Spring Cleaning for Your Career

Spring is in the air, and, for many, the change in seasons signals a time to clean house.  While your focus may initially fall to your closet or garage, don’t overlook the opportunity to tidy up your professional life, too.  Clutter can quickly bog down your career, preventing you from capitalizing on advancement opportunities.  Here are three professional areas that could probably use a little spring cleaning:

Your desk

Some say a messy desk is the sign of a great mind.  But even the brightest minds would probably agree that it’s hard to be productive when disorganization prevails.  For one thing, the pace of business continues to increase, and employees face more deadlines and deliverables than ever before.  Your ability to locate items and act quickly is critical — time spent looking for buried files is time that could be spent on the projects themselves.  In addition, if you’re out of the office, either for a planned or unexpected absence, your files need to be organized so that others can find them and take action in your place.  And don’t forget about image.  A messy desk could contribute to someone’s first impression of you — and that someone could be your next boss, colleague or direct report.

Your first step should be to clear your desk.  Do one of three things with each item you come across: leave it, file it or toss it.  Papers that you reference often or will need in the immediate future should remain on your desk.  Those that must be saved, such as old invoices or approvals, should be filed.  Everything else can be tossed.  Many people are afraid they’ll need a document as soon as they throw it away.  But if you haven’t looked at something in six months or more, chances are you won’t miss it.

Don’t feel like you have to tackle the entire task at once.  Simply set aside 15 minutes at the end of the day to clean a small portion of your desk.  If you begin to make this a routine, you’ll not only clear your workspace of clutter but also prevent it from becoming overrun again.

As you clean, however, keep one caveat in mind: Don’t become so focused on organization that you put other, more pressing responsibilities aside.  A little disorder is inevitable and, some argue, even beneficial.

Your resume

The resume is the primary tool in any professional’s job search arsenal.  But few people examine this document except when on the hunt for a new position.  If you haven’t dusted off your resume in a while, now is the perfect time to do so.  Keeping your resume in tip-top shape ensures you can quickly capitalize on intriguing employment opportunities and internal openings that suddenly arise.  It can even come in handy during a performance review when you are building a case for a raise.

So, how can you clean up your resume?  Start by adding any recent promotions or accomplishments to it.  When describing your achievements, focus on quantifiable results that clearly indicate how you contributed to your employer’s bottom line.  If you have an extensive work history, you may also consider removing less relevant positions that you held many years ago.

Next, make sure your wording is spotless.  Carefully review the piece with an eye toward grammar and spelling.  In a Robert Half International survey, 84 percent of executives polled said it takes just one or two typographical errors in a resume to remove a candidate from consideration for a job.  Also be on the lookout for anything that might be misinterpreted.  If you use salesy language that could be perceived as spam, your resume may end up in a junk e-mail folder and never be read by the hiring manager.  For instance, the fact that you “won an award” for being a team player could be seen as a sweepstakes or moneymaking promotion; instead, you might note that you “received formal recognition.”

The last step: Revamp the format if necessary.  While you don’t want a design-heavy document, which may not translate well to all computer systems, you do want the piece to look clean and modern.

Your network

The final area of focus for your spring cleaning efforts should be your network.  The professional contacts you’ve nurtured over the years can be valuable sources of employment leads and on-the-job advice.  But this group will do you little good if you have trouble remembering who’s in it or how to get in touch with them.

One of the easiest ways to organize this information is to rely on common e-mail programs, such as Microsoft Outlook, that allow you to keep an electronic record of those you know.  Make sure you have a complete profile — including job title and employer, phone number, and e-mail address — for each person in your network.  Many software programs also allow you to attach notes about your contacts’ birthdays, children and spouses.  These details are useful when reaching out to people, especially those you don’t speak with often. 

Another good option is to take advantage of online networking sites, such as LinkedIn.  These services enable professionals to create online profiles.  By keeping tabs on your contacts’ profiles, you can remain up-to-date on developments in their careers and reach out to them quickly and easily. 

If you get in a cleaning mood, don’t let the momentum go to waste.  After sprucing up your desk, resume and network, examine your briefcase or purse, computer desktop, and even the trunk of your car.  Being organized in several areas of your professional life will help you in the long run.