After doing a little research in my web statistics, I teased out these blog posts and columns as the Top 10 for the 1st Quarter of 2007.

The Right Way To Resign

Elsewhere Online: 100+ Ways to Write a Great Resume Cover Letter

Next Career Opportunities LIVE - Feb 28, 2007 with creativity consultant JoAnn Braheny

Time for you - July 14, 2006

A crazy workday is familiar to all of us. We are busy from the moment we arrive to the moment we leave...and even after we leave, in some cases. Our lives are driven by one urgent project after another. While we may be busy in this environment, too often we are not very productive. Without some time for ourselves, to re-group, analyze and plan, all of our busyness can come to mean very little. To break free from the constant interruptions of your event driven work, you need to take time for yourself, morning, noon and night.

Zoom in - April 28, 2006

Over the years I have written several columns encouraging you to step back and try to get a bigger picture of your work and your career. While this is still good advice, reversing this concept can also be useful. There are times when you need to zoom in on your work and inspect the minutia that are often ignored. Not only will this intense focus yield its own reward, it will also help you to gain a deeper understanding of the big picture.

Interview with Jo Ann Braheny - Creativity and Your Career

A LIVE interview with Jo Ann Braheny, creativity expert and writer of Goosing Your Muse, a creativity blog.

Playing "the enforcer" could put your career at risk

In the typical corporation, you will find many people whose main role is that of "The Enforcer." Project managers who enforce project timelines, human resource staffers who enforce work policies, union representatives who enforce labor agreements and even IT workers who enforce company standards, approved hardware, software and password policies. While, in most cases, all of these items need policing and enforcing, playing the role of the enforcer could be damaging to your career as a whole.

Make your resume a blog

You can find advice on how to build, design and send your resume almost anywhere. They will tell you how to format it, which font to choose and what information to include. Heck, even I've written my share of columns on resumes. Despite this, though, I want to offer one more bit of resume wisdom. In this age of ubiquitous Internet access, search engines and an increase in the serendipity of finding the right job for you, the next step may be to make your resume a blog, because, in many ways, your blog might already be turning into your resume.

Have you talked with your manager (or employees) today?

Career Opportunities podcast logoOne of the most important parts of any job, whether you are an employee, manager or executive is communication. Without regular communication among all the parts of your company, projects will fail, tasks will go incomplete and business will suffer. Furthermore, as an employee, if you are not communicating with your manager enough to know that you are doing the most critical work of the moment, you risk your job, as well. Have you talked with your manager today? Managers? Have you talked with your employees today? Does everyone know the critical path through this day, this week , the month? If not, why not?

Traveling Technology - from the archives

Despite the fact that traveling, especially by airplane, is getting more and more troublesome, there are still a lot of people traveling around the US and the world. Whether they are traveling for business or pleasure, those people are probably bringing some type of personal technology with them. Digital cameras, GPS receivers, laptop computers, PDAs and more are finding their way into suitcases these days. This provides an interesting opportunity for high-tech careerists. If people are traveling with this technology, they are going to need help with it. High-tech workers might find that they can still practice their trade while living and working in a tourist town or resort.

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Labels: career, creativity, job, jobs, podcast, podcasting, work, workplace

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Despite all the advancements in technology and the generally "sped up" nature of life, waiting is still a part of every day. Unless you are in a position of extreme power, and maybe even then, there will be times in every day when you will be forced to wait. You might have to wait for the train to begin your commute, wait in line at the bank, or wait for your turn at the doctor's office. You might have to wait on hold to talk to a representative. Regardless of the cause of your waiting, one way to increase your overall productivity is to always be ready to exploit these periods of waiting.



Next Friday: April 20, 2007: Job, Work and Career

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Labels: career, creative, creativity, high-tech, job, jobs, podcast, podcasting, technology, work, workplace

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I wrote a few weeks ago about taking the initiative and not waiting for other people to assist you with your career. This week I will expand on that a little farther. There are times when pushing for promotions, new clients or big projects might not be the best action to take. Sometimes you need to pull opportunities and clients towards you. In fact, this is often the way to find your best career opportunities.



Next Friday: April 12, 2007: Productive Waiting

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Labels: career, creative, creativity, high-tech, job, jobs, podcast, podcasting, technology, work, workplace

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A few weeks ago, I interviewed creativity consultant Jo Ann Braheny for the Career Opportunities podcast. This interview started me thinking about how important it is to integrate creativity into your career, regardless of the type of work you do. You can no longer divide jobs into "creative" and "functional". Much like my belief that every career has become a high-tech career (See http://welchwrite.com/dewelch/ce/2006/co060217.asp), every career can and should also be a creative career. If you embrace this fact, you can take your career to an entirely new level.



Next Friday: April 12, 2007: Productive Waiting

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Labels: career, careers, create, creativity, high-tech, job, jobs, podcast, podcasting, technology, work, workplace

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A LIVE interview with Jo Ann Braheny, creativity expert and writer of Goosing Your Muse, a creativity blog.



This Friday: March 3, 2007: Playing "the enforcer" could put your career at risk

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Labels: career, creativity, high-tech, interview, job, jobs, podcast, podcasting, technology, work, workplace

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I discovered this book through a presentation from Tech Nation with Dr. Moira Gunn, delivered via IT Conversations. She interviews one of the authors Curt Carlson, CEO of SRI International, one of the co-authors. It is well worth a listen and a read.

From Amazon.com....

“Innovation—mystery or mastery? For Carlson and Wilmot, the answer is definitely the latter. Following the example of Deming’s approach to quality—another of those magically powerful substances—they lay out a thoughtful, practical methodology for managing innovation projects through to successful outcomes. Sure, in that one percent inspiration there may be the occasional moment of mystery, but for those of us operating in the ninety-nine percent perspiration part of the field, it’s terrific to finally get a great user’s manual.” —Goeffrey Moore, author of Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution"

Labels: book, books, carlson, ceo, create, creativity, gunn, innovation, itconversations, sri, tech nation

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Readymade is from the folks over at Readymade magazine, a great monthly available via subscription or on the newstand.



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Labels: books, build, business, creativity, DIY, education, garden, gardening, grow, hints, how-to, howto, learning, make, outdoors, read, reading, tips

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I received another package from InBubbleWrap today and it reminded me that I wanted to tell you about this great web site.


Each day, they hold a free contest to win a book (usually business-related) that they have found to be excellent. Once you set up a free account, you can return each day to read about the book being offered and enter the contest. They also have an RSS feed that allows you to monitor each day's offers. What could be simpler. The book that arrived today is "Treat Your Customers" by Bob Miglani

I have now won about 5 books from InBubbleWrap and even when I don't win I get introduced to a host of new books each month. Many of these find their way into my "Books to Read" list in my journal, to be found at the local library or bookstore.

Free is one of my favorite words (SMILE), with books being a close second, so this site is a daily stop on my Internet travels.

From the InBubbleWrap web site...

1. What is inBubbleWrap?

Well to make a long story short, we love business. We love talking about it and we love doing business. iBW is our way to share this love (wrapped in Bubble Wrap) with you.

iBW is a site dedicated to giving you the opportunity to win FREE business related prizes. Each day (Monday – Friday) brings a new contest with new prizes for you to win. All prizes are business related whether it’s the latest set of business books, nifty office supplies or advice from a business book author.

New offers are launched daily at 9 a.m. (Central Time) and run for 24 hours.

Did we mention that everything is sent in Bubble Wrap? What could be better than free prizes and an afternoon of bubble popping entertainment? Just a note, when in an office cube, try to save all bubble popping until after office hours. Or wait until your coworker falls asleep on his desk as it would make for a good wake-up call (please, for the sake of your career, do not try this with your boss in hearing range).

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Labels: book, business, career, contest, creativity, free, job, jobs, read, reading, toread, web, work, workplace

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