career. Help Your Career By Doing These 20 Things 1. Google Yourself Enter your name in quotation marks in Googles search bar and see what comes up on the first page. 2. Identify Potential Employers Identify and  assess top companies in your desired industry and make a list of the ones that sound interesting. This will serve as a list for future research, identifying who to network with, and tracking the activities of these companies (including jobs posted on their site). 3. Reconnect With Past Colleagues, Classmates or Contacts Its  never too late  to touch base. Send a quick email to people  you havent talked to in awhile, like your college classmates. Space your messages out over  the next few weeks so that the responses you receive wont arrive at the same time and youll have time to reply. 4. Send An Update Email to Your Network Along the same lines, sending an email to your closer friends and associates is a wonderful way to bring your network up to speed on what youre doing professionally. Dont be afraid to insert some personal highlights as well. Close your email with a sentence asking them to update you on their lives or offering your assistance. 5. Update Your LinkedIn Photo If youre still using a photo from years ago on your LinkedIn profile, update it with a fresh, contemporary shot. A few simple reminders. Use a headshot, not a full-body shot. Have a simple background. No selfies. Smile. No sunglasses. Dress appropriately for the job you are interested in. And make sure that you are the only one in the photo. A 400-by-400 pixel photo is ideal, according to LinkedIn. 6. Audit Your LinkedIn Profile Views It only takes a few seconds to check how many people have viewed your LinkedIn profile. Consider this a  baseline number to improve on. Once youve made some updates, wait a couple of weeks, then go back to check the number of views your profile received. Heres what you need to know about your visibility on LinkedIn. 7. Try a New  Social Network Learning how to use a new social network may increase your marketability. Sign up for one you arent using yet and spend a few minutes playing with the functions and following influential users. Looking for some ideastry Instagram or Snapchat. 8. Create a Reading List of Business Books Ask your friends or mentors for book recommendations. You can make your request general or ask for books on a specific topic. Once youve compiled the list, send it to everyone who contributed as a way of saying thanks. (Here is one of my lists top recommended  career books) 9. Make a Wish List Over  the past few months, people may have recommended attending events, conferences or training seminars. Put these together on a list. Research dates, locations and costs to help you determine which are feasible for you to attend this time around. You may even ask your manager whether your company could sponsor  your attendance. 10. Invest Time In Your Hobby Investing in yourself can help you feel rejuvenated. Be sure to add time for your hobby to your calendar so other emergencies dont push it aside. Its fine to be a little selfish once in awhile. 11. Order Personal Business Cards Treat yourself to personal business cards. They are an easy way to share contact information. At a minimum, include your personal email address. You could also include your personal mobile telephone number, LinkedIn profile link or other branding information you want people to know or ask about. 12. Research Salaries You really should know how much other people in your field or occupation are earning. Do a quick search using salary calculators. Also email a couple of local recruiters to get an idea of how much professionals with similar experience and skills are commanding. 13. Organize Your Desk It may sound like a procrastination stunt, but decluttering your desk may help you feel less overwhelmed. Chunk this project into three smaller increments to keep it manageable. First, set up an online filing system. Second, toss old materials you no longer need. Third, scan important documents you want to keep and upload them to your computer. 14. Zero Out Your Email Inbox If you feel like a slave to your email, try setting up a system to manage incoming messages. Not only will this save time, it may also reduce stress. 15. Master Your Calendar Try putting everything on your calendar. Schedule time every day for specific job-search or career-building activities you know you should do. Its too easy to say that you dont have time to reach out to people or meet for coffee, so build it into your schedule throughout the year. 16. Compile Positive Feedback Before you forget or lose the information, collect performance appraisals and testimonials from customers, clients or colleagues. Send the materials to your home email or save it to the cloud and keep it in a brag file. If you want to create a presentation or portfolio of positive feedback quotes in the future, youll have easy access to this information. 17. Create a Bucket List of People You Want To Meet Brainstorm a list of industry experts, local movers and shakers or even famous alumni you want to reach. Creating your bucket  list will help you carry through on making the outreach actually happen. 18. Create a Vision Board on Pinterest A vision board is collection of images that represent a future goal. Search for photos online that represent your ideal future work space or company. Include visual representation of the steps that will lead to your goal, such as winning an Employee of the Month contest, writing an award-winning paper or even attending an industry conference. There may be industry experts you idolize or want to emulate. Add these photos to your dream job  board on Pinterest and print and post  the page somewhere you see every day for inspiration. 19. Create a Fresh New Email Signature for Your Personal Email Your personal email signature is a great branding opportunity but most people overlook this. Include a link to you LinkedIn profile, phone number and tag line or branding statement- just in case! Heres more help for spiffing up your email signature. 20. Fix  Your Online Visibility If you search for your name using Google (as mentioned in #1) and the best  information doesnt appear at the top of the results,  you can fix it! It takes some time, but with a few simple steps, you can begin improving the results for your name. This post was updated and previously published on US News World Report