This week’s podcast addresses a topic that many of you might be surprised about: your resume. Your resume, regardless of the baggage associated with it, is probably your most critical career management document. While it’s not something you ought to leave laying around on your desk (or on monster.com, for that matter), that doesn’t mean you ought to treat it like something you dust off only when you really need it. It needs to be reviewed quarterly, believe it or not.

So, in this cast we’ll teach you how to prepare it, and how to maintain it. We won’t talk about cover letters, or how resumes are used in the job search, because job search is only one use of your resume.

The Sample Resume we refer to on the show is here.

In this special podcast for our registered subscribers, we’re going to share our first set of recommendations in self-development. We believe that you cannot consider yourself an effective, professional manager unless you engage in regular reading. To that end, we have a suite of recommended reading, both periodicals and books, and some suggestions on how to fit them into your schedule.

We do have one caveat as we start. While both of us have been overseas to many places, our business careers have been decidedly American. We can’t make solid recommendations for our overseas subscribers, other than we think highly of the Economist. On the other hand, we would be happy to hear from our community about THEIR recommendations. if you’re wondering why your favorite isn’t on our list, let us know - we’ll tell you or read it and evaluate it.

We’ll start with periodicals, and then talk about some books we feel strongly about. Lastly, we’ll recommend some steps you can take to help you find the time for these important developmental efforts.

You’ll find a list of the books we discuss (and couple other of our favorites), and links to Amazon, on our Favorite Books page. Be warned, if you purchase through the Amazon link, we’ll actually get a few pennies for your trouble. First one to purchase a book and send us an email that you did so, get’s a special prize for helping make us our first 5 cents at podcasting! Woo-hooo!

We hate to use the name headhunters rather than recruiters, because Mark never liked that term when it was applied to him. But it’s a pretty common nickname for a group that is playing an increasingly important role in career management today. The World is Flat has taught us that no job is safe (note even fast food order takers!). Companies are no longer taking responsibility for your career. Tom Peters believes in a Brand Called “You”. Your career and its transitions are IN YOUR HANDS. You can’t call yourself a smart manager if you don’t know how to create the right relationship with recruiters in your industry.

Over the next two shows, we’ll tell you EXACTLY how to handle it when a recruiter calls you. There’s a right way to do this, and over NINETY PERCENT of managers fail at miserably. It’s not hard, and we lay it all out here. We’ll tell you some basic things you need to know about recruiters, the guidelines for the first call, and the key questions to ask THEM. As well, we share how to actually address their specific request, and then how to maintain a relationship with them after the call if you care to.

Last week, we discussed some basic things you need to know about recruiters and specifically how to handle the first call from the recruiter. Today, we discuss the key questions to ask them, as well as how to address their specific request. Additionally, we discuss what you can do to maintain a good relationship with them going forward. Would it surprise you that it looks a lot like maintaining ANY relationship?

We’ve also included on the website an Executive Recruiter Cheat Sheet. Print this sheet out and keep it handy in your desk … it will help you remember how to handle that initial call (what to say, what to ask) and assist you in ensuring that the first call from the recruiter isn’t the LAST call. You’ll find the cheat sheet here.

Join in and discuss this topic in the discussion boards here.

The hand shake is the most important professional greetings in the world today. There are many cultures in the world, and there are places to bow, and places to hug, and places where cheek-kissing is perfectly appropriate. The handshake, though is the preferred greeting for most of our audience.

If you’re going to do business in the world, or if you’re a manager at a multi-national corporation, you need to know how to shake hands. This cast will teach you in excruciating (grin) detail.

The Ten Steps to a Great Handshake

• Make Eye Contact
• Smile
• Move Forward
• Left Foot Forward
• Elbow IN!
• Web to Web
• Push Them Back
• Grip the Bat
• 1-2 Pumps Only
• Let Go

Some No-Nos

• No double handed grips
• No shoulder clasp
• Do NOT move your hand side to side in any way
• No pulling

I am sure it makes me seem terribly nerdy to break a handshake down this way… but it works, and we know lots of folks want to know, but don’t know where to go. This is one case where if you go to the world wide web, you’ll be reminded of why we started Manager Tools. What passes for training or guidance is almost always irreproducible.

If you’re a manager, don’t think for a moment that someone else is managing your career. Those days are long gone. YOU are managing your career. What you do - not only in job skills, but also in what we call “Transition Skills” - will be the primary determinant of your career success. You’re not going to have the richest, most rewarding series of roles and opportunities by allowing someone in HR to know enough about you to get you where you need to be. And succession planning won’t save you either.

And one of the most important of the Transition Skills is Building And Maintaining Your Network. Most people are terrible at it. We know this because they have no network.

Now, notice that we did NOT say that the skill was “networking”. That term conjures up schmoozing, and cocktail parties, and too many people don’t like it. So, we’re not suggesting you do that.

We’re suggesting you Build and Maintain Your Network. It only takes THREE SIMPLE SKILLS, and we’ll walk through them.

Oh, yeah … and there’s a blooper in the show. Did you catch it?

Every week, we get questions about people’s resumes on the discussion boards. Our resume casts are some of the most wanted of all our work. It’s pretty obvious that more and more folks are tuned into their own careers, and how to manage them. That’s a good thing, as we’ve said before, because no one else is managing it for you. And, because so few people manage their careers at all, it only takes a little to get a competitive advantage.

We thought we’d address a career management topic that also leverages our recent cast about building your network. We want to discuss the basics of Mentoring.

There’s a lot of different aspects of mentoring. In fact, we have a future show scheduled on how to use mentoring as part of an organizational talent management and development and succession planning program. Believe us, we’re not big fans of corporate plans..but there is a way to do it that is easy and very powerful. Stay tuned for that cast.

This week (and next), though, it’s just the basics. After we talk some big picture stuff, we’ll give you some basic guidelines. In our traditional manner, we’ll cover 7 simple guidelines:

1. Whom Should I Ask?
2. How Long Should It Last?
3. You Make the Ask
4. How Does It Work?
5. You Run It
6. The First Meeting is Critical - Script It
7. Be Ready For Feedback

Today we cover the second in our 2-part series on mentoring. As a reminder, our 7 simple guidelines for mentoring are:

1. Whom Should I Ask?
2. How Long Should It Last?
3. You Make the Ask
4. How Does It Work?
5. You Run It
6. The First Meeting is Critical - Script It
7. Be Ready For Feedback

Also, June 26th represents the 1-year Anniversary of Manager Tools. We previously discussed having a special second part of today’s podcast where we would discuss our thoughts about this last year, as well as discuss our plans for the coming year. Unfortunately, the “discussion” was an hour long! So, rather than bundle it with this podcast and create an incredibly large download, we will release an additional podcast in the next day or two with that discussion. Look for it in your podcast player of choice shortly!

Today’s show is an interesting one … At least once in your career, and perhaps as many as five times, you’re going to have to resign from a position. And this is another one of those tasks or responsibilities that no one talks about, no one knows how to do, and therefore many do it poorly.

It’s not hard to do well, and in this series of casts, we make it a simple step by step process. If you’re thinking that you already know how, consider that we recommend you need SIX WEEKS to do it well.

Today, we follow-up with part 2 of our 3-part series on Resigning. Usually not a lot of fun contemplating, and certainly no more fun executing. However, IF you have to do it, there IS a professional way to resign. You CAN leave your job and feel good about HOW you did it, AND leave a great impression on the way out. Now, how often does that happen in your workplace today?