During a recent presentation I gave on career advancement strategies, I emphasized the importance of explaining to networking contacts, mentors and advisers what you would like them to do for you. My rationale: You probably won’t get what you don’t ask for. An attendee, who described himself as shy and uncomfortable asking others for help, asked: “How can I lose my networking inhibitions?” I explained that most professionals — no matter how successful — would probably enjoy advising him because: *Mentoring invariably provides opportunities for mentors to talk about their favorite topic — themselves. *Most professionals feel virtuous helping other…

As the presidential transition and retirement wave sweep over agencies during the coming months and years, the resulting work-force turnover may create opportunities for you to move up the career ladder. Some ways to generate networking contacts who may help you seize such opportunities: *Cold-call agencies that are hiring. Likely agencies are those that are new, being reorganized, being affected by new laws or receiving big budget boosts. Regularly read Federal Times, The Washington Post’s online Fed Page and trade publications to keep up with these changes. Identify target managers to contact by checking the agency’s online organizational charts and…

Your motto should be: Network now and forever. With the help of others, you will achieve more goals in less time than you would alone. These goals may include: *Landing new jobs. The change in administrations and the ongoing retirement wave will generate unprecedented work-force churn, turnover and hiring for years to come. Position yourself to exploit resulting opportunities by meeting and impressing key contacts who may create jobs for you, tell you about openings you would not otherwise learn about, provide references or push your application to the top of the pile. *Accessing key resources and people. Many potentially pivotal people who…

On Nov. 5, I began to suspect that the planets had indeed aligned to make federal jobs hot, hot properties. After all, varied factors converged to boost the appeal of federal careers — including post-election excitement, a 14-year high in nationwide unemployment rates, an ongoing federal hiring wave generated by retiring baby boomers, and post-Sept. 11 enthusiasm for public service. When President-elect Barack Obama declared his intent to make it “cool” again to work for government, I thought I heard the planets snap into a straight line. If, during these historic days, you would like to rev up your federal…

On Nov. 5, I began to suspect that the planets had indeed aligned to make federal jobs hot, hot properties. After all, varied factors converged to boost the appeal of federal careers — including post-election excitement, a 14-year high in nationwide unemployment rates, an ongoing federal hiring wave generated by retiring baby boomers, and post-Sept. 11 enthusiasm for public service. When President-elect Barack Obama declared his intent to make it “cool” again to work for government, I thought I heard the planets snap into a straight line. If, during these historic days, you would like to rev up your federal…

Here is a sample of tips to help you write a successful application essay and a sample of tips that have helped me and hundreds of my clients land new and better federal jobs, including jobs in the Senior Executive Service: *Don’t rely exclusively on http://usajobs.gov. Many openings are never posted on the government’s central jobs site. This is particularly true of openings in excepted service agencies — which are excluded from competitive civil service procedures, and have their own hiring systems and evaluation criteria for filling vacancies. Check the career sites of these agencies — which include FBI, Federal Reserve…