9 minutes a day: Continuous career management

I have been working with LinkedIn since early 2012, exploring the importance of continuous career management. Along this journey we have found that spending just 9 minutes a day on your career management could help you get promoted, find that ideal job or help you become better at what you’re already doing.

I’ve analyzed what realistically can be fitted into a daily schedule without adding stress or pressure. It is commonly known by educators and psychologists that the ability to focus one's attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one's goals and so I believe that 9 minutes is the maximum time that can be spent concentrating on one subject before minds begin to wander.

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The importance of continuous career management

We all know the pace of change in employment is accelerating and for this reason, continuous career management is more essential than ever. Rapid changes in the working world have seen steadily decreased opportunities for job tenure, increased fluidity in the job market and have drastically altered the types of jobs that are available.

Graduating from University with a degree is no longer guaranteed to land you a great job or successful career and so regardless of your level or situation; you need to ensure you’re consistently managing your career to put yourself ahead of the game.

9 minutes a day

9 minutes a day is a short window of time which can easily be slotted into your busy day – by making your 9 minutes a continuous habit and part of your daily routine, there will be no added stress or pressure to your existing schedule or ‘To Do’ list.

9 minutes gives you complete focus – a time away to focus on you – to reflect on your current career status and more importantly, your career aspirations.

How to spend the 9 minute windows Here are some suggested activities you can easily slot into your 9 minute window and LinkedIn clearly provides a perfect platform to facilitate a wide number of these:

1. Build your network: building and maintaining relationships is a major component of a successful career. 
2. Maintain relationships by recommending and congratulating others in their careers – everyone enjoys being recognized
3. Request recommendations from your networks as credibility is critical
4. Document achievements and wins on LinkedIn to stay current and relevant
5. Update your status every day and make sure your profile and photo s are current
6. Expand on your thought leadership; lead a forum or LinkedIn group; publish an article; start a blog; speak publicly, recommend a book on the Amazon Linkedin app.
7. Use the power of video and create a video bio of yourself for your Linkedin profile.
8. Source staff – one of a manager’s hardest jobs.  If you build your brand community, you’ll create fans who want to work for you.
9. Research.  Make an effort to get to know more about your clients or partners and competitors – LinkedIn is a great place to start

Sticking to 9 minutes in a world of distraction

These days, everyone is busy and time poor and so it’s easy to get distracted and lose focus on your 9 minute ritual.  To avoid this set a specific time of day for your 9 minutes of continuous career management. This could be during your lunch break, whilst commuting using the Linkedin App on your mobile device or whilst enjoying your morning coffee. Try to prioritise your actions for the 9 minutes so you are truly focused – build a calendar each month with your 9 minute actions to help keep you on track.

Now you try it

You’ve all got the tips so go ahead and start your 9 minute a day career management. We would love to hear how you get on – please do share your thoughts/experiences on our Poll. And if you have any additional tips, of course please do tell us at our 9aDay LinkedIn Group.