These days, sabbaticals are a hot talking point. More and more companies are deciding to give their employees the chance to take time out of their everyday (professional) lives, but which aspects have to be considered when company executives consider taking the sabbatical plunge? Beate Stelzer, Partner at Signium Germany, posed this question to some top-class managers; all of whom decided to treat themselves to a time-out.

When it comes to writing a resume, I see many candidates struggle with deciding how far back to go, what to include, and what not to include as part of your career history. As an executive resume writer, I’m an advocate of devoting the majority of the “real estate” on your resume to what happened in the past 15 years.

In this article, I’ll present the case for and against this stance, discuss some workarounds that might work for everyone, and throw in my two cents on what to include on LinkedIn.

When was the last time you had your car serviced? Six months…a year…two years? You’ve probably done it more recently than two years, because you want to make sure your car continues to operate reliably and get you where you need to go. Something similar could be said about your career management strategy. You can’t expect it to continue serving you well if you don’t take good care of it and change it when needed.

As an executive joining a new organization, you are expected to achieve a higher level of productivity within the first few months with a lower learning curve than other employees. Executives must be ready to make an immediate contribution once they’ve accepted their job offer. You can achieve this by knowing everything you can about the organization, its culture, your team, your executive colleagues, and the Board of Directors.

The key is to establish your reputation as a knowledgeable and diligent leader in your first 30 days. Your initial focus should be on building relationships, gaining trust, and showcasing your credentials.

The following is an excerpt of discussion with members of our BlueSteps Executive Career Services team during our BlueSteps' webinar Creating a Relevant Brand. If you are a BlueSteps member, access your full recording here. If you are interested in becoming a BlueSteps to access our webinar archive, along with other career management solutions, learn more here.

Sometimes it can feel like life is passing us by. With a neverending to-do list on our plates, it is easy to let goal setting go by the wayside. While the New Year brings visions of a more organized, healthy and blissful life, rarely do those visions come to fruition. According to a study conducted by the University of Scranton, just 8 percent of people achieve their New Year’s goals, while around 80 percent fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions.

What makes a great workplace? Trust is essential. Pride in the work is key. Camraderie strengthens teamwork.

What are some important traits of leaders who are able to achieve a thriving workplace?

Most people have never been taught how to conduct an executive job search, unless they have had the insight to work with an executive career coach. Research shows that the average executive spends 4 years in a job — and has as many as 12-15 jobs over the course of a career.
 
You may thrive on variety and change in your career. But no one likes to linger in the “unknown’ too long when making a transition to a new job or career direction. Here are some tips to help you work towards finding a new executive job faster.

Leading video conference tools (SKYPE, GoToMeeting and others) are becoming ubiquitous tools for recruiting.  You can make video and audio calls, exchange chat messages (using Skype’s software) on your computer and/or mobile device just over the internet. Many of the services are even available for free, or you can of course pay for added features. All of these tools use your computer’s webcam or an external web cam for quick video calls.

More and more companies have begun using these tools recently. The do's and don’ts list for a video interview is different from both in-person and phone interviews. Here’s a good start if you are prepping for a video interview.