Navigating your career and launching a job search is a daunting task for most individuals - at all stages of a professional's career. Where do you begin to identify the resources and avenues available to you in order to move your career forward?

The Repovich-Reynolds Group highly recommends you make yourself known to the recruitment community - it's called "building a brand" - your brand! When your circumstances are such that you are content with your current position and career track, you might not feel the need to make yourself known to recruiters. However, there are no guarantees that the job you have today will be there tomorrow. It is always in your best interest to keep your options open, build relationships with recruiters well in advance of needing their assistance, and be receptive to recruiters' overtures whether you are currently seeking to change jobs or not. That's the best career advice we can give you.

In addition, you may want to consider the following common-sense tips:

	Distinguish yourself from other professionals by focusing on best practices in every contribution that you make in your current position, in your overall profession, and in the counsel that you provide to your subordinates, peers, and senior management.
	Strive to exceed management's expectations in all contributions you make in your work and channel your energies into producing exceptional results.
	Recognize the milestones in your professional life and how to package them for presentation to recruiters or corporate executives. Whether you are writing a resume or preparing for a live interview, these milestones provide recruiters and hiring executives with the compelling, substantive information they need to judge whether or not to move you, or someone else, forward in the search process.
	Leverage your professional and personal network to enhance your career navigation and your job search. These mentors and contacts will prove invaluable in counseling you through your career-related choices, including identifying the executive recruiter most suited to your needs.
	Join professional and industry trade organizations, and also leverage the contacts and resources available to you as a member. The organizations or associations that will best serve your career needs will be those that relate to your functional expertise or industry of choice.
	Recognize that you cannot be all things to all people, and that you may not get the job you are seeking based on cultural fit issues. Seek an opportunity where the organization's culture is one in which you will flourish and exceed your own career goals.
	Know your marketplace value and be prepared to discuss and negotiate compensation at the appropriate time when you are both seeking an increase in compensation in your current role, and when discussing offers during the course of your job search.