This cast recommends what to do before, during and after any conference or training you attend.

Before we started Manager Tools conferences we produced a podcast with information about what to expect and how to get the most out of them. The cast was never released into the general feed though, so that information, whilst available, was potentially missing some of you who are not fortunate enough to be coming to Manager Tools conferences, but who are going to other training. So, we've updated the advice and are rereleasing it.

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Career Tools highly recommends internships for college students. In this cast, we conclude our conversation on why, and how to make the most of the experience.

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Career Tools highly recommends internships for college students. In this cast, we tell you why, and how to make the most of the experience.

Some college courses require students to take an internship. Other courses allow short or long periods in industry during the course of study, but don't require it. We'll explain shortly why we really recommend that if you have the opportunity to take an internship, you take it. More importantly, we'll explain how to make the most of it.

Internships can feel like one more course to complete when you're at college. It's only later that you realize that you had the opportunity to ask all the basic questions, learn some basic skills and make an impression, all in an environment where very little was expected. Believe us, that chance doesn't come again.

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The conclusion of our discussion on getting started with LinkedIn.

1. Career Tools Recommends LinkedIn
2. First, Complete Your Profile
   1. This Is Not Your Resume
   2. Employment History
   3. Education
   4. Other Sections
3. Photos Aren't Necessary – And Must Be Done Right
4. Connect With People You Know
   1. Contact Settings
5. Ok, So I'm On, What Now?
   1. Recommendations
   2. Groups
   3. Questions and Answers
   4. Job Board

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LinkedIn is an essential career tool. We're going to explain the first steps you must take to create your profile, and ways of using LinkedIn to support your career. If you've created a profile and you're not sure what to do next, or you've got a network but you're not using LinkedIn regularly, we think there are some gems in here which will help. If you're already a super user – we'd encourage you to post your suggestions in the forums.

1. Career Tools Recommends LinkedIn
2. First, Complete Your Profile
   1. This Is Not Your Resume
   2. Employment History
   3. Education
   4. Other Sections
3. Photos Aren't Necessary – And Must Be Done Right
4. Connect With People You Know
   1. Contact Settings
5. Ok, So I'm On, What Now?
   1. Recommendations
   2. Groups
   3. Questions and Answers
   4. Job Board

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This cast describes how to engage the person sitting next to you when you are traveling professionally.

If you're traveling on business, you're going to sit next to someone. Maybe it's a train, or more likely it's a plane. So what do you do? Do you ignore them? Do you bury yourself in work? Do you say nothing until you can open your laptop…and play solitaire?

There's really a right answer, despite what you might think. The right thing to do is engage your seatmate. But we know that at least half of you don't want to talk to the person sitting next to you. If only what we wanted was always the most effective thing.

But how? How do we engage our seatmate? Three questions will get you started.

1. Smile and Ask: "How are you today?"
2. Smile and Ask: "Are you headed out or home?"
3. Smile and Ask: "What is it that you do?"

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In this cast, we conclude our conversation on giving a decision briefing to your manager.

1. Use The Career Tools Decision Brief Model: SOCRR
2. Situation
3. Options
4. Comparison
5. Recommendation
6. Request
7. Always Consider Two Hidden Factors: Time and Risk
8. Use SOCRR Always – Longer or Shorter, Versus Important Enough or Not
9. Effective Decision Briefs Are Virtually ALWAYS Pre-Wired

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This cast describes how to give a decision briefing to your manager.

We need a decision from our boss, and we can't get one. What do most of us do? Complain to our peers. This is not a recipe for success, nor changed behavior on your boss's part.

Usually, bosses don't make decisions because there's less pain associated with not making it than there is in making it. Once a boss makes a decision, she has the risk of being wrong. But until she makes the decision, very possibly the negative is that we get less time to take action because we're waiting on the decision. In other words, "no" pain for the boss.

How do we get our bosses to make a decision? How can we present a chance to take a decision in a way that maximizes our chances of getting one?

1. Use The Career Tools Decision Brief Model: SOCRR
2. Situation
3. Options
4. Comparison
5. Recommendation
6. Request
7. Always Consider Two Hidden Factors: Time and Risk
8. Use SOCRR Always – Longer or Shorter, Versus Important Enough or Not
9. Effective Decision Briefs Are Virtually ALWAYS Pre-Wired

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This cast recommends what every professional ought to know about your organization's basic financial health.

There are some things everybody ought to know about the financial health of the place where you work. It's really that simple. We've heard too many stories about people being surprised by layoffs, or reduced bonuses, or lack of pay raises, or tighter budgets to believe that everyone seeks out and learns what they need to know about how healthy their firm is financially.

We know it's hard to connect what you might be doing to the larger picture. On the other hand, if you're a manager, if you don't know that you better figure it out and you damn well better figure it out for your directs too. So if it's hard to see your connection to the big picture, we do understand that it's hard to recognize the impact of the big picture on you. [Until tighter budgets, flatter pay, smaller bonuses or layoffs suggest a hint of it.]

On the other hand, it's not that hard to find out. Here's what to know and how to know it.

1. Need To Know: Annual and Quarterly Revenue
2. Need To Know: Annual and Quarterly Profits
3. Need To Know: Annual and Quarterly Industry Norms
4. How To Know: Public Company
5. How To Know: Small Company, Or a Private Company?

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This cast describes how to determine your boss's preferred communication style, and how to be more effective knowing it.

We periodically get asked by corporate clients to help not just managers, but also individual contributors. Sometimes it's a highly effective performer who has relationship issues, and sometimes it's helping an entire organization, getting the directs on board with what their managers are doing with One on Ones, or Feedback, or even organizational change.

When we do work with groups other than managers, we get all kinds of questions about working with their boss. The first question we get, is how do I give feedback to my boss? For you long time listeners, you know the answer to that one – you don't. The question we don't often get, one we think is really good, is how can I influence my boss?

And the answer to that question starts with knowing how he or she communicates. Here's how to learn what's best for your boss and how to be more effective with it.

1. Bosses (and Everyone Else) Tend to Be Either Readers or Listeners
2. How To Tell Which Your Boss Is
3. How To Be More Effective Knowing It

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