Career progression can be a scary yet exciting time in each professional’s life. Knowing when or how to take the next step is not always crystal clear. Nicole Imbrogno, Internship Placement Coordinator for Sport Management at Syracuse University and Jana Woodson, Associate Athletics Director of External Relations at Tulane University gave great advice and passed along some tricks of the trade during the NACMA Live Event, “The Winding Road Throughout Your Career”.
The evolution of social media has truly changed the way hiring manager weed through the applicant pool. Nicole and Jana touched on the importance of being authentic and staying true to who you are on all of your social media channels, just be smart about what you post. Social media can be an awesome resource that typically is overlooked for professional development and networking. You must keep in mind your online presence extends beyond social media. The way you correspond to colleagues, vendors and clients through email, voice messages, etc. is the way they perceive you before you ever meet and, good or bad a person’s perception is their reality.
Nicole walked everyone through what a Professional Toolkit looks like. She started with the foundation that consists of a personal inventory spreadsheet. Think of it as a salesforce database but for yourself. Who are the people you already know, your network, and then start filling in your columns with their name, contact information, your relationship and have you spoken to them before. Be sure to keep track in your personal inventory spreadsheet of the jobs you have applied for and any notes that will help keep everything in line. Also, she touched on the importance of updating your resume after each season to help you remember when you had record crowds or milestones you might have hit during the season. Jana spoke about placing actual numbers on your resume and how hiring managers like to see solid and clean yet concise resumes without a graphic design touch, unless obviously you are applying for a graphic design position. Ask your mentor to look at their resume to get ideas on how to shape yours making it unique, however remember to make your experience and skills show through.
Nicole and Jana touched on the Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to your resume, cover letter, references and interviews. Talking about the importance of thank you notes and how handwritten snail mail thank you notes are definitely the #1 choice over emails. They covered some great Do’s and Don’ts on following up, as well as relationship building, keeping in mind that finding your “safe group” is a must when starting your network.
In this Live Event both Nicole and Jana showed examples on how to master an email introduction with the key being do your research prior to sending an email. Building a relationship and enhancing your network is vital, however just because you chatted on the phone or in person once does not mean you have built a relationship with this individual. It certainly means one has begun, however you must nourish and grow what you have started.
There were some great resources that both Nicole and Jana shared that you can find when viewing the Live Event. Be sure to start those emails or Twitter introductions now to see if you can connect with new professionals at NACMA next month. Look at signing up for the Resume Workshop in Orlando on June 12 from 1 – 3 pm, also June 13 from 2:30 – 4:30 pm as well as June 14 from 9 – 11 am. You can also sign up for the Young Professionals Workshop that will take place on Monday, June 12 starting at 7:30 am or the Veterans Workshop, which will also take place on Monday starting at 8 am. Please keep in mind you must register for the Resume Workshop, Young Professionals Workshop or Veterans Workshop prior to convention. Meet up with others in the Exhibit Hall and network with vendors as well. And in the end, be sure to leave your institution better than you found it, giving your employer plenty of time with the transition if at all possible.
Remember, the most important investment to any brand is YOURSELF; if you don’t believe in your own product, why should anyone else?