Career Chaos

THE GLOBAL CAREERS PERSPECTIVE

What a week! As I finish packing and get ready to leave Boston, I look back on my global experience of these past few days at the annual Association of Career Professionals International conference. Once a year I join colleagues from 30 countries as we expand our learning on how to better help people manage their careers. This year we listened to founding experts remind us of our professon's roots - how today's best practices were founded on principles from a half century ago. But more than that, we heard about how yesterday's future has become today's reality.

Words like expatriate, outsourcing, talent management, dual careers, emotional intelligence, retirement careers - all dominated workshops and dinner conversations alike. Whether from the Netherlands, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Italy, Canada, Brazil, UK or USA (and so many other countries), attendees are leaving this careers conference with the common understanding of the critical role we all play in today's global economy.

But more than that, we go home today with our own global network intact and even stronger - knowing that we have allies around the world supporting each other as we return to coach and consult our clients on how to grow their careers at home and abroad.

BEWARE YOUR RANTS & RECORDS

What's happened to the hiring process? Not only can HR check out your credit report before extending an offer, they will Google your name to find out everything they can about you before even interviewing you. According to the March 27 article in Business Week Magazine, "Your Are What You Post",  learn how to "clean up your digital dirt" so that you have a chance to get the job you want. (View online at the link.)

There are no more secrets that you can keep from employers who want to know. They'll find it all out, so just beware of your Internet rants and records. Your career depends on it.